Should you fast your fish?

T

thewarning

AC Members
Apr 29, 2007
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I've been reading a lot of fish owners fast their fish an average of once per week not giving them any food. Is this a good idea?
 
It certainly won't hurt any fish to not eat for a day.
 
In nature, fish only eat when they can find food. We as humans got use to eatting 3 timea a day. Most fish do fine with 4-5 feedinga a week. We as owners, tend to over feed. I feed my fish 6 meals a week. 2 small Sunday meals, then Tuesday -Thursday. No feeding om Monday and Friday.
 
I know it won't hurt them. However, the people that fast their fish claim it's beneficial. For example one person said, "Fasting helps clean out their intestinal tracts since we tend to feed them more consistently than in the wild. Fasting can help reduce bloating, and can stimulate different behaviors which also help keep your fish from boredom". So is this true or myth?
 
It depends. I generally use the ratio of mouth to body as a guideline to feeding. Fish with a large mouth for their body size normally eat other fish, and even in the wild often tend to gorge then fast. Examples would be Pickerel, so called FW Barracuda, and Peacock Bass. I feed such fish once or twice a week as much as they'll eat. Fish with very small mouths in relation to their body size tend to be pickers which feed continuously unless a lack of food or presence of predators prevents it. They should be fed smaller amounts more often. But again, a day without for a fish which has been properly fed up to that point is no concern. As far as stimulating behaviours I don't think a day without food is going to make enough of an impression on a fish to seriously alter its behaviour. It took my Pickerel a week of not eating to even begin to react to non-living food, and almost another week to start taking it at first.
 
With the exception of my fry, I have been feeding my fish every other day for about 4 years now. My fish seem to suffer no ill effects. I don't purposely overfeed, but if I do there is always enough to go around. Good luck.
 
I have four very small Bolivians, in a few weeks they will have at least 1 maybe even two days a week with no food. Only got them around a month ago so currently fattening them up :)


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SubRosa said:
It depends. I generally use the ratio of mouth to body as a guideline to feeding. Fish with a large mouth for their body size normally eat other fish, and even in the wild often tend to gorge then fast. Examples would be Pickerel, so called FW Barracuda, and Peacock Bass. I feed such fish once or twice a week as much as they'll eat. Fish with very small mouths in relation to their body size tend to be pickers which feed continuously unless a lack of food or presence of predators prevents it. They should be fed smaller amounts more often. But again, a day without for a fish which has been properly fed up to that point is no concern. As far as stimulating behaviours I don't think a day without food is going to make enough of an impression on a fish to seriously alter its behaviour. It took my Pickerel a week of not eating to even begin to react to non-living food, and almost another week to start taking it at first.
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Found this to be very informative to me. .Thanks. .

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