How many times a day do you feed your fish?

[DeRo316]

Some of this stuff doesnt make sense to me.

How do you know fish use the energy from fish food fast enough to justify feeding them 3-4 times per day? Seems to me they would use more energy in the wild avoiding predators and swimming places other than around the boxes we have them in. Not trying to argue, it just doesnt make sense to me.

Although fish food isnt expensive its not very cheap. I pay $10 for a small container of spectrum pellets, + the cost of flakes, frozen cubes, and algae wafers to give them a varied diet. Not necessary, but better than just pellets.

I've had many tanks as Im sure most of you have, but the only difference I've seen by feeding them less is cleaner water and gravel, less water changes needed, but with the same bright coloring. And im sure even though fish food isnt expensive I save at least enough to pay the gas to my LFS and back a few times.

 

[msouth468]

It is a double edged knife DeRo316.

 

[Ray Pollett]

How do you know fish use the energy from fish food fast enough to justify feeding them 3-4 times per day?

Because studies have shown this on many ocassions. Fish only take about 10% of the value of the food we feed them the other 90% has been shown to move thru their digestive track within an hour. By feeding 3 or 4 small feedings a day that is spread over a greater time than feeding once.

Second the going for a week in nature without eating IMO rarely ever happens and is more myth than fact. Just like in your tank fish are always looking for food. They may not fine their favorite food but they find food. Since we know that most stuff pastes thru their digestive system in about an hour; why do we only rarely examine fish that have nothing in their digestive track. If they went without food for a week at a time regularly; you would expect a large percent of fish examined would have empty digestive tracks.

 

[DeRo316]

Thanks for the info on the study, thats good to know. I feed my fish 3 times a week and on the days I do I spread it over the whole day with light feedings of pellets, flakes, frozen cubes. I wasnt disagreeing with the fact that they should be fed multiple times daily, it was just that I feed them 3 times a week as opposed to 6/7, and I never let my fish go a whole week without food always at least 3 times, although they could live.

 

[fishcatch22]

me, twice daily for betta and platies, once daily for the BN pleco.

 

[sirasoni]

Once every 3-4 days for the big guy and once daily for the smaller ones.