How many times a day do you feed your fish?
- Thread starter DaisyTattoo
- Start date
Some of the posters say that they skip a day now and then.
Why's that? You think otherwise they'd get too much food or is there some sort of health related reasoning behind it?
Why's that? You think otherwise they'd get too much food or is there some sort of health related reasoning behind it?
i think its less food, less waste, better water quality, healthier fish? :huh:Alestro Bakai said:
i dunno... but i skip 2-3 days sometimes when im away from home and they r still ok when i return.. otherwise its 1-2x per day for my fishies
chipper said:
Buy a pen plax II feeder. They are around 13 to 20 bucks depending on where you buy. Wal-mart is the cheapest but some people are religious about not shopping there. They work great, I would recommend not feeding your fish for more than a day. They can last just fine, but they will still get hungry regardless. And an animal that is hungry will look for food (fin nipping, hard to spot but they do it). I feed my fish twice a day. I used to do it only once, but I noticed that general aggression in my tank declined dramatically when they were feed more consistantly and more than once. I'm not saying that my fish were really aggressive, just the overal attitude seemed to lighten up when they didn't go so long between feedings.
Exactly, plus you can add the fact that its cheaper. If you feed them half as often you spend half the money on food(duh).khombre said:
Fish don't eat every day in the wild, they are mostly scavenger feeders and eat when they can. They can usually go up to a week without food before you would notice a difference or lose any fish. You may feed them because they "seem" hungry but truly they are eating every time you feed them because they don't know when their next meal is coming.
I feed my africans every 3 days and on feeding days they get fed 2-3 times. A couple pinches of pellets/flakes each time then a frozen cube treat after dinner. I feed my commuinty tank(tetras, danios, gourami) every 2 days and its pretty much just flakes.
Once I started feeding them less often I REALLY enjoy cleaning less and spending less on food.
It is true that fish don't eat everyday in the wild. But you have to relize that your fish are not in the wild. They are exposed to a completly diffrent eviroment. No matter how hard you try to replicate thier natrual habitat you won't get it completly correct. Now I'm not bashing anyone's feeding habits. I just don't think comparing aquarium fish to wild fish is appropriate. They are in two completly diffrent places, with completly diffrent aspects affecting the fish. Feeding is a strange creature, in that everyone has a diffrent experience on it. Sometimes it works to feed only every so often, somtimes more regular feedings work. As long as your fish are getting fed, I think that is the main point.
And really, fish food isn't that expensive. Flake and freeze dried can be bought and extreamly cheap prices. It is almost a steal, so price shouldn't be a concern. And, you fish should only be fed enough that they can clean up. The best way to figure this out is to use a styrofoam cup. Cut it in half and put it in the water. Put the food in the water and see how long it takes them to eat it all. You should really work on not overfeeding your fish. How often you feed them doesn't affect your water quality, it is how much left over food settles to the bottom. And if you mix the right fish together there shouldn't be any food debris left over.
And really, fish food isn't that expensive. Flake and freeze dried can be bought and extreamly cheap prices. It is almost a steal, so price shouldn't be a concern. And, you fish should only be fed enough that they can clean up. The best way to figure this out is to use a styrofoam cup. Cut it in half and put it in the water. Put the food in the water and see how long it takes them to eat it all. You should really work on not overfeeding your fish. How often you feed them doesn't affect your water quality, it is how much left over food settles to the bottom. And if you mix the right fish together there shouldn't be any food debris left over.
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While it does depend on the type of fish we are talking about, most of our fish will do better on 3-4 light feedings a day than on just one feeding a day. Fish use the energy from the food we feed them realitively quickly.
I always thought the fasting thing was to prevent problems with digestion...? In any case, I normally feed once per day, but sometimes twice. The platies graze in between meals, and like to pick at any veggies I toss in for the snails, too. I fast once every week or so.
