Loaches Online Forum

Hi, I have 6 Sewellia lineolata and I am really struggling with how much to feed them. There is a small surplus of brown algae in the tank which seems to be running down. I have frozen bloodworm and artemia, mini algae wafers, repashy soilant green and fluval bug bites. They have eaten all of these but because of their tendency to kinda nibble throughout the day, I have no idea how much to use and when to remove from the tank.

Any guidance on this would be brilliant, as I have had a lot of tank polluting last couple of weeks!! Thanks!

I feed my sewelia most days with Repashy Soilent Green. They eat some other foods too but not very much.

I'm not sure how to describe the amount. Call it a cubic "shallow" square, like maybe a 1/4 inch x 1/8 inch?? flat for 6 fish? But that might be a bit big for what I'm trying to describe...It's a learning curve fo you & your fish & as they grow...

That's actually a very helpful starting point, thanks a bunch!! I'll experiment with a small size and see how it goes.
How long do you think it takes yours to get through your cube of food?

I'd start at 10mg per fish per day and work from there. I would expect that value to be close to the ideal based on experiments conducted. Its easy to see if a fish is undernourished. I adjust my feeding so that I feed the minimum for an observable healthy weight. Older fish may lose condition and younger fish may require more for growth.

redshark1 wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 27, 2023 4:32 am

I'd start at 10mg per fish per day and work from there. I would expect that value to be close to the ideal based on experiments conducted.

Sorry, a milligram of food....? Am I understanding your post right?!

I had trouble with "10mg" of food too. Euro metric weight is not a measure I can relate to very well. I can do some linear measurements more easily. But like I said, it's a learning curve for you & your fish. I don't feed every day & my husband feeds a bit more than I do...If teaspoons are an easier measure for you, try 1/4t up to 1/2 teaspoon more or less.

It helps if you test for nitrate for a while. You want it to be less than 20ppm if you can. More like 5-10ppm. Do enough water changes to keep it in that range as best you can. That will help you decide on feeding amts & water changing quantiies. It easiest if you can figure how much & how often but with a "squish" factor too..."some" is not an exact amount, you don't want leftover food or high nitrate. You may have to do an extra water change until you get the hang of your tank & fish. It shouldn't be hard to do for a few weeks.

I used this study as a starting point as it is the only one I have seen. I'm not telling you to use it if you don't find it useful just making you aware of it. http://www.allnaturalpetcare.com/Animal ... l_Fish.pdf

This is the nitty gritty here (the formatting is off a bit):

Maintenance feeding requirement of five popular species of ornamental fish
Fish species Fish size Flakes per day mg food per day
Goldfish 3.59g 2.4 14.36
Goldfish 11.66g 3.1 18.33
Neon Tetra 0.18g 0.6 3.8
Leopard Danio 0.30g 1.2 7.2
Kribensis 1.02g 1.7 10.2
Moonlight Gourami 1.87g 4.9 28.5

These loaches are primarily herbivores and feed on algae and biofilm, so it's essential to provide them with a balanced diet while avoiding overfeedingSlope.

Very insightful thread

My sewellia have bred a few times (once/year or so) so I have a few more loaches without any effort on my part The sewellia fry seem to find enough algae/auf wuchs to grow fairly slowly. I also keep sponges over my filter intakes. That keeps eggs & fry from getting sucked up & provides an extra grazing place.

With Repashy Soilent Green, it's made for auf wuchs grazers like sewellia! Not to sound like an ad, but I would not have tried any "hillstream" loaches without any easy to feed foods. I have cultured live foods but I am too lazy to need to provide it all the time in the right size for very long. But I am NOT trying to raise as many fry as possible, I'm happy with 1-3 to replace 12+ year old fish as they die out. I also have low light live plants for fish to graze on.

lilycollins wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 05, 2023 4:49 am

These loaches are primarily herbivores and feed on algae and biofilm, so it's essential to provide them with a balanced diet while avoiding overfeedingfnaf games.

Yess, overfeeding isn't good for any animal.

timothy, that's good advice to not over or under feed. My sewellia have had the smallest fry I've ever seen lately! I'm chuffed!

The thing I like about Repashy Soilent Green is that it holds together for 24 hours or so before breaking down into dust. But the "dust" is what the grazers & their fry like. I also use prefilter sponges over my filter intakes so there's another grazing place. (I think I've said that before...)

Like with feeding any fish, but especially fry, you need to learn how much & vacuum any food out that they can't eat in 24 hours. That also helps fry grow faster. Clean water & good food = happy fish & fry.

You are very similar to my principles of fish farminggeometry dash subzero. I always try to keep the water environment clean and the fish always comfortable in that environment. Only then can fish develop.