Am I Starving My Fish To Death

[andyG44]

I am not sure how much to feed my fish. Truth is that I can feed them many times over and they will eat it all. Therefore my fish are perpetually hungry, so hungry that they have become scavengers always looking for food everywhere.
 
I have read about "feed them once or twice a day and all they can eat in 20 seconds" - well I am not sure this is correct. My fish can certainly eat 10 times as much, I can feed them every two hours and I am sure they will eat everything.
 
In addition because it is a community aquarium, I cannot feed small doses. With every feeding session, I have to provide enough food to occupy the surface dwellers (eg guppies) so that some food finds its way down below to feed the less aggressive fish, some of which are hiding even during feeding time. The only way to do that is a combination of flakes and slowly sinking pellets to cover as much volume of the aquarium as is possible to reach all the fish.
 
I am thinking of increasing the feeding frequency to three times a day. What say you?

 

[the_lock_man]

I say don't.
 
Fish don't have a "full" reflex in the way that we know when to stop eating, even if we then ignore it (or is that just me?) They never know where their next meal is coming from, so they will take what they can get, whenever they can get it, in case they can't get it again any time soon.
 
They have very small stomachs, feed sparingly, once a day, and there's no harm in fasting them for a day and more.

 

[nic1]

Well, in my opinion, I think three times a day is quite alot, a combination of flake and sinking pellets is a good idea to make sure all of the spieces get a bite to eat.
My problem with this is the high ammonia produced by the fish waste and left over food, just keep an eye on it, ammonia poisioning can lead to all sorts of problems in the aquarium. Nitrite is also a problem.
Fish wil always eat and they always make you think that they are starving when they are not.
I feed my fish once every other day, sometimes once every 3 days. They graze on the algae that I allow to build up on the back wall. The reason why I feed so little is to ensure that the fish dont become ill with fin rot, digestive problems caused by bad water quality and over feeding.

 

[Akasha72]

my lot get fed twice a day every day. I feed a mixture for the same reason as you - I want to make sure they all get something. My lot are seriously fussy some like Tetra prima quite a lot, mostly my larger breeds, but the smaller fish won't eat it no matter how small I crunch it up. For them I have to give a little flake. My cories get cory pellets - my SAE's eat those too and my plec gets half a wafer but the oto's will have a go at it too and so will the cories once they've eaten all the pellets!
 
I'd never feed 3 times a day - it's not sustainable and I really don't think the fish need it. As the lock man says, they will eat til they burst if you let them so it's up to us to limit it.
The more they eat, the more they poo anyway and more poo creates more ammonia and nitrite. We're only making life hard for ourselves and I don't see a point to that

 

[Ch4rlie]

Yep, 3 times a day of feeding is kind of asking for trouble, as already mentioned, decaying fish food can affect the water quaility, can create a build up of ammonia, and be unsightly to see leftover foods on substrate and plants.
 
Personally, I usually feed every other day or sometimes just 3 times a week. I can honestly say my stocking look well and colours are good.
 
Also, must mention I also have assassin snails and red cherry shrimps, amano shrimps too, i occassionally give these guys algae wafers and/or shrimp foods. Though not very often, maybe once every 2 weeks or so.
 
My endlers are gluttons and will do battle with the shrimps and snails over the algae wafers

 

[Byron]

I agree with what others have posted, completely.
 
I also want to add that given the issues we have been identifying in your other thread, Andy, overfeeding is the very last thing you need to be doing.  Once a day absolute max, with increased water changes, is what you need.
 
Overfeeding causes considerable issues in an aquarium.  Aside from the ones mentioned by others, namely the waste entering the system, the fish themselves will be harmed by too much food.  Digesting food requires energy, and this can easily be diverted away from other essential needs such as maintaining their immune system, regulating the pH of their blood, and so forth.  If you have ever overeaten, you know what it feels like; with a fish, this is amplified many times because unlike humans, fish have no real control over their environment and activity.  They are forced into situations that they either deal with or weaken under, and they cannot afford to waste such energy on unnecessary digestion.  Another one of the domino effects.
 
One suggestion on feeding nocturnal fish like catfish (pleco, etc) is to drop in the sinking pellets/tabs/disks (whichever) during total darkness.  By this I mean well after the tank light is out, and the room is also in complete darkness.  The upper fish like the guppies will become sedate during total darkness, but the pleco are undoubtedly out and about.
 
Byron.

 

[Munroco]

Little and often is the method I've always followed. I probably feed mine 4-5 times a day sometimes less. I don't have regular feeding times.

 

[andyG44]

OK guys I get the message , I will feed once a day and not twice or thrice! Many thanks for the very elaborate answers! (this is a nice forum)

 

[Ch4rlie]

 (this is a nice forum)

 

 

[Byron]

I should perhaps add something to basically complete the issue, and that is to say the opposite--that some fish do require more frequent feedings.  Fry obviously require multiple daily feedings in order to develop at their best.  And there are some other fish, primarily the "dwarf" type, that are generally recommended for multiple feedings.  Of course, in an established tank, live microscopic food will probably be present, and these small fish will be able to feed on that in between feedings of prepared foods.  One still does not want to provide an excess of food, as we've all mentioned.
 
In fry situations, more frequent partial water changes are also the norm, and this helps to remove uneaten food and waste which can quickly pollute the water and cause developmental problems for fry.
 
Byron.

 

[NickAu]

I feed my fish daily, Because I have Apple Snails, Shrimp, Plecos and Clown Loaches there are always some Algae and Loach wafers on the bottom of the  tank the fish seem to love picking at them.
 
Be Warned.
Fish are great at training humans to feed them.  Even my snails get in on the act now.
 
If we wait here and look cute Master might give us bloodworm.

 

[Akasha72]

lol Nick 

 

[fluttermoth]

Be Warned.
Fish are great at training humans to feed them.  Even my snails get in on the act now.

This is very true! Our old oscar lived in my teenage son's bedroom for a while, and he (the oscar) learnt that if he jumped up and banged the condensation tray, my son would drop whatever he was doing, where ever he was in the house, and go and feed him

 

[Akasha72]

wow ... and to think they used to say fish had a 3 second memory! My lot have never begged for food thankfully 

 

[ScalpCrabs]

Fish definetly have more than a 3 second memory.
I had a betta, at first i taught it that every time i knocked on the glass 3 times with the fish container it was feeding time.
Then i taught it to get all the food by jumping out of the tank and taking it off my finger.
Then i taught it to follow my finger on the tank, when i would take my finger off the aquarium it would go to his normal feeding spot.
That was in a Fluval Chi. but the bad thing was that my cats liked to drink from the tank and i guess he though one of the cats was me and probably jumped right into the cats mouth.