Feeding fish

[MitcherNeaf]

I got my tank set up and feel i have a good grasp on most everything i need to know except feeding the fish. What i was wondering is i have 3 different type of foods and was wondering how ofton i should use them, BTW i have 3 balas, i also have a pleco but i just throw in algae tabs for him, but any suggestions on how many i feed him a week (55 gallon tank, he is 12 inches long).
Also i have frozen blood worms, vegie flakes, and shrimp pellets.

I figure the blood worms are a treat, maybe given on a weakly bases. And the pellets and flakes are on a daily basis. But how much, should i give the pellets one day the flakes the other, or feed them twice a day and alternate between or what?
Thankyou
Mitch

 

[Guest]

as much as they can eat in 2 mins. you want to feed them sparingly.

i'd give flakes or pellets once a day, small pinches over 2 mins. give a pinch, let them eat it all. if you have more time in your 2 mins, give another small pinch. let them eat it all....so on for about 2 mins.

 

[Pleco]

I feed once a day whatever they can eat in 1 minute. I usually drop a Hikari algae or Hikari tropical fish tab to the bottom for the pleco, the other fish will nip at it too.

I feed Hikari micro pellets Monday-Friday, on Saturday and Sunday i feed them TetraColor flakes. Any of the color enhancing foods you need to watch out on, they are really high in fats and can make obese fish fairly quickly

I drop Zucchini, frozen corn, or frozen peas in the tank once a week to mix things up a little. Dont let fresh veggies sit in the tank for too long, you dont want them to rot in your tank, also some veggies have a polish on the skin that can make your water cloudy peel the veggies if you can.

I have found that the 2 min rule tends to get people overfeeding the fish, i tend to tell people 1 minute and i follow it myself. A fishes stomach is roughly the size of their eye, doesnt take much to fill it

-Pleco

 

[MitcherNeaf]

thanks alot guys, any ideas on which is better for balas the flakes or the pellets or just go back and forth, and btw none of my fish seem to go after the food as soon as it is dropped in, they just kinda let it break up and eat off of the bottom.

 

[justrelax]

feeding is just like everything else, there are just basic guidelines. like everyone said, the 1-2 minute rule is a pretty sound one. then just figure out what kinds of foods they will eat and are good for them! they'll let you know what they really like i think flakes and pellets are pretty much the same thing just in different forms, aren't they? maybe figure out which one they prefer and then get something else like brine shrimp or mysis flakes later to "spice things up". variety is good and, as mentioned, so is feeding sparingly.

 

[hc8719]

i feed my fish 3 times a day or more, i dont know whats with you people starving your fish once a day, if you feed your fish the the 2 minute rule, once a day you think that is really enough, if you feed your fish right, there is no messy tank due to leftover food

none of this "they dont eat this often in wild" arguement. because:
1.they arent in a wild
2.wild fish dont live as long
3.a benefit of being trapped in a glass cube should be eating a humane amount

 

[Guest]

1. my fish dont starve
2. i feed them once a day
3. they eat a humane amount of a varied diet and are very healthy

 

[hc8719]

1. my fish dont starve
2. i feed them once a day
3. they eat a humane amount of a varied diet and are very healthy

sorry i couldnt help but quote the contradictions...

 

[JRagg]

I've only ever fed once a day. I figure if I only eat one real meal a day and just pick food off the ground the rest of the day, then so can they.

I do however tend to overfeed a little bit (with pellets and bloodworms, flake doesn't get eaten after a few minutes). 90% of it is gone within the first 5 minutes, and the rest is generally gone within an hour or two.

 

[src]

sorry i couldnt help but quote the contradictions...

Since you seem absolute in your opinion that you are right and everyone else is wrong, do you have ANY evidence other than personal experience? Just curious.

 

[Guest]

i dont know whats with you people starving your fish once a day,

i doubt if anyone here has skinny under fed fish. i would bet that most people here bust their butt's taking care of their aquariums and their fish, plants, or any other creature that will live in an aquatic enviorment.

my fish do not starve and i have $40 worth of fish food in my fridge to prove it, along with the fish themselves to back it up. now lets see you back up your statements.

 

[hc8719]

sorry i couldnt help but quote the contradictions...

Since you seem absolute in your opinion that you are right and everyone else is wrong, do you have ANY evidence other than personal experience? Just curious.

ok... say you have a kissing gourami, they are a common fish, they are actually a lesser cool tropical tank fish, meaning where they prefer a lower 70s degree tank. but most people keep their tanks at 78-82 degrees, with a warm tank like that, they have a kicked up metabolism because of warmer water.

gouramis alone are voracious eaters, (as well as big poopers if anyone has one) by feeding them once a day, a few flakes, or a couple blood worms you think that'll be enough, sure it'll be enough to get by, but who wants to live on the minimum

i shouldnt have to explain this... here we go

src or fish face, eat a bowl of cereal the same time you feed your fish, and dont eat until you feed them again. if you only feed them once a day, you to will be a bit hungy come dinner,

now only eat one bowl of cereal a day, for a month or 2

personal experience needed? no just logic

 

[Pleco]

personal experience needed? no just logic

Unfortunatley your logic is flawed, fish are not human nor do they have the needs of a full grown adult human.

My best friend is a Marine Biologist for one of the large california aquariums, she is the one that gave me the advice on feeding once a day as much as they can eat in 1 mintue, along with supplements for the bottom feeders. Also how to vary the food by using different types, she also explained how a fishes stomach is around the size of its eye. She went in to the metabolism of fish but to be honest i glazed over, its all so scientific. I would trust the word of a PhD that works with fish for a living, so thats what i choose to do. I continue to go to her for advice (aswell as coming here).

Bottom line is my fish are happy, and they are far from underfed. From reading posts here i am sure everyone in this forum works their hardest to provide the best home they possibly can for their pets.

-Pleco

 

[hc8719]

...i find it doubtful any human has the metabolism of a gourami (you dont see us on the toliets 5 times a day? hopefully)

have you seen the eyes of kissing gouramis, there big, and i find it doubtful that that simple eye thing applies to all fish

just look at otos, their stomach is the size of a marble, i wouldnt go by that rule of thumb

just curious, do marine biologist do freshwater fish to, or do they have a diff name for that?

 

[src]

OK, hc, exactly how many supersized Big Mac meals does it take to meet your body's daily caloric requirements? Want to guess? Less than 1. Yes, you will get hungry, but you will have all of the CALORIES you need (although you will be missing vital nutrients).

That's because the food is processed and the caloric content is concentrated when compared to what our ancestors ate "in the wild". If you had to live "in the wild", you would have to do a lot more eating.

Likewise for fish. In the wild they don't get processed, concentrated, balanced, pre-packaged foods. They have to hunt for what they can find, and they eat a lot more to get the same nutrition. In the tank, they are fed processed, concentrated, balanced, pre-packaged foods, and therefore don't need to eat as much or as often. Hunger is not a sign that your body needs food, it just means your stomach is empty (obviously, something most Americans need to learn judging by the ever expanding guts).

Your example of a gourami is a very specific situation, and yes there are fish that need more food more often. But for _most_ fish, in _most_ aquariums, the rule of thumb of 1 feeding of what they can eat in 1 to 2 minutes works. It works for pretty much everyone who tries it.

You can keep pounding away at us for not buying into your opinion, but you aren't changing any minds. The facts just don't support you.

 

[hc8719]

OK, hc, exactly how many supersized Big Mac meals does it take to meet your body's daily caloric requirements? Want to guess? Less than 1. Yes, you will get hungry, but you will have all of the CALORIES you need (although you will be missing vital nutrients).

That's because the food is processed and the caloric content is concentrated when compared to what our ancestors ate "in the wild". If you had to live "in the wild", you would have to do a lot more eating.

Likewise for fish. In the wild they don't get processed, concentrated, balanced, pre-packaged foods. They have to hunt for what they can find, and they eat a lot more to get the same nutrition. In the tank, they are fed processed, concentrated, balanced, pre-packaged foods, and therefore don't need to eat as much or as often. Hunger is not a sign that your body needs food, it just means your stomach is empty (obviously, something most Americans need to learn judging by the ever expanding guts).

Your example of a gourami is a very specific situation, and yes there are fish that need more food more often. But for _most_ fish, in _most_ aquariums, the rule of thumb of 1 feeding of what they can eat in 1 to 2 minutes works. It works for pretty much everyone who tries it.

You can keep pounding away at us for not buying into your opinion, but you aren't changing any minds. The facts just don't support you.

mine didnt make sense? likewise...

what if you fed your fish frozen food, they arent this artifical processed food, because you seem pretty stubborn that a flake=big mac

btw i did the math for a big mac meal
big mac
large fries
large coke
-------------
1450 calories,

and no that is not enough to live on, you would not only be nutrition deficient, but in time your body would eat itself.

even a young, non exercising male, needs 2200-2400 calories minimum

and yes, i cant beleive we are arguing about this either

i hope i didnt "pound' too hard on your theory src

 

[Pleco]

I think HC totally is missing the points being brought up, either that or just see's/re-interprets it to what they like/want to see.

I think the bottom line is this: If the fish are happy, healthy and active then you are doing your job as their care takers. Everyone has their own methods and if they work for you and your particular circumstances then thats all that matters in the long run.

Myself, I will continue to trust the opinions of a trained professional.

To answer from before, now she works primarily with marine fish, but when she was studying it was both fresh and marine fish.

 

[hc8719]

dont tell me that im re-interrupting or only seeing what i want to pleco, i respected you and srcs ideas, respect mine

does anyone see a serious fatal decision in feeding your fish two or three times a day

unless your dumping a can of food in, and force feeding your fish, i really dont see it being a problem, infact i bet the fish would even like a second meal, and it might even be happier

ive pointed why i dont belive you should only feed a fish once daily, point out some flaws in mine for once, if im so wrong

 

[severum mama]

I feed my fish once a day, and only rarely feed them twice in one day. Occasionally I skip a day. My fish are neither underweight nor starving. My parrot cichlids are nice and plump. My yo yo loaches have grown exponentially since I bought them. My severum has grown 6 inches in the past couple of years. There are no diseases in any of my 5 tanks, no one is wasting away, no one is weak.

By feeding three times daily, your fish are likely overfed. Fish are always hungry. They lack the mechanism that tells them they are satiated. My fish would never turn down food, but that doesn't mean that they need more than what I give them. Have you tested your water lately? The more you feed, the more waste your fish will produce, and the quicker your nitrates will build up. Fish will be less happy in water with high nitrates than they would be if they were eating only once a day.

 

[Guest]

my fish will eat until they explode if i let them.

i feed once a day. sometimes twice if i feel spunky. they are growing faster than i can keep up with, and some are downright fat.

they breed, they play. they fight. they are very healthy. i have one sick fish right now out of five tanks and 55 + fish and one cranky bastard lobster (his name is fat bastard) and 5 apple snails and countless MTS.

if i fed 3 times a day they would eat it all. no doubt. if i fed constantly, they would eat it all. no doubt. but man, even feeding 1-2 times a day i have more poop than i can handle. especially my gouris, paradise and angels. and i do water changes and gravel vacs 2+ times a week.