Fish feeding schedule

[AquaDummy]

Is it okay to feed my fish only once a day? I'm not home in the day and leave too early to feed them in the morning. I want to have the lights on at night so I can enjoy watching them which means the lights don't come on till about 10am.

I've read somewhere that I should be feeding them at least twice a day with one fast day during the week.

 

[snakeskinner]

all my fish get fed once in the evening except the small fry which get 2 or 3 meals if we are around. It doesn't matter when you have the lights on as long as you give them a day/night schedule. I have my lights on timers from 10-10. 8-14 hours is usually a good timeframe to have the lights on. A timer helps if you're ever gone and can't make it home to shut off the lights. Kyle

 

[RTR]

Small fry are fed several times a day, and partialed daily. Most immature fish and small active or schooling fish are fed daily with one fast day per week. All adult fish over 3" are fed alternate days only. All predators are on that schedule or less often, some only twice weekly.

 

[travislopez]

wait, so you don't feed your tank twice a day?!?

 

[RTR]

Nothing beyond fry gets two meals a day from me, not for many, many years.

There is nothing wrong with multiple feedings per day - so long as you do not overfeed. The same quantity of food, divided into 2 or 3 portions, would probably be healthier for certain fish (not for all by a long shot), but I have a number of tanks and do try to have a life as well. I certainly have no problems with shortened lives or stunted fish.

 

[pl*co]

RTR, do you follow the "the amount the fish can eat in x minutes" rule or do you have another you prefer?

 

[RTR]

Timing feeding does not work well enough for me - not all fish are openwater schoolers who feed greedily from the surface and as the food is falling. That rule, like the inch per gallon rule, is too vague and inexact for me to use. I'd have to duck the question by saying it is experience - knowing the partcular fish and how much of what particular density food (flake vs. pellet. vs. frozen vs. live - big differences). Plus my feeding is made easier because most of my tanks are species tanks with either a single fish, or a pair/trio or school of one fish species, plus perhaps some cleaning crew. But if you watch as you feed, the learning is fast.