# Feeding Chili Rasbora: Twice daily? Live food daily?



## DimitriSF (Oct 28, 2017)

MrGoodkat said:


> I am trying to get my routine down for feeding my chili rasbora. I would not feed them anything once a week.
> 
> Would feeding them twice a day be too much? Is it bad in any way if I fed them live food daily? I have microworm cultures and brine shrimp for them.
> 
> Any recommendations are appreciated. Thanks!



I would not feed them twice a day, but that's just me. I think my fish stay healthier, longer, if they're not overfed. Hungry fish are healthy fish.


You can feed them mostly live food, so long as they can fit them in their mouths. Microworms and brine shrimp are a great choice. I would still vary the diet though, and do some micropellets; I grind the pellets in my hand before I add to the tank, so they can fit in their mouths.


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## kaldurak (May 2, 2010)

I mortar and pestle fish food and algae wafers into a powder to feed my Chilis. Anything larger and they have a tough time consuming it.

I feed once every other day.


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## MrGoodkat (Jul 7, 2018)

DimitriSF said:


> I would not feed them twice a day, but that's just me. I think my fish stay healthier, longer, if they're not overfed. Hungry fish are healthy fish.
> 
> 
> You can feed them mostly live food, so long as they can fit them in their mouths. Microworms and brine shrimp are a great choice. I would still vary the diet though, and do some micropellets; I grind the pellets in my hand before I add to the tank, so they can fit in their mouths.





kaldurak said:


> I mortar and pestle fish food and algae wafers into a powder to feed my Chilis. Anything larger and they have a tough time consuming it.
> 
> I feed once every other day.



Thanks for all of the advice. It is good to know. I'll definitely not feed twice a day. I'm going to go with 5 days a week, off on the weekends.


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## D.Farci (Mar 15, 2016)

I've always dropped a pinch of tiny flake into their tank every night (with the occasional "I'm busy and don't make it home before dark" skip day), and they have lived for two years. I lost two last month to old age, and one more looks to be on its way out, but the other ones I have are still kickin' with great colors. Baby brine shrimp is the best thing but they have shown lovely colors with flake.


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## Wantsome99 (Nov 27, 2016)

I feed my fish once a day and only what they can eat in under a minute. Been doing it for years never had a problem. The only time I feed more is when I'm trying to breed something.


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## hspallek (Aug 6, 2021)

My 16 Chili Rasbora seem to like Brine Shrimp, but I have trouble providing the right amount, at the right time and at the right speed. I have a planted 91 litres (23gallon) cube tank.

See, here how one is coming eating far less than I release through the pipette: 





Here, a few short videos where there are more coming to the feeding, but they cannot capture them fast enough:















If I carefully release them through a feeder almost one by one, they will not notice and often hang out on the opposite side of the tank. They really like the red glass sculpture that I have as decoration:





Any suggestions?


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## ElleDee (May 16, 2020)

@hspallek You are over thinking this. There's no need to micromanage the speed that you feed the baby brine shrimp to your fish - they are alive and will swim around for a while and any interested chili rasbora will have plenty of time to hunt them down like the little micro predators they are. They might miss some, but the remaining shrimp have hardly any biomass unless you grossly overfeed, so I don't worry about it. Just dump it in all at once and let them go ham.

Are your chili rasbora new? Mine were shy at first, but now they are always out and ready for food when I'm around. There's no way they would space out on some baby brine action. If they aren't eating well at all it could be some kind of illness.


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## Blue Ridge Reef (Feb 10, 2008)

I feed my chilies small meals 2x daily (mostly flake food) and they breed in my tank so it seems to work for them. This tank is at work, and they go unfed for 2 days every weekend. If you are feeding lightly enough, heck, you can feed 5x daily. I'd imagine that would replicate the natural environment of foraging more closely anyway. What matters most is that they are eating the food and none goes uneaten.


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## hspallek (Aug 6, 2021)

ElleDee said:


> @hspallek There's no need to micromanage the speed that you feed the baby brine shrimp to your fish - they are alive and will swim around for a while


Thanks, ElleDee! Eventually, the bring shrimps get sucked up into the canister filter. I could turn off the pump, of course, but then remembering to turn it on again...



ElleDee said:


> @hspallek Are your chili rasbora new?


They have been 6 weeks in the tank which is heavily planted. I do not have the impression that anything is wrong and they are not scared except during cleaning when they all huddle together.



Blue Ridge Reef said:


> I feed my chilies small meals 2x daily (mostly flake food) and they breed in my tank so it seems to work for them. This tank is at work, and they go unfed for 2 days every weekend. If you are feeding lightly enough, heck, you can feed 5x daily. I'd imagine that would replicate the natural environment of foraging more closely anyway. What matters most is that they are eating the food and none goes uneaten.


Thanks, Blue Ridge Reef! Good point about how they forage in nature.


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## Eightsided (Oct 14, 2021)

Like human food fish food goes off once the seal is opened. Use any food you have and if its solid blow it up with a baster when dissolved. 
If you want better quality rasboras then rotate your fish food product monthly and add dried brine shrimp eggs


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## somewhatshocked (Aug 8, 2011)

Eightsided said:


> Like human food fish food goes off once the seal is opened.


Some food will go bad. Most won't. Depending upon the type, most dry foods with low moisture content that you keep in ideal environments will be good for several years. Especially micro pellets, decapped brine and quality flake.


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