over feeding

[benji-star]

hey i was just feeding my fish and i spilled a large amount of fish food into the tank (over half the container) I immediately began to scoop out the extra food. However it took along time and the fish ate well over there fill.
what damage can over feeding cause?

This question also sparked my imagination to ask what problems can over feeding on a daily basis cause (long term effects etc....)

 

[Corty]

All I've seen it do is cause poor water quality. The same happened to me - scooping out the food, then a large water change (and gravel vac) and everything was fine.. except I probably had some more pest snails than usual, if I didn't get everything out of the gravel.

 

[rubysoho]

I'd expect that they'd have big bellies for a day or so. Maybe just not feed them tomorrow?

In the long run, you'll have a dirtier tank (more food=more waste) and fat fishies.

 

[TankGirl]

Definitely do a good water change, and repeat this in about 3 days when the food will be decayed and will have impacted the water quality. I'd skip feeding the fish for 2 days, myself - so much more harm overfeeding than underfeeding. You might consider the first meal to be peas after 2 days of fasting to be sure they do not experience any "clogs" in their digestive tract from the giant meal.

Good luck! (I just recently got twins out of toddlerhood so this experience is not new for me.... )

 

[breadman]

I don't think you can over feed fish. It's no good for your water quality, but there are few fish that will eat themselves to death. I worked in fish reserch for a while, and fish on stuy would be feed 3-4 times/day until they stoped eating. We would even feed younger fish 6-7 times/day.

 

[rubysoho]

don't younger fish need more feedings anyway??

 

[MACATUA]

Sure, I think what he is saying is that they will stop befor ethey hurt themselves.

 

[fearlessfisch]

it's thanksgiving season. i probably will be skipping a few meals too after next week.