I just adopted four HUGE commons. They have mainly been eating TetraFin Goldfish Crisps and occasionally Wardley Goldfish Premium Flakes and Tetra Baby Shrimp sun-dried treats.

Since their move, they seem to be hesitant to eat from the top of the tank, so I thought I would get some sinking pellets and see if they liked that better. The only sinking pellets they had at the store today were Tetra ColorFin Sinking Granules. I fed them those today and they didn't eat them right away, but after about 10 minutes most of them were gone.

Any thoughts on a good sinking pellet? Or should I just continue to feed them the crisps they have been eating all along? They are HUGE and very healthy, so I don't want to fix what isn't broken! But for some reason they do not want to come to the top of the tank to eat the crisps, although their previous owner says that is what they used to do. They will eat the crisps after they float down, but lots of them get lost to the filter. I was thinking about trying some peas too, but again, I don't want to mess with what has been working all along.

Thanks!

Don't be afraid to try new things feeding ur fish only flakes & pellets is not a healthy regime for them. The more variety, the better. Keep giving them what u want them to eat. If they're hungry, they'll eat it anyway.

Note on feeding flakes & pellets:
Always soak them in tank water for a few minutes before feeding. It allows the pellets/flakes to expand OUTSIDE the fish's gut, plus it makes them softer, and floating ones sink. Sinking food is better, cos the fish wont gulp air as with floating food.

I feed mine tetraExotic sinking sticks, and they love it! none of my fish will surface feed anymore, they wait till the food comes to them

I've noticed that my fish won't come to the surface anymore to eat since I got a new tank either...hmmm, I guess thats good, less chance of SBD. Just give them whatever you want, variation is good for them

Thanks guys! They are actually in the same tank they were in with their previous owner, but they were out of it for awhile and I am sure I have it set up differently. I want to try giving them some lettuce and peas, but they are so healthy looking I don't want to mess up them up either! I will keep trying to give them various things, and I forgot to mention that I am soaking the pellets before giving them. :-)

I worry because now they suck on the gravel to get at the food instead of eating from the top like they did for Joanna, and I don't want gravel to get stuck in their mouths/throats. Once they move into their new tank they are getting river rocks that I *think* will be too big to suck up (except maybe for Cherry-she is the gigantic one).

I am just a paranoid new-fish mama! :-)

We should make a paranoid fish mama club!! I think once you get river rock even gigantic Cherry shouldn't be able to suck them up. Just make sure you get fairly large ones. I've heard that bigger than 1 inch should do the trick.

I have a big comman his name is Big John but I don't know if he is a girl so I call him Big Joana to.

Jen, You can try the feeding plate / bowl idea that was mentioned in the tip of the month! it is literally a small plate placed in the tank and at feeding time you put the soaked food on that .. this way they don't root thru the gravel

I think I will try a food dish, especially once they move to their bigger home. It sounds like a great idea, and will help keep the tank a little cleaner to boot, and with the four giants, a little cleaner is a good thing!

Any suggestion on sinking pellet brand names? I don't mind ordering online if necessary. Like I said above, I only found that one kind of sinking pellets at the store (I looked at Petco and an lfs). All the others were flakes or floating pellets.

I like the paranoid mama fish club! And I am glad I'm not the only one with a giant common, too bad Big John/Joana and Cherry couldn't meet someday! (I really have no idea if Cherry is female or not).

Thank you!

A lot of people (myself included), feed ProGold from goldfishconnection.com. It's a great sinking pellet. My fish love it!!

I may try and get some of that, since I have not been able to find it in any of the local pet stores. I knew Progold was supposed to be good, but I did not know it was a sinking pellet! Yay, and thank you!

ProGold is only sold online at goldfishconnection.com but I'm sure there are other sinking pellets available at your lps. I don't know which ones are good--sorry!!