Feeding fish?

[KFav93]

I know it's a little late to ask, but how often do you feed your fish? I hear mixed things about it and I'm just curious what you guys have to say.

 

[mjinxed]

Really depends on the fish. I have African cichlids and I feed them only what they can eat on 30 seconds 2x per day.

 

[A-cichlids]

I also have african cichlids and i do exactly the same..

 

[KFav93]

Really depends on the fish. I have African cichlids and I feed them only what they can eat on 30 seconds 2x per day.

I have mostly platys. And I was told to feed them once every other day. I've been doing that from the start, they seem okay.

 

[A-cichlids]

Who told you that ?

 

[KFav93]

Who told you that ?

The lady from my LFS

 

[A-cichlids]

No thats not true...twice a day what they will consume is fine..variety is also important

 

[KFav93]

No thats not true...twice a day what they will consume is fine..variety is also important

Yeah I know. I'll start feeding them in once a day. Twice is too much, in my opinion. I have pellets and blood worms I give them.

 

[ChanEKC]

I feed my fish up to 3x a day. I drop an algy tablet in every morning for my algy eater and all the fish usually have a go at it ( I also have mollys and a goby) and then in the afternoon I feed them frozen blood worms or live brine shrimp. And I put some zuchinni slices in the tank as well.

 

[enrgizerbunny]

3 times a week or so. I sold my interior tanks, so I won't feed the goldfish until about April.

Young fish need food more often, but adult fish can go every couple days. My angels had constipation problems if they ate every day. Also, less food= less cleaning, mess in the filter, and nitrates.

 

[Andy Sager]

It's really more about how much food you feed than the amount of times. Once you know how much your fish will eat in a day, it is better to divide that amount into as many feedings as possible. So if you were feeding 2 times per day, you would feed 1/2 the total amount. 3 times a day, 1/3 the amount. 4 times a day, 1/4 the amount, etc.
One thing to remember is that if you feed more often, you will feed less food and so your filter will take less out, the substrate will have less uneaten food within it as well making the water cleaner for the fish. Also, the fish will have more energy throughout the day as they are getting nourishment throughout the day. Since most fish available today are not wild fish, they are getting fed 3-5 times a day every day so they are used to it.

 

[A-cichlids]

All my experience has to do with cichlids and i myself have no problems with letting my fish not consume any food for about 2 days a month...i believe it cleans out their digestion system...i really think twice a day is fine...some people do 3 times a day..in smaller amounts...as long as we are not over feeding...i cant see any problems with twice or three times a day...i like to feed my fish on different spots of the tank...some are real piggies..lol...so this helps out with all fish getting a fair share...i also have scavengers that help out on the bottom ...we dont want ectra food anywhere...for obvious reasons...

 

[Andy Sager]

All my experience has to do with cichlids and i myself have no problems with letting my fish not consume any food for about 2 days a month...i believe it cleans out their digestion system...i really think twice a day is fine...some people do 3 times a day..in smaller amounts...as long as we are not over feeding...i cant see any problems with twice or three times a day...i like to feed my fish on different spots of the tank...some are real piggies..lol...so this helps out with all fish getting a fair share...i also have scavengers that help out on the bottom ...we dont want ectra food anywhere...for obvious reasons...

The same applies even for cichlids. Overeating is a big problem with them so the more often they can be fed the less the chances of them overeating at a single feeding. It's also debatable that the fish will "cleanse" their systems if they don't eat. No input usually means no output either. But just as you should eat 3 meals a day, the fish can too.

 

[A-cichlids]

Yea...this is a mute issue for me now...in the nicest way...laughs

 

[enrgizerbunny]

Fish are like dogs and many other animals. They gorge themselves at food because they don't know where their next meal is coming from. For adult fish, "a hungry fish is a healthy fish" is a perfectly acceptable mantra. In the wild, fish wouldn't necessarily eat every day, and you can leave them without food for a week or longer. Lowering temperature lowers food requirement to a certain extent as well.

Frequent or infrequent feedings are acceptable, since fish don't need to eat every day like we do. However, like Andy said, the amount matters-especially for frequent feeders. I found it simpler to give a plentiful feed less often because it was difficult to portion the frozen food.

 

[A-cichlids]

Wow ...now we are talking about lowering temperature...this may be true...but its not something we should never suggest to anyone....some people might confuse ur advice and not completely understand...remember some people are just starting out and are not as advance in fish keeping yet as you may be...if you like to start another thread we can go into great details about anything that parallels with freshwater fish...but for now...i think less is best...

 

[Potluck]

Yeah I know. I'll start feeding them in once a day. Twice is too much, in my opinion. I have pellets and blood worms I give them.

You don't feed them a buffet twice, 2 small feedings is better than one big one

 

[A-cichlids]

Yes very simple...2 small feeding is better then 1 big one...perfect !

 

[KFav93]

It's really more about how much food you feed than the amount of times. Once you know how much your fish will eat in a day, it is better to divide that amount into as many feedings as possible. So if you were feeding 2 times per day, you would feed 1/2 the total amount. 3 times a day, 1/3 the amount. 4 times a day, 1/4 the amount, etc.
One thing to remember is that if you feed more often, you will feed less food and so your filter will take less out, the substrate will have less uneaten food within it as well making the water cleaner for the fish. Also, the fish will have more energy throughout the day as they are getting nourishment throughout the day. Since most fish available today are not wild fish, they are getting fed 3-5 times a day every day so they are used to it.

Thank you so much! You've been such a help lately. I really appreciate it. I will take your advice. I'm not home often during the day so it'll be hard to get 3 feedings in. I think I can manage 2 a day, but sometimes they'll have to just have 1. I work a lot.

 

[A-cichlids]

Perfect....