Will small size pellet food be enough for a larger fish?

[edsbeaker]

Opinions please!

All of my fish will eat TDO chroma boost, but I find that using two sizes in my Plank feeder doesn’t work well. The pellets separate after a couple of days so that only one size gets fed, and if I need to constantly mix them then what is the point of an auto feeder?

I was thinking to start feeding just the small pellets so everyone is able to eat them. I have a 5” fox face and 5” regal angelfish, though, and I’m concerned that they won’t be able to eat enough of them to satisfy their nutritional needs.

Does anyone have experience with this?

 

[JumboShrimp]

Well, you can try it. Certainly fish with small mouths can't accommodate large pellets, but sometimes the opposite works (although not ideal)-- meaning I have even seen adult Emporor Angels and Clown Triggers go to the sand bed for smaller pellets. Give it a shot.

 

[edsbeaker]

Well, you can try it. Certainly fish with small mouths can't accommodate large pellets, but sometimes the opposite works (although not ideal)-- meaning I have even seen adult Emporor Angels and Clown Triggers go to the sand bed for smaller pellets. Give it a shot.

That’s what I was thinking. The bigger ones do get quite a bit of Nori, too, so maybe that will offset it.
I’ll just watch to make sure they don’t lose their plump figures.
Thanks for the input.

 

[JumboShrimp]

I guess another consideration to keep your eye on, while you're at it, is whether you have to now increase the 'number' of smaller pellets to keep the larger fish sustained... and what you will do if they don't really eat them all, in terms of tank waste/excess nutrients. it will all be part of your experimentation…

 

[edsbeaker]

That’s a great point. My phosphates are already at .14, so I don’t want to go any higher on that by potentially overfeeding. I will give it a try for a couple of weeks and see what happens. You’re right that it’s a bit of an experiment.

 

[Joj]

I have a variety of large and small fishes so i keep about 3 auto feeders feeding different size pellets to the 45+ fishes throughout the day.