Feeding Question

[Fishman02]

Hello All,

Finally set-up my 46g tank two days ago. I just got 7 Cichlids (each about 1.5 - 2 inches) today. I fed them in the morning some spirulina flakes (not too much) and some pellets in the evening. I am a little scared that I overfed them since I dropped 7-8 pellets in. I was under the impression they would each eat 1 pellet, but from reading some of the posts it seems that is too much. What should I do? Not feed them for a day? I'm scared they will get bloat?

[SGypsyMermaid]

i don't think that you have to worry...just don't feed pellets every day. it would be better if you fed one type of food on one day, and a different one the next.

[cichgirl]

Actually, I wouldn't feed them for a couple of days and do a water change in the meantime. Your problem isn't the fish eating too much, if you just set up your tank, put 7 fish in without cycling you could end up with ammonia or nitrite poisoning and 7 dead fish. Ammonia is something that naturally occurs with fish waste and uneaten food. Until you have a healthy growth of good bacteria to break it down to nitrite(harmful) then nitrate (not as harmful but should be removed with water changes), you will have to pay extra extra attention to the fish. I would only feed them once a day (that's all I feed mine) and change the water every other day until the ammonia and nitrites are at 0. What you can do in the meantime, is if you can get substrate from an established tank or some sort of used filter media from a trusted source, you may be able to help your tank cycle quicker. I hope this helps.. Good luck.

Don't worry about starving your fish - they are manipulative little devils and can easily go two days without food without starving- they can go much longer. They like to beg and plead- don't give in, they know they are cute, overfeeding can easily kill them in a new tank. I hope this helps - best of luck!

[Fishman02]

ok, thanks for your hlep. If I check my ammonia levels and they are close to zero, do I still have to change the water every other day? or wait until ammonia levels go up? Also, is there a direct coorelation b/t ammonia levels and nitrate/ite levels?

Thanks for your help.

[cichgirl]

No, I wouldn't change the water every other day if the ammonia is close to zero... Sorry if I misled you.. The ammonia will spike during the next month - that is normal in a new tank until the good bacteria colonize.

If the ammonia creeps above 1ppm, I would to try to keep it under control by 15% water changes every other day or 2 until the levels are safer so the fish aren't poisoned. Ammonia & nitrite spikes are normal when cycling a tank. Actually, the more water changes you do, the longer it takes the tank to finally establish itself... There are a lot of tough fish can handle the cycling period. A lot of cichlids are pretty tough. One problem you might encounter is the influx of waste from all the fish. That's why I would recommend not feeding them more than once a day - it will cut down on waste and uneaten food. Both contribute to spikes in ammonia and nitrite levels. You'll be fine and so will the fish if you watch the levels.

Yes there is a direct correlation between ammonia & nitrite & nitrate.
Beneficial bacteria (grows in substrate, filter media, etc.) break down ammonia into nitrite and the nitrites into nitrates. Both ammonia and nitrite are toxic to fish. Nitrates are also, but only in high levels which are kept under control with weekly with water changes.

Your fish will probably be fine if you test the water daily to make sure there are no major jumps in levels.

Hope this helps, good luck!

[SGypsyMermaid]

fishman, look here: http://cichlidforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3116