Less Than Daily Feedings?

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JohnRoscoe

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Jun 12, 2014
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I have a community tank that gets fed mostly flakes, occasionally sinking pellets, and once a week an algae wafer. Whatever I feed, it's once a day, in the early evening. I've noticed that when I skip a day, the tank is a bit cleaner and the fish feed as normal. Is once a day feeding considered the standard, or would every other be better in some cases? How would one know if they were under-feeding?




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I asked this too a few months back.

What I've gathered so far is ...

Fish can be underfed for a long time without showing signs of distress. They'll look thin if they're underfed.

And yes one sign of over feeding is a messy tank.

I've commonly heard twice daily feedings, but we will have to wait for the more experienced members to weigh in.

For me, the "clean tank and yet fish aren't too thin" has a lot to do with quality of food.

A long time ago a vet told me to feed my cats foods without certain byproducts, because they can't digest those, so they just eat more and are hungry and poop more and get unhealthily fat.

A lot of farmers will also tell you, to get fat pigs you feed them grain and skim milk. Sure it makes the animals unhealthy long run but in livestock it's about the short run. If you want a lean healthy pig that doesn't eat much, doesn't poop much, and lives a long time, you feed it meat and whole milk and fruits and vegetables.

We are slowly waking up to the research that shows this is true in humans, and most other animals we've been pushing grain on. For instance, farmed salmon is often corn fed, and it ends up not having the healthy fats on the dinner table.

That lack of healthy fats surely makes a difference to the fish's health. In humans too the type of fat we have in our bodies impacts health more than the quantity.

That's a lot of tangents and far more than you asked, but i believe wholeheartedly that quality of food is more important than quantity.

So I go with a fish food that is high in protein and fat, and not overly full of starches. I can't commit to live and fresh food ... New life spectrum is my favorite. I tried cobalt and some others but my tank got much cleaner when I switched to NLS.


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I feed once a day only since it wouldn't surprise me if I over feed. I've tried not feeding for a day and noticed the tank is cleaner but they take it out on the plants. Dwarf grass in particular get uprooted and spread in bits all over the tank.
 
I used to feed once a day, but now I feed twice, slightly smaller amount. The fish seem to enjoy a meal about an hour before lights-off for the night. I also feed NLS flakes. The Optimum Freshwater flakes--all my fish love them, and I swear by them. I also feed earthworm/blackworm flakes, occasionally algae wafers and sinking wafers for the plecos, shrimp pellets, and as for frozen, they have a big variety. Bloodworms, daphnia, brine shrimp, krill (chopped), Emerald Entree (boy, do they love it!) Sally's Freshwater Multi Pack. The last two are the most expensive, but they last a long time, as the fish only get them about once a week. I just rotate, and they get a different food every day. I also feed NLS pellets, and the betta NLS pellets. My fish don't seem to care as much for mysis shrimp, for some reason. The rainbowfish like beef heart chopped up, but I can't get it chopped finely enough for the smaller fish. I just prefer feeding twice a day most of the time because the fish really do look forward to their evening meal, and I don't suppose they enjoy going to bed on an empty stomach, but that's just me.
 
I think it depends also on the type of fish you have. For example, I feed my mid swimmers in the early evening and then before lights out I feed the bottom dwellers since they seem to eat more actively at night. Also, I tend to put only a little food in at a time to make sure a giant flurry isn't just sinking to the bottom and going uneaten. Fish can survive quite a long time without food but I think rather than skipping a day it might be better to consider how you can change the way you feed or what you feed to minimize waste and cleaning needed. Also, I suck up anything that sits (and poo) with a turkey baster throughout the week, it helps cut down the vac effort.
 
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