More Specific Feeding Advice Needed!

[mako22]

I consistently see "time" in terms of minutes to consume food as a guideline for feeding my fish. Is that really the best we can come up with? Leaves so much room for ambiguity, not to mention if some fish aren't participating in the frenzy while others gobble up the chow.

Can anyone tell me in terms of AMOUNT of food what I should be feeding? I know food comes in all different shapes or sizes, but that shouldn't be an issue - how about something general like "4 pinhead size flakes" a day Anything I can use as a baseline....

 

[tom_os]

it would be useful to kno what fish you are feeding

 

[Colin_T]

feed the fish a small amount of food and wait until it is all gone. Then offer them some more. Keep adding a small amount at a time until the fish no longer show an interest in it. Then stop feeding and remove any uneaten food from the tank. If you have snails then you can leave a bit of uneaten food and they will clean it up.

 

[mako22]

I have bala sharks

Thanks Colin - I heard that the fish will just keep eating - is that not the case?

 

[Tolak]

I read long ago that a fish's eye is about the size of its stomach, generally speaking. Count eyes, guesstimate size, and feed accordingly. This is a good start.

You also have to take into account species, age, type of food, tank temperature, plenty of variables. There is no scientific chart for feeding, nor any general statement that covers all.

***Edit To Add***

It is almost always better to underfeed than overfeed, fish do much better in general with less food than you would think.

 

[Colin_T]

Most fish will eat until they are full. Then they stop eating. With a bit of practice and observation you will quickly learn when they are full or nearly full. Then you can stop feeding. It also depends on how often you feed the fish. If you feed them once every few days then you can let them gorge themselves on food until they are fat. If the fish are fed several times a day then feed them less to prevent obesity issues when they are mature.

 

[Johnlenham]

My goldfish is an absolute sod for feeding.

Come feeding time he shows 0 intrest in tetre gold sinkign pellets so I moved to Hikari flakes and again he dosent even acknowledge them!

Gobbles up peas well enough but even then its varying amounts so for now I think im going to leave him be and let him carry on eating my cheap plants!

My Betta on the other hand loves his Hikari pellets, spots them dropping and BOOM over and gone in no time!

But like Tolak said ive read the eye=stomach thing before so I use that as a rule of thumb