The 3 minute rule foiled by my filter?

[richberstler]

I know, I know... I'm flooding the airways today with tons of questions, but I'm full of it, ummm I mean *them*...

So, Ive been watching my 20 high tank over the past few weeks when I feed them. (details in my sig) In 3 minutes all the fish continue to eat the flakes. I noticed, however, when feeding them flakes and frozen daphina the water spout send so much if it sinking into the water at one time they can't get to it all.

I have all sorts of bottom feeders to help with that, but it keeps making me wonder if I'm still feeding them too much. In a perfect world I'd be around to feed them less food 3 times a day, but due to work I am really limited to twice.

Am I missing a trick? Am I feeding too much? How can I tell, if I cut back, if they aren't getting enough?

[Faith_at_Large]

Sometimes it can be a little tricky learning how much your fish can eat in two minutes if the filter is moving the food all through the tank. I use a feeding ring on the opposite corner to my filter and this keeps the food from being scattered and lets me watch what they are eating. The feeding ring uses a suction cup to mount on the side and floats up and down as the water evaporates and gets replenished. If you have a bully who likes to eat all the food, you might even consider more than one feeding ring.

[OscarFan]

You could also turn the filter down a bit.