Symptoms of Underfeeding

[magunn]

I have read at length the horrors of over feeding but are there any obvious signs of under feeding?
My 30g tank has fully cycled and has zero nitrate/nitrite/ammonia my danios feed in a frenzy but all else feed well but slowly, some even reaches the bottom. I add the odd algae wafer for my ancistrus but worry that I may be starving my fish

 

[demon_surfer]

ive read alot of diffrent opinions on the board.

some people feed 3 times a day..somepeople once a day..somepeople once every other day..some once every week.

It really depends on the fish but also you must think. How often would this fish feed in the wild. many can go days and days without getting the oppertunity to feed.

as to symptoms of a starving fish..their belly starts to go concave and they get real thin and then die.

 

[Cearbhaill]

I feed my Goldfish twice a day and never skip a meal.

The tropicals get food once a day, a supplemental algae wafer/something similar twice a week- and if I skip one meal a week on them I don't worry.

I do this mainly because the tropicals are in a planted tank and if they get too hungry they can munch a plant.
My Goldfish are in a bare bottom somewhat spartan set up with no salad bar.

Am I about average?
I too worry that I'm not feeding enough sometimes, but no one looks thin- quite the opposite!

 

[RTR]

I believe that the symptoms of underfeeding are quite rare in tanks, rather the opposite case generally applies.

The most likely instances in tanks tend to be when feeding imcompatabilities exist - fast swimmers and voracious eaters hog the food and more reticent inhabitants lose out.

But the hollow-belly bit already mentioned is either lack of food, incorrect food, or parasites.

Failure to grow at normal rates or to normal size is as likely a tank size situation as it is feeding, perhaps more likely tank size. Think of all the stunted Goldfish and Clown Loaches in the hobby. But it too can be an underfeeding symptom.

 

[aquariumfishguy]

I feed all my fish once a day. Sometimes that is at 9-10 at night but it hasn't affected my fish thus far, 22 years into the hobby!

When we all start out, I think we go overboard feeding 2-4 times a day. This is one reason a newbies water quality is so bad and "brown algae" (which isn't really even true algae) is all over the place. Might I say, if you are feeding 2x's a day, there is NO way you are under feeding your fish, infact, it could be quite the opposite!