Yes, floating plants would be great. Also, I've never noticed guppies being big fry eaters...not to the extent that they tirelessly hunt them down. Just keep the adults well fed. The fry get beyond the dangerous size fairly quickly.
Crushed up flake food would perhaps be a bit easier for the fish to take, than pellet foods.
Livebearer's such as mollies,guppies,platy's have upturned mouths which suggest's that they feed quite a bit from the surface.
Fishes will forage from the bottom as well, but the fry are instictively drawn to the surface where the shape of their mouth's makes it easier for them to take food while searching through the plant cover if available, and where plant's on surface also offer a place to hide from predatory fishes.
Floating pellet food, may or may not be easily consumed by baby fishes as easily as crushed flake foods.
@1077 thanks for the info :D i'll drop by the petshop to pick up some flakes for the guppies, also would you happen to know how many flakes on average a guppy should have a meal? and do they eat 3 times a day? or just one feeding?
@1077 thanks for the info :D i'll drop by the petshop to pick up some flakes for the guppies, also would you happen to know how many flakes on average a guppy should have a meal? and do they eat 3 times a day? or just one feeding?
Fry will grow much quicker with three small feeding's per day, while adult's can get by with one.
If you were to take three flakes of most foods, and crush it between your thumb and fingers, you would see that it is quite a bit.
I would sprinkle this amount o9n the surface near the fish and watch to see that they eat it before offering more.
Fry may need even less than three flakes depending on number's.
Omega one veggie flakes is good product and found at most pet stores or spirulina flake.
You just don't want to offer so much food, that much of it winds up sinking to the bottom before fish can eat it.
Feed a tiny amount,and then maybe offer a tiny bit more AFTER the first bit is gone.
Edifiler, I'd use flakes and feed to manufacturer's instructions. You just don't want the adults to be overly hungry at this point. 1077 offers good advice.
@1077 thanks for the help, but to clarify, for fry, no matter the amount, they are fed 3 crushed up flakes 3 times a day? And for adults, 3 flakes each adult?
@fish monger But most manufacturer instructions given at the back of the containers are mostly wrong, or the usual, feed no more then you fish can consume in 3 minutes.
There are 180 seconds in three minutes,if you were to count from 180 backwards,, and offered enough food for fish to feed this length of time,,you would be way overfeeding, and water quality would be more difficult to maintain between weekly water changes than it needs to be.
Food manufacturer's would like for you too feed more, so that food runs out,and you buy more food
I would begin with the three flakes crushed to near powder,and offer this amount a little at a time.After this amount is eaten adult fish would be fine.
Babies might need half this amount, three or four times a day, or maybe same amount if you have large number's of fry.
another food you might try and fishes will like is ..'Sally's seaweed". it is dried marine algae that many herbivorous fish love.
@1077: Please don't take this to offense but that isn't very logical. I mean of course no one is going to sit there and keep shaking a food container for 3 minutes because that would definitely be a bad thing. If you give your fish a pinch or food, and they can't consume it all in 3 minutes to 4 minutes maximum, you are over feeding.
For example, if you have an average sized betta and you feed him 4 pellets one day and he finished three in 3 minutes or just leaves the last one, then you feed him 3 next time and he eats them all in 3 or less minutes (which is how it usually is because bettas don't take very long to eat their pellets).
Another example would be goldfish. I you have let's say a 4-5 inch goldfish and you feed him just a thick pinch of flakes and he is still having food or eating the food past 4-5 minutes then you are over feeding. If you were to count to 180, then obviously you will have much more trouble with excess food waste and other problems with filtering and the fish's health all together. It would not be very smart to keep pouring fish flakes into the tank for 180 seconds. It would be more logical just to put in a pinch when you feed your fish, depending on the fish and the fish food. You see goldfish's stomachs are like a bottomless pit. Posted via Mobile Device
Check out the eBook Betta Fish Care Made Easy
