Feeding Guide

[fishyaddict]

A lot of our fish like a slice of zuchinni about once a week or so. You just slice it to about 1/2 inch size and put a plant weight(bought at an lfs) toward the bottom to help it stay at the bottom... it's neat to see how they go after it, by the second time we put them in most of it would be gone by the end of the day.

The regular flakes we feed morning then night. Clown loaches loooovve blood worms too.

*Most fish are always hungary too... they only have a memory span of 3 seconds. :

 

[thesydmonster]

I feed once per day and skip 1 or 2 days per week. I drop in algae wafers or shrimp pellets every day. I only feed twice daily when I have lots of guppy fry and it's still a small amount. I feed fresh veggies once or twice per week for my pleco and snails and otos. I tried the pea thing but no one ate it They are all zucchini lovers. I do alternate flake food with frozen and freeze dried.

 

[LisaB]

Do you all blanch the zuchini? Also, would a pleco eat blanched cabbage?

Thanx, :hi:
Lisa

 

[carpguy]

I feed 4 or 5 times a week, maybe every other day, maybe a little bit more, and a fairly light feed. Veggies once a week seems like a nice idea.

Twice a day plus snacks, as much as they can eat in two minutes would be very heavy overfeeding in my book.

 

[Roan Art]

Most of my fish are omnivores and are fed a "regular" meal once a day and a couple times a week they get a treat of a fruit (zucchini or other squash) or live blackworms or frozen bloodworms. I put lettuce in a veggie clip every few days as well.

The herbivore tank, however, always has lettuce or veggies in the veggie clips. IMO these types of fish "graze" all day and they should have a readily available source. In the wild -- in general -- I think it would be easier by far for herbivore fish to find veggie food than for omnivores to find meaty foods.

Roan

 

[Roan Art]

Twice a day plus snacks, as much as they can eat in two minutes would be very heavy overfeeding in my book.

I agree, even sans snacks.

Fish can get fatty deposits around their hearts when they are overfed. Just like with humans, this can shorten their lifespans.

Roan

 

[LisaB]

What exactly would you consider snacks?

Lisa

 

[carpguy]

What exactly would you consider snacks?

Random meals that aren't a part of the regular schedule.

Fish are cold-blooded and don't need to keep their body temps a few dozen degrees above ambient. They don't need a whole lot of food and, as a generalization, I think most folks overfeed. I think I overfeed, and I probably feed a good bit less than most.

 

[LisaB]

Ok. I'll stick to my once a day and 1-2 pellets for the bottom crew at night then. Boy, ALL the algae on the front of my tank was gone overnight. Those plecos sure do mean business!

Lisa

 

[OddFish]

From the point of view of a LFS I would think maybe the LFS guy recommended light feeding since MANY people that have a tank as a 'pet', vs as a hobby tend to overfeed. I have had folks bring in a fish for trade (gee, those guppys make lots of babies!) and have them just wallowing in flake food. I would say the average family with a tank tends to overfeed as well as offering boring stuff. Except Betta.....there is that silly myth that they eat off the plant roots or whatnot and they rarely seem to get as overfed as a tank.