i am a new fish owner. i have four guppies. they don't eat very much of the food before it falls to the bottom of the tank. will they eat it off the bottom? i am afraid of over feeding them but i don't want them to starve either.
2007-05-29 12:51:59 · 16 answers · asked by amanda l 1 in Pets ➔ Fish
They won't starve. Trust me, more fish have been killed by overfeeding than underfeeding. In the wild, fish spend most of their time looking for food. Food is limited in the wild so they have to. They do this in our tanks, too, but it is their undoing. Healthy fish will ALWAYS be begging for food. Only feed your guppies once or twice a day and only what they can eat in a minute or two. You don't want food sitting on the bottom. If they don't eat the food right away it is decaying and messing up the water quality. food decomposing in the tank will kill your fish quicker than anything! Healthy fish can live for a week without food. Err on the side of underfeeding.
2007-05-29 13:42:23 · answer #1 · answered by Rags to Riches 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Most fish are designed or adapted to foraging for food in different ways, if you notice your guppy's top of body is flat and the mouth is on the flat surface at the top, meaning they swim in the upper half of the water, if the body shape is more round and symmetrical then the tend to swim in the middle layers of the water, if they have flat undersides and the mouth is on the flat again underneath they're bottom feeders.
this is a generalization but near enough, your guppy's will not forage for food at the bottom unless they're really hungry which means hardly ever. this debris will begin to foul the water until bacteria build up to eat it, not an ideal solution. so if you have enough room i would suggest some bottom feeding fish maybe coryadoras catfish. they're small and live on the bottom. however, I'm concerned you may not have enough room for too many fish. if that's the case i would suggest you siphon off the fallen food.
AJ
2007-05-29 13:26:12 · answer #2 · answered by andyjh_uk 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My fish would never eat the food off the bottom of the tank. They are very small and what we think is not a lot may be quite a bit. Do you feed them twice a day or once? I would recommend getting an automatic fish feeder. You can get at any pet store or wal-mart. they feed the fish every twelve hours and you can set it to how much it feeds them. I don't think you need to worry about starving them if you feed them twice a day even if it is small abouts.
2007-05-29 12:59:35 · answer #3 · answered by sugar_lumpkin84 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Some fish do, but not all. My balloon belly mollies will. The general rule of thumb is to feed them no more than they will eat in 2 to 5 minutes. If they haven't eaten it by then, use your net to get the excess out, so it won't dirty the tank up.
If you have any bottom feeders, such as plecos, ghost shrimp or algae eaters, they make a nice little clean up crew, and will take care of the extra food.
2007-05-29 13:34:37 · answer #4 · answered by H3yd00 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They only need a flake or 2 a piece. It's hard to starve them. They will eat the food off the bottom as long as you don't put more in.
2007-05-29 13:03:08 · answer #5 · answered by motorcyclist 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Guppies are mostly top feeders, but they will eat food from anywhere in their tank as well. They'll be fine. If you're really worried, there are fish foods that stay on top for a long time. You could ask your local pet store about it.
2007-05-29 12:58:59 · answer #6 · answered by Serena T 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
well do they like to hang around at the bottom of the tank? if they do then they will eat it
I had some bettas and other fish and they didn't eat at the bottom of the fish bowl.
so what i did was buy a fish that eats stuff at the bottom. so that helped a lot and everyone got food.
u should be one of those fish
i don't know wat they are called so ask a pet store person and he will tell u
good luck
2007-05-29 12:57:17 · answer #7 · answered by (lind)SAY 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes! All of the fish I've had have eaten off the bottom of the tank.
2007-05-29 13:00:12 · answer #8 · answered by KrAze K 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
They'll eat it, don't worry. But generally try to avoid it getting to the bottom of the tank since that just helps algae build-up.
2007-05-29 13:30:38 · answer #9 · answered by Unicornrider 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
in case you're very worried approximately your fish getting meals you are able to attempt and discover a thank you to capture him to the to the real earlier you feed him that could help. And confident bettas can consume off the backside yet i nevertheless think of you're able to desire to discover a thank you to confirm your fish is getting adequate meals! Who does not love healthful satisfied fish?!
2016-10-30 03:44:13 · answer #10 · answered by Erika 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋