Fasting...

[timmystood]

OK, so as some of you may know - I follow a fairly good routine when feeding my fish. The routine is below:

Every Morning - TetraBetta Flake Food

Afternoon 1 - Different brand of Flake food
Afternoon 2 - Freeze-dried Bloodworm
Afternoon 3 - Food tablets/Algae Wafers
Afternoon 4 - Froozen Daphina & Tubiflex

What I am wondering is, will it do any harm to not feed my fish at all on day 5. The reason being is I always feel like i'm over-feeding, even when following the feed as much as they will take in 5 minutes rule.

Surely it does no harm to fast them once a week?

 

[SamUK]

fish can survive a few days without food.



ive never heard of a 5 minute rule tho!


normally 2 or 3 mins.

 

[timmystood]

Well, I just do it for a few minutes!

So, it'll be OK to fast them one day a week - I think i've read about other people doing it elsewhere but I wasn't sure.

 

[Torrean]

I used to fast every other day with no problems. I regularly forget to feed them for a day now and then. It won't hurt anything and many think it is beneficial. You can go as much as a week without feeding in a pinch depending on the fish you keep and if you have live plants.

 

[leafs]

I fast my fish once a week and have been doing this for over a year now with no problems. It probably helps clear them out a bit, but I'm just guessing.

 

[Ethos]

You know there's a difference between fasting and not feeding/eating.

The fish'll be fine, as you already know, for atleast a week, maybe longer.
Mine had lasted 4 days no food, 1 day 1 meal, 5 days no food, then food every other day for a week after that!
(Traveling does funny things)

 

[Ami]

fish can survive a few days without food.



ive never heard of a 5 minute rule tho!


normally 2 or 3 mins.

He means the 'feed as much as they'll eat in 5 minutes', if they don't eat it all within that time you've overfed them. If they do, you can feed them a little more so I'm not entirely sure what the point is in the first place!



I understand that most fish are good up to 2 weeks without food. Might be wrong though.

If I go away for a week, my friend feeds my cats but she's banned from feeding the fish after a slight (well, large) over feeding incident last year.

They seem perfectly happy without, although I wouldn't leave the gobies that long anymore cos they might decide that molly tastes nice.

I tend to feed small amounts once or twice per day, but may skip the odd day as they tend to eat mainly algae wafers, freeze dried foods or daphinia in the FW and bloodworm or shrimp in the BW - lots of high protein stuff is not good for their little bowels, so they need a break every now and again.

 

[SamUK]

i kno what he meant lol.



ive never heard anyone say they give there fish enough for 5 mins worth of munching tho.

ive always heard and been told 2 or 3 minutes max.

 

[Torrean]

30 seconds to 1 minute is the rule i go by.

 

[CBTF]

the flake bottles say 5. i usually add 1 large pinch to my 10g and walk away.

 

[yvez9]

the minute rule depends on the fish

tetras aren't really fast eaters, so i just drop flakes in there and they take a while to eat them but i don't put alot.

if that 5 minute rule would apply to my oscar, it would cost me a fortune to feed it. that fish just swallows whatever i put in there, i have a hard time getting the bottom feeders to eat anything!

 

[Boxcar Muzzdogg]

the flake bottles say 5. i usually add 1 large pinch to my 10g and walk away.

They just want to sell more food. 2-3 min, max, for most fish if feeding once a day, for 2 times a day, 1-2 min max, and even this is on the liberal side. Most fish can go a couple weeks of fasting without any damage to internal organs, but that doesn't mean its good to do, but fasting one day a week is ok

 

[Elliott]

I feed for six days, then skip the seventh day. I have been doing this for many years. I feed only once a day with a high quality flake. I will occasionally add a piece of zucchini for the bottom feeders.