Feeding issue

[cyrix]

I have 5 mollies, 2 angel fish, 7 serpae tetras, and one pleco in a 30G tall tank. The problem I'm running into is the mollies eat like mad men come feeding time. The Angelfish don't eat as fast or as much, and of course the tetras get the scraps from the top. The problem I'm running into is the the angelfish aren't getting enough with the other guys involved. I vary their diet between high quality flake food, frozen blood worms, and live brine shrimp. My angels have eaten two of my shrimp in the last few weeks since they've grown and have actually become very picky with what flakes they eat. They've even started nipping aggressively at my mollies way more than usual.

My question is, with a community tank, how can I feed my angels enough without my mollies overeating? I have a nice little cave for my pleco that I stuff algae wafers under for him to eat so he's not an issue. I'm just kind of confused right now since the angels have gotten a bigger appetite and I'd like to prevent them from attacking the mollies, which they do now.

Would getting the angels more comfortable with hand feeding help?

[cyrix]

Sorry, I realized this should have been in the livebearers forum. If a mod could move it, it'd be much appreciated.

[Ashley]

I have the same issues, as I have platies, guppies, 4 gouramis and plecos. I would suggest for you to get some sinking shrimp pellets and alage wafers. The mollies and probably tetras will go for the sinking food as well as floating food. Then when you see your mollies busy at the bottom, put floating food in, this will give the angels a bit more time to devour some food before the other fish realize there is food at the top. I have feeling you may be a bit overstocked as well. Maybe you could get a seperate tank for the angels if that is possible.

[Jaster]

I've bumped into this too with my Angels and Mollys. Mollys are pigs...lol

Instead of sprinkling all the food onto the top of the water I started taking half the food and releasing it under the water so it spreads out and starts to sink and the other half I sprinkle on top of the water as normal. It seems to spread the food out enough that everyone has something to eat before the Mollys can eat it all.

[PostalPenguin]

I have the same with platys. What I do is "make a mess" with flake food. I take the flake food, crush it then put it in the outflow of my HOB. It scatters the food out real quickly and all fish can get some. I have plenty of bottom feeders so I dont worry about any missed pieces.

[jaysee]

I have the same with platys. What I do is "make a mess" with flake food. I take the flake food, crush it then put it in the outflow of my HOB. It scatters the food out real quickly and all fish can get some. I have plenty of bottom feeders so I dont worry about any missed pieces.

That's what I do...works well for frozen brine shrimp too.

I have the same problem with the tiger barbs.

[Northernguy]

Do you feed any veggies to that tank?
A variety of food may help.All my fish go after lettuce ,cucumber or whatever I put in there.Its more for the pleco but all the others sure seem to enjoy it.I also add flakes or pellets at that time .

[Gayle]

You could add some veggies as Ray suggested. And yes Mollies totally eat like pigs!!!

At feeding time you could also try to place the food in a variety of areas, if the Mollies are on one end eating then the Angels can get food at the other end of the tank. Or you could try some sort of divider at meal times if it comes down to it. I think though that the Angels will bully the Mollies right out of the way if they do get hungry enough.

[Wild Turkey]

you can also use a tube/pipe to feed the bottom of the tank and not the top