Feed Fish Every Day, Or Every Other Day?

[serbusfish]

My local store owner told me today that I should only feed my fish every other day, yet most people on the internet seem to go by the once a day rule, can anyone clear this up for me? I have 5 Gold Mountain Cloud Minnows.

 

[carpking]

every other day for mine more you feed the more waste they create.

 

[Mikey1]

feeding frequency depends on many factors, the type of fish, size of fish, how many fish, how much you feed at one time, etc etc, there is no "golden rule"

i feed some of my tanks once every other day, other tanks i feed 3 times a day,

for your 5 minnows i would go with 1-2 a day, feeding very little each time, all food should be gone/eaten in about 2-3 mins, if you still see food after 2-3 mins you are giving them too much

 

[Shelster]

I feed mine every other day, wasnt recommended by lfs or anything, just what works for me.

 

[KCB]

Twice a day for me. My fish always seem ravenous and by feeding them little and often I hope to keep their hunger at bay.

 

[serbusfish]

Wow, twice a day huh? Fair enough, cheers guys

 

[Mikey1]

Wow, twice a day huh? Fair enough, cheers guys

i feed my tinfoil barbs 3-4 times a day....i have for over 5 years

 

[msasa19]

feed mine every night before bed, gives the snail time during the night to get some thats missed

 

[Mikey1]

fish will not eat till they die, that is a myth....fish stop eating when full, just like you and i do....

you can not over feed fish....

the only reason overfeeding fish in an aquarium is bad, is because left over food in the aquarium pollutes the water....that is the only reason why feeding to much is bad....

do you think fish in the wild only eat once every other day? or once a day? then they stop eating till the next day?

no....they are eating pretty much continuously all day long

 

[DreamertK]

Even though you've already got your answer, I feed my gourami 3 times a day a variety of foods each time (flakes, algae wafers, frozen, live). If I didn't, they'd go after my plants.

 

[freshwaterfishlover]

Every other day. There is no real rule.

 

[Dav]

I go with every other day with mine unless I'm giving them a treat then twice a day ,

 

[The Taffy Apple]

I don't believe fish need as much food as is sometimes recommended. Yes, certain fish will nutritionally need regular, even multiple daily, feeding...yet some won't starve for upto a fortnight without...it simply depends on what you have in your tank. My current stocking contains nothing more than peaceful, community fish...so i tend to feed them as exactly that. They never get fed more than 3 times a week, with different foods at different days at different times (my Corys, for example prefer a night time feed).
As was mentioned above, your main priority here is keeping a clean tank and healthy filter, therefore avoiding putting too much in too regulary.

Terry.

PS. Do you have any shrimp? If, for whatever reason, there is some left over on my substrate, i find these little fellas do a great job.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

People that I know that say every other day tend to put a big pinch in and leave it. For me, I don't want to pollute my water more than necessary and I believe that having a steady source of energy is beneficial to most living things. So, I feed mine a small amount twice a day.