Under/Over Feeding

[Trollfest]

I have 5 neon tetras and a male betta and feed them twice a day. I only put maybe 5 flakes and it all goes in a minute or so. I'm so worried about not over feeding would I know if I were underfeeding? Or would they just die?

 

[waterdrop]

Its extremely hard for us (as mammals who need to eat to sustain body heat) to imagine how little it takes to sustain a cold-blooded fish whose stomach is roughly the same size as one of its eyes.

Tropical fish can easily go two or three weeks without food and come back from that just fine. Starving them would be pretty difficult. A single feeding which they can consume in about 2 to 3 minutes served up about 6 out of 7 days in a week is pretty typical for advice around here.

That said though, there's nothing wrong with never skipping a day as long as the feedings are kept light. The real test is whether the fish are excited and interested to get the food - that's the real sign of health and vigor and that they are not being overfed, so twice a day with very light feedings might be just fine! Just be careful not to overdo it.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Trollfest]

Well the betta eats like a pig, literally. He gets some food in his mouth then sprays it out everywhere (wonder if he's trying to tell me something ) but the tetras never seem overly excited. I think I'll start skipping one day a week.

 

[OldMan47]

You could try cutting back to once a day feeding before skipping a day. Feed the same amount as you are now and see if the fish don't take a bit more interest in the food.