# Mollies that only eat off the bottom?



## organometallica (Oct 24, 2012)

So I have a question for the group. I have a pair of Mollies that I was told would eat floating tropical flakes. Much to my chagrin, they reject these unilaterally--until they sink. In fact, they seem to much prefer the sinking frog pellets and the algae pellets for my pleco.

1) is this normal?

2) Are those foods alright for them as a primary form of sustenance? (The betta certainly doesn't mind not having to fight someone away from his breakfast!)

3) If either of the above is no, then how can I train them to eat the tropical flakes? I tried fasting them for a few days and then just giving them the flakes, but it's the same deal. They won't eat them until they've sunk, at which point they've been fouling the tank for 5-10 minutes.

Thoughts?

(worse yet is that I think they've taught my tetra to eat off the bottom! Eep!)


----------



## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

fish will feed wherever they wish....top , bottom or otherwise...as long as they are eating it doesn't matter....
i know....all the books say that they are surface feeders....the only problem is that the fish are so stupid they refuse to read all them books...and they have no fingers to type with for surfacing the net...


----------



## organometallica (Oct 24, 2012)

I mean, as long as they're getting the proper nutrition, I suppose it's all OK. It used to be an issue because they'd out-eat my frogs (which they no longer live with as a result).


----------



## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Some fish are stupid. If they are used to eating sinking food, they will wait until food sinks. My angels were doing this, until I put in a pair of rams. The rams came to the surface and beat them to the food, it wasn't long before all the fish in the tank were coming up when I walked by, even the otos. Mollies should have more veggies in their diet than a lot of tropical fish. Algae food will be fine, but they will eat the flakes after they sink, too.


----------



## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Those big molly lips are made for scraping.


----------

