How do you know if you are overfeeding?

[mademperor]

I know it's probably the easiest question, but how do you know when you're overfeeding?

My Bass and JD have endless stomachs :devil:

I fish food 1st day // Live 2nd // Krill & Brill Shrimp 3rd // repeat

[Derringer]

if theres food left floating after 2-3 minutes - I would say youre overfeeding. Its much better to underfeed than to overfeed so if youre worried about it try smaller feedings multiple times a day ...

[mademperor]

Oh, they never let any food come near the bottom of the tank.

I normally throw in 5-10 krill / live 1/1.5" comets each feeding

[jm1212]

stuff is collecting on the bottom and isnt quickly picked up

[J double R]

Oh, they never let any food come near the bottom of the tank.

I normally throw in 5-10 krill / live 1/1.5" comets each feeding

goldfish/comets etc are generally not a very good feeder fish.. theyre very fatty and they don't promote proper growth. if you must feed live fish, go with something like rosy reds or guppies.

[Ruben Tolon]

I'd stop feeding goldfish altogether, just feed guppies or some other tropical fish. When I feed some of my smaller cichlids I just feed a couple of pellets at a time so that I can monitor when I can tell to stop feeding, rather than just putting all the intended food at once only to later find out I might have put too much.

[Coler]

^ same here. feeding time is one of the best opportunities to observe your fish and spot any changes in behaviour etc. which might be signs of problems.

[Rbishop]

Feed dry food and observe how long it takes to go away.

[Nolapete]

I know it's probably the easiest question, but how do you know when you're overfeeding?

My Bass and JD have endless stomachs :devil:

I fish food 1st day // Live 2nd // Krill & Brill Shrimp 3rd // repeat

Ok, I agree with getting rid of the comets. Bad food. Substitute mealworms, crickets, and/or earthworms. Cut up fresh or frozen shrimp is good as well.

Large cichlids are given over to gluttony as it's nature's way of preventing starvation when food sources are low. They live off of reserves. Most animals do it to some degree.

Since they don't leave any food, look at their bellies. They should be firm and full, but not bulging.

You can supplement their diet with a good cichlid pellet like Hikari cichlid gold or something similar or get some Vita-Chem and soak their food in it prior to feeding.

[IceH2O]

Add a few snails ( rams or MTS) , if they explode in population you're overfeeding.

[J double R]

Add a few snails ( rams or MTS) , if they explode in population you're overfeeding.

not necessarily. if there is soft algae for them to eat, (sometimes it only grows in nooks and crannies) they can explode too.