How much NLS Cichlid food do you feed your fish?

[Complexity]

If you feed your cichlids NLS (New Life Spectrum) Cichlid pellets, how much do you feed? A quarter teaspoon? A full teaspoon? A tablespoon? How often do you feed your fish and at what time during the day? Also, about how many fish do you have and how big are they?

I'm trying to decide whether I'm overfeeding or if I just have too many fish. While my bacteria is able to handle the fish load, there is just a ton of detritus in my tank and filters no matter how much I clean. So I'm either feeding my fish too much or I just have too many fish. I'm considering that this may be responsible, at least in part, for my algae problems.

[Mandocruz06]

Twice a day and how ever much they can it in 1/2 min morning and nite plus I,have petros and,they can eat...

[Complexity]

Twice a day and how ever much they can it in 1/2 min morning and nite plus I,have petros and,they can eat...

But about how much is that? Would you say it's closer to 1/4 teaspoon or a tablespoon? How many fish do you have in the tank?

[Mandocruz06]

Close to 20 maybe half a spoon plus they dnt all get some somd will end up in the filter...

[wesleydnunder]

I feed once a day and all the food is gone in one minute. I stock lightly so feed around 1/4 tsp. I'd try this: pre-measure four 1/4 tsp sizes and put each separately in a mini cupcake baking cup. Pour the first one in. If it's gone in 15 seconds, pour the second in. All the food at one feeding should be gone in about a minute. With the 1/4 tsp sizes you can figure out how much to feed at one time. If it takes a minute for all four of the 1/4 tsp sizes to get eaten, then 1 tsp is how much I'd feed at one time.

Mark

[Complexity]

Mark, I like your idea. I think I'll give that a try. Thanks!

[aquabee]

Also, if you have any BN plecos, they'll wreak havoc by pooping everywhere!! No matter how much or how little you feed. :)

[eklikewhoa]

I usually feed pinch by pinch what they can consume in seconds, what they can finish before anything hits the ground.

[Complexity]

Also, if you have any BN plecos, they'll wreak havoc by pooping everywhere!! No matter how much or how little you feed. :)

Good point. I have 3 in the tank.

I usually feed pinch by pinch what they can consume in seconds, what they can finish before anything hits the ground.

Using Mark's suggestion, I did something similar to this except I was using a measuring spoon (nothing strange as I use measuring spoons to feed my fish). 1/2 tsp was gone instantly, but a second helping of 1/2 tsp took a little longer. All was gone within a minute, but I could definitely tell they had slowed down at the end.

[aquabee]

My BN plecos caused me to have to install circulation pumps that turn on intermittently to stir up the substrate and push all that crap into filter intake. Within hours of a newly cleaned substrate, they'll have the tank nice and dirty again.

[SunnyHouTX]

Get Tropheus. They eat everything to the point where I'm getting rid of my BNP because they don't get to well in my Tropheus tank. No leftover food, no algae.

On topic, I feed about a teaspoon of NLS 4 times a day using an auto feeder and some spirulina flakes as snack once or twice in between. All pellets are consumed within about a minute and flakes in about 2. This is for 28 fish though.

Sent from my Nexus S

[aquabee]

BNP's need a varied diet yo. They're not just for algae! They like carrots and veggies and NLS.

[Complexity]

My BN plecos caused me to have to install circulation pumps that turn on intermittently to stir up the substrate and push all that crap into filter intake. Within hours of a newly cleaned substrate, they'll have the tank nice and dirty again.

It's funny because I know how much plecos poop, but it never came to my mind how much 3 of them would poop in the tank. I just thought of the fish and totally forgot that they're major pooping machines!

Get Tropheus.

I thought you guys had already bought up all the tropheus in sight! You mean there's still a few left for the rest of us?

On topic, I feed about a teaspoon of NLS 4 times a day using an auto feeder and some spirulina flakes as snack once or twice in between. All pellets are consumed within about a minute and flakes in about 2. This is for 28 fish though.

Do you have major amounts of detritus to clean up?

[Complexity]

BNP's need a varied diet yo. They're not just for algae! They like carrots and veggies and NLS.

Never tried carrots, but I usually give them cucumbers. I sometimes feed zucchini, but I haven't offered that in a while (should go get some now that I'm thinking about it). How are you preparing the carrots? Blanching, microwave? I'd think they're too hard raw.

[aquabee]

Never tried carrots, but I usually give them cucumbers. I sometimes feed zucchini, but I haven't offered that in a while (should go get some now that I'm thinking about it). How are you preparing the carrots? Blanching, microwave? I'd think they're too hard raw.

They'll manage with raw carrots since they usually manage to scrape off wood, but if you throw some baby carrots in the microwave with a little water and steam 'em for 3-4 minutes, it's usually perfect. They'll gobble those up like anything. Esp if you have some of TangoMike's L-144 stock, they become an even more beautiful bright orange if they have some carrots in their diet.