Surface Feeding

[Alex Veidel]

I'm thinking about switching fish feeds. The feed I'm using sinks rather quickly, and my fish developed the habit of waiting for the food closer to the bottom of the tank, rather than surfacing for it. Is there anything I can do to encourage them to come closer to the surface to feed?

[Jim Kamen]

Alex, I was wondering  about sinking fish food.  I started with goldfish and surface feed them but then I purchased some food from a Tilapia farm and it sinks.  My first batch of Tilapia died because the farm shipped just as Florida was in a cold snap, so I am waiting for heaters and warmer weather before I order more. Still do you know if they bottom feed?

[Alex Veidel]

Well, tilapia are not "bottom feeders", but I think prey fish like to hang out closer to the bottom of a tank because they feel safer (especially when they are small, like mine), and if that also happens to be where the food is, then they'll definitely eat it. Only downside I'm noticing is that I miss having them surface to say hello :(

[Jim Kamen]

Thank you Alex.  I am going to have to wait at least a week or more before I can order more.  Too cold.

[Jeff S]

I have an aquarium full of Tilapia fry and they seem to eat all over the place. They meet the food at the top and chase it down to the bottom attacking it all the way. Funny thing about the food, I buy it in larger pellets that float but when I break it up for the smaller fish it sinks.

[Robert]

I recently ran out of flakes and switched over to pellets that floated at first but sank if I crushed them for my fish like Jeff observed. The tilapia don't seem to be able to eat the pellets whole and I'm concerned that they may not be eating the food if it's sinking.  Has anyone over the past 3 months observed that this is actually okay?

[Jeff S]

I think Tilapia are basically bottom feeders. I noticed that when I give them a mixture of floating and sinking food initially they feast at the top but quickly go down and leave the floaters until last. The problem with the fine sinking food is that it may get sucked out by the drain before it gets eaten. I have some Tilapia in my sump tank and they never seem hungry but they seem to be growing faster than the fish in the main tank.

[Keith Rowan]

my tilapia took the switch from sinking to floating food pretty quickly.. within a few days i'd say, and have been surface feeding for a year - blues and niles