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Which is better - to feed once a day, enough for the fish to consume in a few minutes? (how many minutes would be considered normal?)or two small feeds a day?

What do you all do?

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Those who say they cant, Never will !!!

i feed twice a day during the week, 3 times a day on the weekend, and a fasting day once a fortnight. everything disappears within about a minute, except for sinking tabs for the algae eaters which i add after the lights go out. the meals are always different - live, frozen, flakes, pellets, tablets etc.

I usually feed my fish 1 to 3 times a day, depending on how late I wake-up/go to sleep. Flakes are usually gone within the first 3 minutes in my tank.

Gee 3 feeds a day, they would be small feeds wouldn't they? Im just trying to gauge whether I'm feeding them too much.

Looking forward to more replies.

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Those who say they cant, Never will !!!

i usually feed twice, once when i wake up and once before bed, then sometimes i get busy and then they get once aday for a couple days.

90g- anguilla rostrata,6 silver dollars,2 pictus catfish 60 g- anguilla rostrata 29g-4 blk skirt&4 serpia tetras, 6 harliquin resbora, 3kuhli loach 20g- 2 mountian minnows, 2 zebra danio& dojo loach , a corn snake and 2 monster dogs

i feed mine once when i wake up with crushed flakes (my light is on a timer so the light goes on 30 mins befor i wake up) and live/frozen when i get home about 5.00 PM.

And the answer is:

It Depends

- On the fish themselves as different species require different feeding schedules.
- On the age of the fish as fry should be (in general) fed more often.
- On your availability. For example 3 feedings work only if you are actually there.

2 out of my 3 tanks (20G and 125G) I feed once a day (evening) and the other one (29G) twice as I have to wake up the fish early in the mornig before I go to work and their disturbance should not be for nothing (tank is in my office where I get dressed in the morning).

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I feed my fish flakes in the morning. After dinner I either feed them a diffent kind of flake (Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun) or Frozen (Tues, Thurs, Sat).

Rick
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I feed my fish flake in the morning, and the cichlids get either flake, crumble, or chow then in the evening I feed all fish bloodworms, algae eaters get tablets and the cory get tablets if they arnt getting enough food to the bottom. I feed the fry every hour or two or sometimes they will get a tablet if I will be gone a while. Spuratically thru the day I will feed my African Butterfly's and Killifish Freeze dried shrimp and less often I will feed my brackish tank the same. I also feed my brackish tank every 2 to 3 days with pest snails that I raise, this keeps the figure 8 puffer's beak in check.

I feed once a day, rather heavily. The fish seem fine.

Ok I think that I'll be ok feeding mine twice a day then ... I feed flake and shrimp pellets in the morning and bloodworm in the evening.

I think that'll be ok, well its been fine up till now so i will stick with that.

Thanks everyone for your input.

Crusha

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Those who say they cant, Never will !!!

Twice a day is usually considered the best way, since it allows moderate size feeding (thus preventing gut impaction)and it gives them something to do, but for larger fish (say over 4 inches or so) and coldwater fish with slower metabolisms once a day is usually fine.Some fish dont even need feeding every day.

If your fish are small, have high metabolisms or are readying themselves for breeding, (especially if you already have gravid females) small amounts given regularly is the way forward.

Big rainbows are for example, perfectly fine on one feeding, neon tetras and dwarf puffers usually need at least two small feeds, and preferably three for top notch conditioning, tiger barbs are e to gut impaction and are better with two, big oscars , some cichlids and pirahnas are fine on one, ottos and plecs will browse regularly for at least half a day, big catfish are fine on one or even every few days feedings,unless youre worried about aggression with cagemates in which case you may want to offer more.

It depends entirely on the fish , there is no really standard rule that will serve you well. Always gauge the feedings on the condition of the fish, and for this you will need good observation.

Personally I tend to feed fish intuitively based on the the fish and its current state of health and activity. The only rule of thumb is not to overfeed , or pack the stomach with food too tightly. Its easier to overfeed on dry foods and tablets because they contain enormous amounts of nutrients for the mass they occupy, but digest fairly quickly, and live foods, insect larvae, and feeder fish will contain a certain amount of moisture and waste material so they have slightly less rich nutritive content, but may contain more fat.Vegetables and fruits will have low nutritive content but have a certain amount of fibre that usually takes several days to process. There are no hard and fast rules, but always base your decision on the metabolic speed of the fish, the temperatures its kept at and its condition.

Thanks for your reply longhairedgit, you have given me a lot to take into consideration.

I dont think I will be feeding them more than twice a day at this stage.

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Those who say they cant, Never will !!!

i can tell you're gonna get a million answers.. everyone on here feeds their fish differently.. it all depends on the fish and the types of food.....

*Chelle*
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I love the fishes cuz they're SOOO delicious...

i feed manufactured food (flake, pellet) in the morning and something frozen at night (beefheart, brine, blood worm)



chris

Ok, I'll bite.

on my 5 gallon - once a day
on the 20 gallon - once every three or four days
on the 54 once every other day (two or three days)
on the 72 - once or twice every three or four days

twice a day.

But really, when the fish don't eat everything within 5 minutes, you are feeding too much. If the fish eat it all really quickly, feed a tiny bit more. You'll soon find out what is enough

Mine get fied up to five times per day.

"Small but often" is a maxim from the venerable Innes book that still holds good today.

Basically, if you feed small quantities more frequently, then this more closely approximates to the wild state, where the fishes are constantly foraging. Plus, if they know that your appearance at the aquarium is likely to involve frequent feeding, then they will be more likely to come to the front of the aquarium and display themselves!

Me, I measure enough food for the fishes to demolish in under 2 minutes each time. The exception being live foods, which don't decompose and rot of course - I add large quantities of live food to condition the fishes for breeding. Any uneaten Daphnia just keeps swimming around until the fishes decide that they're going to snap it up. As for uneaten Bloodworm, my Panda Corys have a fine time hunting for those later!


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

I feed my fish 2/3 times a day with small ammounts that are eaten within a few minutes.


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Keep a check on your nitrate level and if it gets high you know your feeding your fish too much.
Good Luck BubbleLover

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