Fasting Once A Week Good?

[GT3050]

I have read in a number of places that it is good to fast cichlids one a week. I was looking for opinions on the subject. Right now I feed my 2 Jacks and Oscar twice a day everyday a diet of Hikari Gold, Hikari Bio-Gold, Hikari Freeze Dried Krill, Hikari Freeze Dried Ocean Plankton, Wardly Algae Disks, Wardly Cichlid Crumbles, and OSI Spirulina pellets. Oh, my fish are 4"-5", what do you think about their diet and the fasting thing? Thanks

[ussmickey]

from my understanding it gives the fish an opp. to eat left overs from the bottom, or if your trying to introduce new kinds of foods some fast for that reason. its easier to get them to take the new food. i fast once a week, has always been good for me. i dont see where it hurts. imo...

[Lazonby]

I ran across an article once that fasting fish is a good thing to do. If they aren't lazily strolling around the tank with a full belly, they are much more active in searching for food, promoting a more enhanced immune system. I assume that when they do get fed, the nutritional value of the food keeps them healthy.

There wasn't any definitive evidence in the article that proved this, but according to the author, this was his findings/belief. I don't remember where I read the article, but if I find it again, I'll chime back in.

[TKOS]

I fast my fish on tank cleaning day as it is probably quite stressful for the poor little guys. Many months later they are still doing great. Plus it keeps them on their toes, or fins I guess.

[SnakeIce]

I read a breeders article on this subject in a mag a long while ago that said you could even leave out feedings for one day a week for young fish and they didn't grow any slower for it.... one thing that they said was to vary the day of the week that you fast your fish...

here is the thing if you are breeding, or attempting to, feed over well and manually clean out the food they don't eat and you get stronger parents and hopefully better fry from them.... however the over feeding them can speed up their metabolism and shorten their life a small amount

a fish that is feed a variety but is just a bit on the lean side tends to live longer, but you are not as likely to get them to reproduce

if I am not trying to breed my fish I find that it is easyer to cut out feedings and make my fish clean up well when I do than have half interested fish and food sitting in the tank making problems

[Tightdog1]

someone posted about this a few days ago heres the post:

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=17176
i fast my cichlids once a week also as you will read in the post.