Fish feeding

[HopeGR]

How often should you feed molly fish, or fish in general? I was told every other day? And how much is 'too much?' I switch it up between flakes, veggie rounds, and crumbles.

 

[Aiken Drum]

In general as much as they will eat in 2 or 3 minutes daily. Skipping an occasional day (or even longer) wont harm them.

This should be tailored to the specific breed. Herbivore grazers need food more often because they dont have big stomachs to hold their eaten food and so are constantly pooping, and looking for another meal. Fry need food constantly. Nocturnal feeders need their food at night.

 

[HopeGR]

Re:

Well, I feed a pinch and it's gone in ten - twenty seconds, twice a day, and I was told it was too much because it raises nitrates.

I also have fry which I also feed first bites - which is powder like - and it's usually consumed before the poor fry get to it. They are 2 months old and still growing, but I feel they don't get enough and therefore, I feel I over-feed. I do water changes every few days because of the feeding and was told that is too often and wrong too! It's a 20 gallon.

 

[bill.marshall]

I feed my cichlids 1 time a day, I was told in the wild they do not find food everyday, so they don't need it, it will only cause balance problems...

 

[rlederer]

According to professionals who raise fish and those who keep them for scientific purposes, fish should be fed every day at about the same time. Reason is, their systems get used to being fed at a particular time and their hormones gear up for it. Just like we do - get hungry at our lunch and dinner time. Although skipping a day like some fishkeepers do won't harm them, it certainly isn't necessary or helpful. The basic idea is not to feed too much.

 

[fishwonder]

A tropical fishes stomach is as big as their eye. Professionals say feed this much once a day since they will attempt and will try to eat more.

 

[HopeGR]

Re:

Interesting you say this, the correlation between the eye and stomach of fish and their eating habits. I did read that somewhere too, and yes, fish tend to always be hungry.

I will maintain my small pinches of food once or twice a day. Every other day seems so cruel! I also have seven fry in the same tank, as I said before, so I try to do sinking pellets as well as the powder-food for them, but the majority of the time, the adult fish get to all the food. The fry also like the sinking veggie rounds that I crush to crumbles.

Call me crazy but I've invested in five different types of foods! I also give them brine shrimp which they love, but only once a week. I also bought blood worms, but even though they eat them, I later read it's not good for mollys and guppies because it causes damage to their intestines. I hope the foods don't go bad, I think I have enough for a year of feeding!

 

[charliebankston]

5 is prob normal. I think I have 10 different kinds or styles right now. Maybe 11

 

[charliebankston]

A tropical fishes stomach is as big as their eye. Professional say feed this much once a day since they will attempt and will try to eat more.

Mine too. That's why when we order pizza I eat just one solitary pepperoni slice

 

[charliebankston]

Not pizza slice. One pepperoni slice. It's the same as my right eye. My left eye is the same as a corn tortilla. So if I look thru my left eye I can eat more

 

[HopeGR]

5 is prob normal. I think I have 10 different kinds or styles right now. Maybe 11

So I'm not the only one, ha! Care to share what types of food?

Again, for my freshwater, I have 2 different flakes, veggie round, brine shrimp and bloodworms. Oh, I also feed my mollys the sinking pellets for cichlids and they love those!

 

[charliebankston]

I have floating (2 kinds) and sinking cichlid pellets, cichlid crisps, tropical crisps, discus flakes, tropical flakes, bug bites, shrimp wafers, algae wafers, tropical granules. Some I bought because they were on sale. Others they love. I use up a lot every month. Occasionally I get something to try no one really likes. Like beef heart pellets once. No fish would eat them. My dogs loved them tho, lol

 

[HopeGR]

I have floating (2 kinds) and sinking cichlid pellets, cichlid crisps, tropical crisps, discus flakes, tropical flakes, bug bites, shrimp wafers, algae wafers, tropical granules. Some I bought because they were on sale. Others they love. I use up a lot every month. Occasionally I get something to try no one really likes. Like beef heart pellets once. No fish would eat them. My dogs loved them tho, lol

I'll look into some of those! What kind of fish do you have? And how many? I think we need to avoid giving them too much protein

 

[charliebankston]

I have 19 tanks, I don't know how many fish. Over a hundred. 3 tanks are just a single fish. Mostly cichlids. Some are too aggressive for tank mates. Another has only 3, one has 6, one has 8. Most of those are big fish. Wife has angel fish tank with only 9 in it. And another with 4 cichlids. So, other than size, they're not heavily stocked. Unfortunately, some of those bruisers need their own big tank, so it can get expensive and crowded, lol

 

[HopeGR]

I have 19 tanks, I don't know how many fish. Over a hundred. 3 tanks are just a single fish. Mostly cichlids. Some are too aggressive for tank mates. Another has only 3, one has 6, one has 8. Most of those are big fish. Wife has angel fish tank with only 9 in it. And another with 4 cichlids. So, other than size, they're not heavily stocked. Unfortunately, some of those bruisers need their own big tank, so it can get expensive and crowded, lol

Wow, quite an inventory! Now that justifies the 11 kinds of food!! My brothers had cichlids in college. I remember they were palm size, and they did not keep up with the tank maintenance. So one day I hear this relatively loud thump. I look - and his cichlids actually jumped up, opened the lid and out of the tank! The water was so bad that the poor fish couldn't take it anymore. Since then I became turned off by those fish! Their face is also scary!

 

[charliebankston]

Haha! One splashed water out on the floor today between the back of the lid and tank edge in that couple of inches. I heard the water hit the floor and went to check, and this big 7" blood parrot was swimming away when I rounded the corner. He was like, " wasn't me!"

 

[HopeGR]

Haha! One splashed water out on the floor today between the back of the lid and tank edge in that couple of inches. I heard the water hit the floor and went to check, and this big 7" blood parrot was swimming away when I rounded the corner. He was like, " wasn't me!"

They need to live in the ocean

 

[charliebankston]

The Amazon! Which is almost the same as my house. Minus the mosquitoes and rain and indigenous tribes and stuff

 

[HopeGR]

So out of my 9 mollys, 7 are females carrying fry I believe. And they look very hungry. The females actually start attacking each other too! I was told to feed them well and they will be peaceful. So I will do 2x daily, and keep up with water changes every few days. I also think one is due any day now, since she hovers around the heater and is quite plump.

My nitrate today were around 20. Ammonia is zero. My last water change was 5 days ago.