I think I might have underfed my baby kribs. Is it bad?

[crazy72]

They look healthy, they're active, they're starting to colour up nicely, and I haven't lost one since they were about 2 weeks old (well ok, I actually lost 2/3 of them to my filter intake, stupid me, but that has nothing to do with underfeeding). The thing is they're probably nearly 3 months old now, and they're still pretty small. The bigger ones might measure 3/4 of an inch, if that...

So I'm thinking I might have underfed them. I started going back to 2 feedings a day now to compensate, but my question to the experts is: can it be bad for them? I think most fish basically grow all their lives, so does this just mean that they'll be late in their development, or can there be some serious damage that they might not recover from?

If they only end up being little kribs but with everything working normally, including fertility, then I don't mind too much. In my totally unbiased opinion they'll still be the cutest kribs around.

Thanks.

[Nanokid]

kribs grow fairly slow, however - growing fry fast requires lots of water changes and heavy feedings - 1 feeding a day is not enough. what food are you feeding? i feed my grow outs 3 times a day, sometimes 5 when im home. and water changes 50% weekly

as far i as i can tell(from experiencing) they wont be stunted, they will just take much more time to reach adult hood.

[crazy72]

Thanks for the reply. I feed them mostly blood worms and Tetra Colour bits. So now I've gone back to 2 feedings a day, and typically they get one feeding of each.

I agree that feeding more means more wcs. I've been doing about 30% weekly. I can pick that up too.

Cheers.

[Nanokid]

Thanks for the reply. I feed them mostly blood worms and Tetra Colour bits. So now I've gone back to 2 feedings a day, and typically they get one feeding of each.

I agree that feeding more means more wcs. I've been doing about 30% weekly. I can pick that up too.

Cheers.

i would personally get some NLS and get rid of the tetra flakes - they are very low quality. breeding fish you NEED to have high quality food. the bloodworms are good but very messy, and so- so on complete nuitrents. i would switch the bloodworms to the frozen brineshrimp - (by certain company, [PEI?]that has much better nuitrient specs)

[crazy72]

i would personally get some NLS and get rid of the tetra flakes - they are very low quality. breeding fish you NEED to have high quality food. the bloodworms are good but very messy, and so- so on complete nuitrents. i would switch the bloodworms to the frozen brineshrimp - (by certain company, [PEI?]that has much better nuitrient specs)

What is NLS?

[Nanokid]

What is NLS?

NEW life spectrum-fish food. its good quality food, ivuse it for grow out. however its ridiculously expensive (15$ for a 500 gram (?) container) and its not wallet friendly. thus i use a different brand for regular feedings.

[crazy72]

I actually have some of that. I didn't realise it was better quality food than the Tetra Colour bits. Mind you, I didn't pay for it, I got it with something else I got 2nd hand from a forum member. But now I can see the price tag, yes. Anyway, I'll try that tomorrow morning and see what they think of it. Thanks.