[TeamPisces]

How often do you all feed your fish? I have Yellowtail Acei (juveniles) how often should I feed them?

 

[fredd1e]

I feed my display tank twice a day. For tanks with young fish that are growing out I feed three or four times a day, these are smaller feedings though.

 

[DJRansome]

Nothing wrong with 2X daily (1/2 portions) but unless the fish are fry (under 1/2 including tail) 1X daily is fine and even fast one day/week.

You don't want to overfeed to manage algae and keep the fish healthy. Too much food can result in oddly shaped fish that have shorter lifespans.

 

[ken31cay]

I feed once daily, unless I want to grow out sub-adult fish more quickly, where I may feed 2-3 times per day. But with increased feeding comes increased water changes & tank maintenance.

 

[TeamPisces]

Thanks fellas

 

[sir_keith]

Just to add a postscript... People usually feed their fishes once or twice a day, but that's for their convenience, not for anything having to do with the fishes' biology. In nature, herbivores and omnivores (which constitute the vast bulk of species kept in captivity) forage constantly, so for these fishes many small feedings per day are closer what their caloric intake is like in the wild. In extreme cases, fishes with long digestive tracts are physically unable to process 'large meals.' For example, Ophthalmotilapia will flourish when fed x grams of flakes per day when that amount of food is divided into four or five feedings, but they will languish, and even become ill, if the same amount of food is presented in a single feeding. So, I try to feed my fishes at least twice each day, and when I am going to be home throughout the day, I divide the same amount of food into four or five feedings. Mbuna are not fussy in this regard, oddly enough, because their Tanganyikan ecological counterparts, Tropheus, are very sensitive to diet, both in composition and frequency. So there are no absolutes here, although it is generally true that it is more important how much you feed your fishes, rather than how often you feed them. :fish:

 

[Smeagol]

Nothing wrong with 2X daily (1/2 portions) but unless the fish are fry (under 1/2 including tail) 1X daily is fine and even fast one day/week.

You don't want to overfeed to manage algae and keep the fish healthy. Too much food can result in oddly shaped fish that have shorter lifespans.

Can you elaborate on the "oddly shaped fish that have shorter lifespans" comment? Oddly shaped in what way?

 

[sir_keith]

Nothing wrong with 2X daily (1/2 portions) but unless the fish are fry (under 1/2 including tail) 1X daily is fine and even fast one day/week.

You don't want to overfeed to manage algae and keep the fish healthy. Too much food can result in oddly shaped fish that have shorter lifespans.

Can you elaborate on the "oddly shaped fish that have shorter lifespans" comment? Oddly shaped in what way?

Yeah, I'd really like to see any data whatsoever to support the claim that 'Too much food can result in oddly shaped fish that have shorter lifespans.'

However, if what is meant here is that too much food causes obesity- which for sure qualifies as 'oddly shaped' (just look around the next time you're at the beach)- then the statement is clearly true, because obesity is known to shorten the lifespans of virtually all vertebrate species. Including, most prominently, our own.

 

[ken31cay]

You don't want to overfeed to manage algae and keep the fish healthy. Too much food can result in oddly shaped fish that have shorter lifespans.

Perhaps this is pointing to the fishes' decline in health in a tank where overfeeding occurs in combination with insufficient water changes/tank maintenance, where development can take an odd turn in such an environment.

 

[sir_keith]

You don't want to overfeed to manage algae and keep the fish healthy. Too much food can result in oddly shaped fish that have shorter lifespans.

Perhaps this is pointing to the fishes' decline in health in a tank where overfeeding occurs in combination with insufficient water changes/tank maintenance, where development can take an odd turn in such an environment.

Well, if that's the case, we need to distinguish the effects of overfeeding per se, that is, the fishes eating too much food, from poor tank maintenance, that is, pollution resulting from the decay of uneaten food and other aspects of water mismanagement, which is a separate topic. :fish:

 

[Arps1978]

I have a tank full of juveniles and currently work from home generally. I would like to do the little and often feed but find if I don't put enough food in for a "once a day type feed" some of the smaller of the fish don't get a look in it appears.

 

[Smeagol]

I have a tank full of juveniles and currently work from home generally. I would like to do the little and often feed but find if I don't put enough food in for a "once a day type feed" some of the smaller of the fish don't get a look in it appears.

That's the same problem I have. That's why I do the once-a-day feed.

 

[Arps1978]

Yeah I use the water movement from the pump to try and spread the flake and/or pellet across the tank. Also the v.small pellets I use I drop most in but crush a few in my fingers before putting in which allows some of the less dominant fish to pick up bits. I have an issue at the moment with two fish, which I have posted about in the health forum.

 

[Smeagol]

Nothing wrong with 2X daily (1/2 portions) but unless the fish are fry (under 1/2 including tail) 1X daily is fine and even fast one day/week.

You don't want to overfeed to manage algae and keep the fish healthy. Too much food can result in oddly shaped fish that have shorter lifespans.

Can you elaborate on the "oddly shaped fish that have shorter lifespans" comment? Oddly shaped in what way?

DJ?