My wife lost her male swordtail and 2 neons within the last few days. The neons were bloated and the swordtail I believe passed away due to a cyst he had for awhile. This is really aggrevating. Why would the neons get bloat? They get an array of different food now to combat this.

Firstly sorry to hear about your losses Do you feed live food i.e bloodworm or daphnae ? the reason i ask is feeding live foods every now and again, helps to prevent constipation, (as it keeps the fish active) i personaly feed live foods 3 times a week for this reason

I feed Frozen bloodworms and/or frozen brine shrimp once a week. I have to watch the amount of high protein food I feed because of the plecs.

I know you have to watch the amount of high protein food you feed because of your plecs, but i thought the neons and swordtails were in, another tank. Instead of using frozen food swap it for live food

I have L27, L81, ancistrus cf. triradiatus, L106, 2 L104, L174 in my wifes 50 gallon community.

Right with ya now, well like i said your only feeding bloodworm once or twice a week, try live instead of frozen if you can

In the suggestion to keep protein levels down, what would be the difference in switching from frozen food to live ?

Wouldn't the makeup of the food be the same ?

There would be no differance between the two, but the differance between live and frozen could be constipation, live food keep a fish more active as the fish have to chase the live food, as opposed to just sit there and eat frozen, plus in my opinion, and it is mine, i think live food is far better for the fish, but i will say i still feed frozen foods (prawns, lancefish), but when it comes to bloodworm & daphnae i prefere live

Why not just chase the fish about with your hand for a bit, and then give them the frozen !

I drop in a scoop of Mozzie larvae every-so-often, but they don't give much of a chase.

But I sympathise with the Fishes. There are several food types, where I prefer the fresh version, to the post-thaw version.

The frozen Prawns, are they the good sized type you buy for the Stir-Fry or Curry, or the little weeny ones for the Fried-Rice ?

The prawns i use are the big ones, wife is not happy that i give the fish best prawns, but as i keep asking her "would you be happy with the cheep and nasty ones ?"