# Sudden Death By Gluttony



## essabee (Oct 11, 2006)

Those of us who overfeed our fish ( I think it is most of us) with dry foods will get a few sudden deaths by gluttony, especially in well stocked community tanks. Dry foods eaten fast, when too much, becomes gross excess after it starts puffing up on absorption of water. It’s been an experience of mine, especially during the time I away from town and dry-food was the staple for the fish. 

Now I no longer feed dry food. Even freeze dried foods, are soaked in luke-warm water before being introduced into a community aquarium. With cichlid tanks I don’t worry, but the barb/rainbow/tetra communities have such a disparity in feeding habits, I dare not introduce dry foods.

I would like to know the experiences and feeding strategies used by other aquarist in like conditions.


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## cassiusclay (Feb 19, 2007)

ive been feeding my tanks theyre dry food via turkey baster and soaking it for around 10 mins. for years. it works quite well from what i see.
EDIT:yes i over feed my fish now and then.........no i often over feed my fish lol


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## timewalker03 (Feb 27, 2007)

I over feed my 20g tank quite often. On my 55g I have 10 non algae eating non bottom dewlling fish. I have 3 bottom dwelling fish and 7 algae eating fish. I feed 10 large flake Mon Wed Fri on Tues Thu Sat I feed 1 shrimp pellet cut in half. All my fish are healthy and have grown quite a bit in the 6 months since I have had them.


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## Homer_Simpson (Apr 2, 2007)

I have a 59 gallon stocked to capacity(perhaps even a little overstocked). The fish in that tank are fed a combination of pellets and dry flake food once a day Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri. On Saturday, they get a feeding of frozen blood worms as a special treat and on Sunday it is back to a combination of pellets and flakes. I also throw in a couple of algae disks for my Siamese Algae Eater and the BlackSkirt, Giant Danio, and Kribensis take some bites out of it when it hits the water. In 7+ years of doing this, I have had the odd fish death but nothing major. All the fish appear alive and healthy and the water parameters always test normal.

In my 20 gallon that is overstocked. The fish are fed pellets and a algae disk is thrown in daily for the otos to feed off. Once a week(Saturday), the fish receive a frozen blood worm treat. This set up has been in place for 1 year and I have had no fish deaths. Lol, even the hatchet fish, neon tetras, and otos which are known to be somewhat sensitive are doing fine. The water parameters always test normal.


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## tkos (Oct 30, 2006)

I have been using predominantly dried food for 5 years in my tanks. My white clouds and cories have been doing just fine. I do feed sparingly though and am not an overfeeder. I even skip the occasional day of feeding.


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

I personally never over feed my tanks, plus I feed such a variety of foods I do not have the problems you describe.


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## aquabillpers (Apr 13, 2006)

I feed almost 100 percent flake food, with an occasional feeding of live food when it is available.

In many years of keeping fish I don't think I've ever had a fish die of gluttony. In fact, I probably underfeed. But then, I don't think I've ever had a fish die from hunger, either.

My rule of thumb is if the dry food sinks to the bottom, I have overfed. How do the bottom feeders get food? I rarely have any, but the cories that I have kept in the past soon learn to swim up to where the food is. 

Bill


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## wiste (Feb 10, 2006)

Recently, I have noticed that these neon tetras become positively buoyant after feeding dry flakes.
They are fed only once a day. I fed them twice one day and one of the fish would occasionally bounce to the surface.


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## Dracolique (May 28, 2007)

I have never lost a fish due to gluttony or related symptoms that I am aware of, although I have almost lost Discus several times due to complications from dry food... they get bloated, have trouble staying under the surface, and eventually either give up and float to the surface, or prop themselves under something (like driftwood) to stay under water.

In very extreme cases I have physically picked the Discus up and gently massaged its intestinal area until the plug or gas buildup was alleviated through the rectum... and then I did not feed them for two days to make sure they were clear. I would not recommend doing ANYTHING like that though unless you are intimately familiar with the physiology of the specific fish you are trying to treat (you dont want to rupture a gas bladder or disrupt the rythm of their heart for example).

I recently modified the diet of my Discus to include almost no dried food... and it includes lots of fiber for ease of digestion. Since then I have not had these problems anymore.


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Dry flake food is a part of my feeding rotation as well, with it being probably about 60 - 75% of what they get and I've never experienced those problems either.
If they are bloating up after eating, I would say there's something else going on internally (maybe parasites) that is not letting it pass through their guts.


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## Kelley (Aug 27, 2006)

Flakes rehydrate almost instantaniously after they hit the water, so I can't see how they would pose a problem. Perhaps, pellets would be worse?


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## oblongshrimp (Aug 8, 2006)

I got a bunch of rainbow fish and my god are they pigs....I don't think I overfeed since nothing hits the bottom but they are so ravenous its hard to tell.


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## wiste (Feb 10, 2006)

> Flakes rehydrate almost instantaniously after they hit the water


When sprinkling flake food on the water surface, the flakes float until at least partially rehydrated.
Except when overfeeding, the large majority of the flakes never get a chance to sink.


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