assuming you are feeding a good quality food, of the correct type for the fish... how much should they eat???

[Magnum Man]

so I feed using a long handled plastic serving spoon, and have a spoon measuring set, that I add a varying amount of a variety of foods to the serving spoon, to feed each tank, depending on fish type, size and tank stocking density, which I keep in my work area... but I have been trying to figure out good volumes of food for each tank... since this is "unscientific" how many "mouthfuls" of food volume does a fish needs on a daily / every other day basis, I suppose for growth, and then for maintenance???

for example, for maintenance, is 2 mouthfuls of food enough per fish, for a day??? just as a general rule, 4 mouthfuls every other day, more??? less???

just curious your thoughts of food volume required for growth, or long term maintenance...

 

[gwand]

Without detailed scientific studies for each species, I think feeding is more art than science. It is said that the stomach of a betta is the volume of its eyeball. Other fish may have larger or smaller stomachs. Only scientific studies can inform us. Another variable in addition to what you listed is water temperature. Since fish are cold blooded, their metabolic rate is highly influenced by water temperature. Colder water temperature translates to less energy needs, thus less food requirements.

 

[Colin_T]

Baby fish and young fish that are growing should be fed as much as they can eat at least 3 times a day (more often if possible). They should look like pregnant guppies at all times. This lets them have a lot of nutrients that they require to grow.

Adult fish that are being used for breeding should be fed the same as the babies (as much as they can eat 3-5 times per day). They should be fed like this for at least 2 (preferably 4+) weeks before actual breeding takes place. The high volume and quality of food allows the broodstock to develop high quality gametes (eggs & sperm), which in turn produces the best quality offspring. The regular food intake also replicates the breeding season when more food is generally available to the fish.

Adult fish that aren't being used for breeding can be fed as much or as often as you like but one good feed per day is probably sufficient. That's all I did with mine, fed them once a day until they were full then stopped.

There's no point trying to work out how big a fish's stomach is and how much food they should get because the stomach can expand to hold more food when food is plentiful. Just feed until they are full. In the wild they eat whenever food is available and they eat as much as they can get when it is available.

 

[AJ356]

Adult fish that aren't being used for breeding can be fed as much or as often as you like but one good feed per day is probably sufficient. That's all I did with mine, fed them once a day until they were full then stopped.

Very surprised to read this from you Colin.

I think overfeeding fish is probably the number two downfall of many an aquarium and lost fish lives (due to ammonia and nitrite poisoning), with number one being immature filter media, and obviously, the two are linked.

I tell people that, if you are feeding your fish, and they have quick and very close access to the food when you put it in the tank (i.e. they are not hunting the food down like corydoras for example), then if your fish is still eating food after 30-45 seconds, you have over fed. If you time 30-45 seconds and just watch the clock, it's quick. But if a fish is constantly chomping on food for 30-45 seconds, that's more than enough. Once a day. Fry and growing-on juveniles is different. Also, I am not including food that fish nibble on like algae, or vegetables, or a stuck-on dried tablet on the glass. Also, perhaps some tiny live foods like daphnia and cyclops might not apply to my rule.

To say you should feed an adult fish until it stops eating (like you have alluded to) scares me, especially if someone is reading your post that doesn't know any better. To be fair, you are saying that's what you did with your fish.

When you say "until they were full", to clarify, does that mean until they lost interest in eating? You would feed your adult non-breeding fish until they didn't want to eat any more?

 

[AJ356]

so I feed using a long handled plastic serving spoon, and have a spoon measuring set, that I add a varying amount of a variety of foods to the serving spoon, to feed each tank, depending on fish type, size and tank stocking density, which I keep in my work area... but I have been trying to figure out good volumes of food for each tank... since this is "unscientific" how many "mouthfuls" of food volume does a fish needs on a daily / every other day basis, I suppose for growth, and then for maintenance???

for example, for maintenance, is 2 mouthfuls of food enough per fish, for a day??? just as a general rule, 4 mouthfuls every other day, more??? less???

just curious your thoughts of food volume required for growth, or long term maintenance...

As you will see from my post above, my opinion is that it's more about time (in seconds) as to how much to feed fish. Although, I did include some exceptions to that rule of mine, and there are probably some other other exceptions I did not think of right now.

 

[gwand]

While most of my fish species attack food as soon as it is offered, my a. cacatuoides and borelli let the food settle to the substrate before approaching it. Sometimes it will take them 10 minutes before they take their first bite.

 

[jaylach]

I don't know how true this is but an OLD rule of thumb is to portion the food to about equal the fish's eye size.

 

[Back in the fold]

Some fish eat like horses and others nibble lightly at whatever you feed them . It’s personal experience with the fish you have . New fish can be finicky because their food got changed but will settle down after a week or two . I have a single Angelfish that usually eats good but sometimes she will go on a day or two hunger strike . My Aplocheilus lineatus Golden Wonder Killifish will eat until they are bloated . My Endlers and Platy’s are not at all fussy or picky . They eat until everything is gone . My new Nothobranchius are still settling in and aren’t crazy about frozen brine shrimp or bloodworms but they nibble at it but they love newly hatched baby brine shrimp . No fish seems to be able to resist that .

 

[angiemike6]

I have a 40 gallon Juwel aquarium with 31 fish. I do 40% water changes every week, including cleaning all the filter media. I think people get too worked up over feeding, which ends up with the fish being fed too much. What do people do when they go on holiday for 2 weeks? As many will testify if their fish are not fed for those 2 weeks they still survive. Feeding too much means that their food is not eaten which means the water quality deteriorates. I only feed my fish 3 times a week, with a pinch of Tetramin, some Tetra granules, and 3 to 4 Tetra Pleco flakes. Occasionally they have a treat of some frozen bloodworm. My fish never get ill, and only die of old age. Most of my fish are 10 to 15 years old. My oldest lasted 28 years. I even have one Cardinal Tetra that is 8 years old.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Different species have different feeding habits. Some are grazers- they eat all day long in smaller amounts. Some fish are wood eaters, some fish eat algae or are aufwuchs feeders. The one thing all of my fish seem yo have in common is they are all pigs and will try to eat anything they think is food and they will always eat as much as they can.

Over the years I have learned to feed the right amount based on years of over or under feeding. One good clue is you do not find uneaten food on the bottom of the tank with fuzz all over it or worse.

Because most fish eat a specific diet, how fast they eat and how much often depends in this. Bristlenose plecos graze all day. Other fish need one good meal and they ae happy. Wood eater consume more than other fish might. So pour job is to learn to feed the proper foods and the needed amount. There are few hard and fast rules except don't feed them things that are not good for them to eat.

Then there are different ingredient which one might use. I use a Rpashy food which has a high fat content. it is not suitable as a regular diet but it helps with growing fish or, foe many, being a decent aid when conditioning fish to s[awn. For many fish live foods are best when one can provide them.

The best I could do in regards to feeding based on qualtity was when my fish ignorant brother had o feed my fish because I was in the hospital. Sor many of them I had him feed a sepecific number of pellets, wafers or sticks. I tried to describe a pinch as small one or bigger one and then how much a small handful would be.

While I would say Colin-T's methodology is too much and that I only feed my pleco fry once a day and adults the same. When I had spawning angels, it was live fos (BBS) and several times a day for the fry. Anohter of several reasons why I ultimately kept only Altums as I could not breed them. The one thing I do know is I never lost fish due to hunger/starvation.