Feed or Not

[IceH2O]

I've read a ton of posts "claiming" that you can and should skip days for feeding fish.

Why would that be okay?How would you like eating every other day?You could do it but I'm sure you wouldn't enjoy it.

Fish in the wild don't go days without eating.If anything they are constantly eating.

The only thing you're doing,selfishly I might add,is making it easier on yourself to keep water parameters stable.

Feed your fish everyday and just up the water changes.

JMO

 

[ashdavid]

Fish in the wild don't go days without eating.If anything they are constantly eating.
JMO

I don't know where you got that one from? did you reserch that or just guess that this was the case yourself? I wouldn't make such claims without reserching it first. Fish in the wild do and will go without food for days, some ambush predators can go with out food over a week and sometimes more. It depends on what type of fish you are talking about. It is actually healthy to skip a day or two every week b/c it helps with digestion. It is not a question of being lazy.

 

[Roan Art]

. . .Fish in the wild don't go days without eating.If anything they are constantly eating. . .

I think you mean to say "if anything they are constantly looking for food"

Right?

And since it's not handed to them on a silver platter in the wild (versus in aquaria where all they have to do is make big eyes) they expend tremendous amounts of energy searching for things to eat, fending off competition, running from predators, breeding, and pretty much leading a wild fishy life that any "excess" food that they do find is quickly burned away.

Yep.

Roan

 

[RobKemp]

Not to mention the added issue of scraps - Keep them keen and they'll make quick work of the leftovers that would otherwise sink to the bottom and decay. Only trouble is that sometimes my fish tend to resort to feasting on plants...

 

[rrkss]

Unlike humans fish don't spend over half their daily caloric intake keeping their body temperature stable so they don't need to eat everyday. They just happened to be programmed to beg for food and eat anything that enters the tank.

 

[IceH2O]

As I said it was JMO..

What better way to get responses to questions than to question the responders actions?

I didn't consider the extra waste of energy of looking for food,etc.

 

[EcoPit]

It all depends on the species and its trophic level, food type, etc. Grazers probably eat pretty much constantly. Small, planktonic fish probably eat pretty much constantly. Larger, predatory fish very likely do not eat every day. So, something like tetras should be fed most every day. Something like oscars should probably not be fed every day. You can't make generalizations about all fish, and you certainly can't compare them to your own.

 

[TheMightyQueenPixie]

One thing that is being overlooked is the type of food that is being fed... Processed staple foods are harder to digest, so a "clean out" day is not a bad thing...Live or fozen foods are much easier to digest and easier on their system...As someone pointed out, the type of fish (grazer or predator) will have different eating patterns and requirements...

 

[liv2padl]

another thing to consider is that in the wild, fish don't generally eat the sheer quantity of food they're given in the home aquarium. show me a hobbyist that doesn't overfeed his fish and i'll show you a VERY rare fish keeper. we all love to see our fish eat. it gives us a feeling of 'caring' for them. sometimes they're loved to death.

heck, i probably do it myself.

 

[graphicdesign_r]

I think if I skipped too many days feeding I'd come home to a tank full of dead fish and a smug crayfish & crab. I make sure my tank occupants are fed because I have to (otherwise I would have to worry about more hunting behavior from my inverts).

It all depends on your tank and the type of fish in it as stated before. You have to keep that little ecosystem humming along or problems result and some of our (man made) ecosystems require more feed than others.