Fish Fasting - Who Does It?

[Avel1896]

Where I live, it is inhospitable without A/C during the summer months...

At home it is a/c h24 from mid june to end of september, at least !

 

[Slaphppy7]

At home it is a/c h24 from mid june to end of september, at least !

Pretty much the same for me, too

 

[JazzyV]

Everyone can use a hero sometimes lol

101 outside…heat advisory for elderly and young to stay indoor. Ac kicking. Difficult bc heater on lowest setting but it overheats tanks. Same with fish room heater so couldn’t use that either but at night temp drops too low if no heater. But come morning it’s creeping up. So just had to stay on top of it and turn heater on and off even tho it was on lowest then fan. Kinda annoying lol I need a hero to help me figure out a balance when I get heat waves. Anyone have a suggestion? Thank you.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Everyone can use a hero sometimes lol

101 outside…heat advisory for elderly and young to stay indoor. Ac kicking. Difficult bc heater on lowest setting but it overheats tanks. Same with fish room heater so couldn’t use that either but at night temp drops too low if no heater. But come morning it’s creeping up. So just had to stay on top of it and turn heater on and off even tho it was on lowest then fan. Kinda annoying lol I need a hero to help me figure out a balance when I get heat waves. Anyone have a suggestion? Thank you.

Sounds like you need a/some new heater(s)

I don't run my heaters in my tanks in the summertime, tanks stay at room temp, around 76F

 

[JazzyV]

I have…went a whole round of replace and compare. Same . I have about 6 or 7 heaters, 4 is new. Pretty much all had to be off. Most days I look at a stack of useless heaters. When I told my hubby my fry tank spike to 89 he went and got me new heaters so that’s why I tried that. Should I try replace again?

Yes, I don’t run them in summer either.

Same here..76 too minus heat waves of course. So I have to track them around the clock and manually turn it off on super hot days. Waking up early and in the middle of the night to check temp. I don’t mind only I was caught off guard so I know better next summer. First day heat wave my tank climb from 86- 89 so I have to stay on top of it. I don’t want my fish to cook … tap water ..it was I think 100so I couldn’t use it in my favor either to cool it down…I think I got lucky bc it’s a tall 30. So bc I have it spotty temp some spots was cooler so the frys have other cooler spots to stay. I can’t use full blown filters for my fry so I have spotty temp. They were swimming all in the 89 areas like they weren’t bothered but I was still afraid. I didn’t lose any. Would love to figure out a better way to manage it for next summer. I couldn’t find anything online. Not even if 89 temp is too hot or safe.

I did run into a guy from Puerto Rico on a forum seeking help...his is 86…but mine was 89 …86 doesn’t scare me but 89 does.
This was last month or so. I think 86 is appropriate for betta fry. I’m just so paranoid with that 89.

I have credit I have nothing to use for..I’ll get another heater replaced again and see. Thanks. That’s twice now 2 ppl tell me they think heater performance. Thank you again.

 

[Byron]

I do not fast my indoor fish. There is no evidence that I can find that says tropical fish fast in the wild. Just seems pointless. Coldwater fish fast/go dormant during the winter because food supply is low and the water is too cold for their digestive systems to work well, but tropicals cannot survive cold winters so are different.

Fish in the wild (talking here of freshwater tropical species that most of us keep in the aquarium) do not (as another member noted) have food available 24/7. They can go days without, so when it is in front of them, they will eat.

Another crucial aspect of this is why they need/eat food to begin with. In the wild they may have to escape predators; this (hopefully) is not the case in the aquarium, so this high energy activity is not being carried out so they do not need the energy for it.

My fish are fed minimally four, or five, days each week; they definitely have two days without food (one being the water change day as it is not safe to do this maintenance close to the fish having been fed) and more often three days. The quality of the food enters this equation too.

 

[Guest14017]

Fair enough. I have only 2 indoor fish. A Blood Parrot and a goldfish. Goldfish and their ancestors are mostly vegetarian grazers who spend their days digging around in the sandy riverbeds looking for edibles etc. Blood Parrots are GMO fish and I drop him a few pellets daily - unless I am in a hurry... which happens now and then. He won't starve.