B. merah feeding

[sakuras]

I have bought some b. merah which has been sold to me as boraras brigittae but i am equally happy. But now i have a problem in their feeding. What can i give them to eat? they are so small even when i crushed my pellets it seems really big to them.

[Urban Aquaria]

They are probably new to the tank so still acclimatizing and haven't recognized pellet food yet. These small fishes are actually able to take bites out of larger pellets after they soften abit in the water.

I noticed the ones i got seem to get enough food by just hunting around the substrate and plants, most likely they are finding scraps of food or tiny copepods/micro organisms to eat.

In the meantime, you can try feeding them with Hikari First Bites, its meant for tiny fish fry and look like powder so confirm they can eat it. Don't overfeed them though, they don't need that much food.

[sakuras]

Should I switch off the hob filter when I feed them the crush pellets? It is because they don't dare chase the sunken pellets as there a 2 balloon rams which dominate the lower part of the aquarium

[Urban Aquaria]

Should I switch off the hob filter when I feed them the crush pellets? It is because they don't dare chase the sunken pellets as there a 2 balloon rams which dominate the lower part of the aquarium

Its probably a good idea to switch off the filter when feeding, make it easier for the smaller fishes to swim and get the food... though with those larger fishes in the tank, most probably the b. merah are abit scared due to their sheer difference in size to the balloon rams, so it might take them a while to gather confidence.

This is the common issue in community tanks, the larger or more aggressive fishes usually get the food first and the shy fishes only get leftovers.

[sakuras]

There's like 10 of them b merahs. But its a mystery the rams do not mess with sole oto cat I have. Have never seen him eat before.

[stormhawk]

It's likely your Otocinclus is busy when the lights are out. However, if you have not seen the fish lately, I'd suggest you look around the tank, just in case.