How much is too much food?

[Taratron]

In my 20 long tank (gallons), I have 2 bristlenose plecos, 6 emerald eyed rasboras, and 6 bronze cories, not to mention a ton of MTS.

Two questions: how much food is TOO much for my plecos? There's little to no algae in the tank right now, so I usually give them one algae disc a night. Yesterday I tossed in an inch long piece of lettuce--which was eaten promptly. I added another piece of similar size today, and replaced it with a two inch one tonight (after the male demolished the piece).

Am I not feeding them enough, or too much?

Next q: if my bristlenose breed, will the male defend the eggs from MTS?

[Silurus]

That doesn't sound like too much. The fish cannot digest plant material all that well anyway, so it should pass through the GI tract fairly quickly.

[aeroflight]

You know, the word on how much to feed is almost always "as much as the fish will eat in 5 minutes." I try to follow this advice with most of my fish, but not my plecos (a gibby and two ancistrus sp.). I usually toss in about 3-5 algae wafers a night. There's always something left on the bottom after 5 minutes. However, I guess I've got the attitude that as long as it's gone by morning it's okay.

[coryfav]

Ha, I've this rule for my plecs:

I feed your in the morning, make sure I don't see any leftover that evening. I feed you at night, make sure you finish everything the next morning. Otherwise, I'll give you a tablet less, during the next feed.

Yeah, I think it doesn't really work on 'finish in 5 minutes' for plecs, especially when most of mine only comes out to eat when no one's around.

[Connie]

In my opinion it is really your judgement on how much your guys eat, kinda play with it and if you find you are overfeeding remove the extra food.
maybe try 2 algae wafers a night and if you see any leftovers try 1 and 1/2 same with the veggies.
Connie