Hey everybody it's feeding time!

[captain morgan]

My question to all of you is, Does anybody else out there ever turn off their
pumps when they feed their fish? I have always been in the habit of doing this
for 2 reasons, first because every fish in the tank knows it's time to eat as soon as the pumps go off and they all rush to the front or top of the tank to see what's for supper. Second is because if I am feeding flake or slow sinking food, this keeps the food from being blown around all over the tank making my fish chase it or having the filters suck some of it back up before it gets eaten. I find this easy to do since my pumps are plugged into a powerbar, it is just a flick of a switch to turn off and on again. Just wondering if anyone else
does this as I have never seen it mentioned before.

[GrillMaster]

I like watchin my fish chase the food all over the place myself. It gets those sparring juices flowing in em...;) :) :)

You should have prefilter sponges on the intakes so ya dont have to worry about the food gettin sucked into the filter. :)

[johnm3]

Cap'n,

I've just started with Discus again, two weeks ago, 16 fish, and I do the same thing. I was wondering if it has any effect on the bio of the filter by doing this. It is only unplugged for about 20 minutes. I'm feeding mostly blood worms and beaf heart to grow them.

JOhn

[DavidH]

Pre-filters, only way to go

[pherfect]

I shut off the pump when I feed bloodworms cause' I have an overflow system. All the other food I let the pump run cause' it sinks.

[Autumn Wind]

nope I too like watching them chase the food, prefilter and bottom cleaners help in my case.

[captain morgan]

JohnM3
My filters are only shut off for 5 minutes max. By that time all the food is gone so no harm done with lack of oxygen to the biomedia. As for using a foam sponge on the intakes, I just don't care for the looks of them and would they not stop larger particulate matter in the water from going into the filters where you want it to go instead of collecting on the sponge an thus reducing water flow and efficientncy sooner?

[Peachtree Discus]

no changes - by the time the food hits the water, i am off feeding another tank. our average feedings are 5x daily, so these guys figure it out pretty quickly. as soon we enter the room, everybody bolts to the top of the tank.

still, your 2nd reason (filters sucking the food) makes a lot of sense. we don't feel flake yet, so its not an issue. if it works best for you - keep it up.

[Moon]

It's OK as long as you don't forget to turn the filter back on. I've done that a couple of times.