# How Much, And How Often



## MFNRyan (Mar 27, 2011)

Since I am rather new to the hobby, I want to make sure I am feeding properly. I feed mostly raw shrimp to my fish, sometimes some chicken, or brine shrimp cubes and very rarely a feeder fish that I have kept in another tank for some time. What I am wondering is with 3 red's and 3 Cariba, how often should I be feeding and how much? What I do now is once every other day, and I feed shrimp until they stop eating them right away. If any is left over after about 5-10 minutes I pull it out and throw it away. I'm worried I'm not feeding enough because one of my fish eats everything I throw in the tank, My wild RBP and one of my Cariba I have never seen eat at all? Not sure if I am feeding properly or enough. Also I have never seen my purple sanchezi eat, he of course is in a different tank and I drop him one shrimp after I feed my shoal. Any help would be freat and also other food types that my fish may eat would be good too.


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## Guest (May 28, 2011)

What size are your fish. If still juvies I would feed morning and night. If they are sub-adults, feeding once a day is enough and if they are full adults every other day is just fine.


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## MFNRyan (Mar 27, 2011)

They are all around the 6 inch mark. some a little smaller and the purple sanchezi is about 4.5


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## MPG (Mar 14, 2010)

Mine are a little bigger then that and I feed them one every 3 days and I have minimal fin nipping.


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## Piranha_man (Jan 29, 2005)

IMO it depends on what you're looking for in your fish.

I prefer to feed my pygo group a few times per day... flashing my hand in front of the tank and making my presence very known right before dropping in a few pellets.
I've found that this 'system' conditions your fish to respond positively to your presence around the tank.

Your approach means food... and the result is your fish _greeting_ you rather than flipping out and hiding.
In fact, I rarely approach the tank without tossing in at least a few pellets.


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## MFNRyan (Mar 27, 2011)

mine wont eat pellets I have tried and tried all different kinds.. sinking and floating no luck. I do make my presence known and they just swim to the other side of the tank lol Hopefully they come around


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## Piranha_man (Jan 29, 2005)

It takes a lot of time for your fish to associate you with feeding to the point where they get excited by your approach.
This is especially true for a pygo group.

You can "train" your pygos to eat pellets... takes time, patience and hunger on their part.
Once they take pellets, you'll be thankful for your efforts.
They're neat, clean, readily available, don't cloud the water, and they're nutritious.

EVERY TIME you approach the tank, make your presence known and immediately drop in a small morsel of food.
Over time, they'll be like puppies in the store window as you approach.


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## MFNRyan (Mar 27, 2011)

Funny, I added all my baby red in with my shoal mostly because I did not have a choice. It is feeding day an for the first time every they all came over to me waiting for food. Out of no where.. my babies always hide and the big 6 never came up to me but the other way!


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## Mr. Hannibal (Feb 21, 2003)

If your Pygos are 6" long you should offer food every day...


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## MFNRyan (Mar 27, 2011)

Hannibal, Thank you for that, I actually have started feeding two or three shrimp everyday and I was feeding my babies pellets 2 to 3 times a day. Well now that they are all together the babies have been tearing the shrimp up, So starting this am I have 4 shrimp with just a few pellets.

I got a new ? though. I recently got a Gibbus, he is about 5.5" long. How often does he need fed? I know these next few days he is going to be getting use to his tank so I'm not worried with feeding right now but when it comes how can I keep him healthy? Not many people know much about this fish, they are a real hard find but already I think he is awesome! Real excited about this new guy


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