How do you get shy fish fed?

[|squee|]

I've shy Boraras urophthalmoides with bold Trigonostigma espei in a heavily planted 2ft tank.

Thing is, the Boraras stay at the bottom most of the time among the crypts, and the Espeis are freely roaming the tank. Whenever I feed, the Espeis get to all the food and hardly any manages to get to the bottom layer of the tank where the Boraras are.

I've tried spot feeding, as in putting my hand in and "directing" the food towards the Boraras. Although it's kind of successful, is there any other way to get those shy buggers out in the open? I've had them for a while now.

[XnSdVd]

sinking pellets? That might help...

[Justikanz]

I am luckier as my Boraras urophthalmoides stays on top in my Java moss mass shying from all the other schools. I drop more food at their direction and feed at the other end of the tank at the same time so the active ones will eat from the other side. I also try to make the food particles smaller so the bigger fish are less inclined to eat them... Hope it helps.

[stormhawk]

Overfeeding is the key. As long as the espeis are full, they usually do not go for extra bits of food. This is when the Boraras get to feed. So just feed extra each time you place food in the tank.

Occasionally I will drop some tablet food in there but I tend to break it into smaller pieces. This way, when the big fish take bites at the tabs, they kind of break it into smaller pieces that waft into the water column. The Boraras literally feed on this "effluent" of tiny food particles.

I use a turkey baster to directly squirt some live worms where my shy Poecilocharax weitzmani are. But after some time, they too will come out into the open and fight for their share of food.

First week they were damn shy. Now, they are very bold and nicely coloured. Too bad I don't have more.