Sororities - feeding info needed

[NapoleonUWS]

I have a sorority tank (10G - heavily planted) with 4 girls...

Three of the girls have very healthy appetites! The other is a little more timid and does not aggressively go after the food... the others seem to eat it all and are getting fat(ter)!
I want to make sure that all the girls eat enough but worry that the more timid female is not getting her share of food...

This is my first sorority (I've always had single male bettas) and I can't get used to how much they like to eat... I have never done the one day of fasting per week, should I start?

Any ideas?

Also, should I add more females? I have two nerite snails in the tank as well.

ps... I finally named the girls...

Mary, Edith, Sybil and Daisy... Get it?

In keeping with the naming... I named the least attractive gal, Edith....

[Myates]

Downtown Abbey?

I would try to get the timid girl (most likely the last in the hierarchy chain) off to the side and feed her away from where the others are feeding.. may have to remove the lid to do it.. but it's an option.

You can add in more girls if you wish, one or two would be fine - just make sure when the times comes to remove all the girls at once, change the decorations around a bit and then add them all in together at once so the new girls have a better chance at not being picked on too much right away.

[NapoleonUWS]

Thanks Myates - I've tried to get her to her own corner to feed her, but the other gals follow her (and my hand)... will work harder on my feeding technique!

Should I fast them one day a week?

Thanks for the info...

[Myates]

Don't need to fast a full day.. what I do (and I feed my fish A LOT of food) is will skip a meal or two a week.. so they don't go a full day with no nutrition, but they get a little time to "catch up" if needed.

Is she easy to catch? And how stressed is she when in a cup? You could cup her and feed her in the cup and see how she does.. I have some that being cupped doesn't bother them and will eat food right away inside of it. Use the dip method to grab her when she surfaces.. dip the cup in and use the suction to pull her into the cup. Can be a bit tricky, but if it's doable you can try that at times to help feed her.

[NapoleonUWS]

Originally Posted by Myates

Don't need to fast a full day.. what I do (and I feed my fish A LOT of food) is will skip a meal or two a week.. so they don't go a full day with no nutrition, but they get a little time to "catch up" if needed.

Is she easy to catch? And how stressed is she when in a cup? You could cup her and feed her in the cup and see how she does.. I have some that being cupped doesn't bother them and will eat food right away inside of it. Use the dip method to grab her when she surfaces.. dip the cup in and use the suction to pull her into the cup. Can be a bit tricky, but if it's doable you can try that at times to help feed her.

I will try the cupping to make sure she's eating... she's not easily stressed, should work.
Skipping occasional meals sounds like an option for the gals with a propensity to over eat.
Thanks!

[Shadyr]

I was going to suggest cupping to feed her too, but I see I was slow off the mark. You might distract the more assertive girls by putting sinking pellets for them to chase on one side while you get the other fed.

I'll be letting my 8th girl loose in the big tank tomorrow...feeding time is fun and complicated

For some reason I'm thinking I remember on the lower end, an odd number is better, so maybe one more?