Do you ever fast your fish?

[Alice B]

Before I did water changes yesterday, I noted that I was definitely overfeeding the 55. and have been, having started with more fish. I did a 50% water change, cleaned the gravel pretty good - it's an undergravel filter. It's kind of hazy. 29 also got 50% water change with big of gravel vac, also U/g filter. I'm thinking about not feeding those tanks today, maybe not feeding the hex, although I didn't really clean its gravel and it's not hazy.. My BA tetras are starving, or act it, so I may feed them.

Fasting after a water change seems a good idea to me. Your opinion?

 

[jaylach]

With or without considering a water change I do not feed every day. Normal for me is to feed 3 days and then skip a day.

 

[xxEMOxLIZZARDxx]

I normally don't feed on a water change day. I feel like it negates me just doing a water change.

 

[jaylach]

I normally don't feed on a water change day. I feel like it negates me just doing a water change.

Actually I feed a couple of hours after a water change unless it is a normal day to not feed. I just feel that doing a water change removes a lot of feeding possibilities that the fish would normally have just from stuff floating around.

 

[Slaphppy7]

I feed every 2 or 3 days, regardless of weekly WCs....fish don't need to eat every day, in the wild or in our tanks

 

[connorlindeman]

I feed every 3 days.

 

[Alice B]

I used to be better about not feeding. the Rams and the breeding cories have me trained unfortunately. I swear if I'm late with breakfast the males start beating the females up. But I went down to 2 tanks for a long time and I was a lot better about not overfeeding than after setting all these back up. I am trying to get some of my prettier guppies to reproduce as the adults are getting older, that's part of the extra feeding.

 

[emeraldking]

Do you ever fast your fish?​

Once a week..

 

[Byron]

One day or two days or even three days a week with no feeding is not going to harm any fish (except fry, that's another issue) and from everything I have read it may actually improve their health. Fish are ectotherms, and that means that they do not need to manufacture their optimum temperature the way all birds and mammals do. And just as in heating your home, or using a clothes dryer, this is where you use the most energy. In the wild fish are most often getting significantly less food than we tend to feed them, and like all of us, this is nor usually healthy in the long-term.

Related to this of course is the fact that most of us feed way more at each feeding. Same issues as above apply here. Fish do not need all this food. A hungry fish is a healthy fish. Quality food fed sparingly, with a one or more fast days, will be better for most fish.

Water change day is a good day to fast, because you should absolutely never feed fish shortly before you start invading their space, and you should give them plenty of time to "calm down" afterwards. The W/C day provides both. Same idea as humans not exercising after a meal.

 

[Sanityassassin]

Overfeeding is one of the most common problems in the hobby.

Glass surfing puppy dog eyed fish have hobbyists reaching for the food, mistakingly thinking that their poor pets are ready to die of starvation.

Once you get your head around the fact that they're not, then it becomes easier to introduce a "little and less often" approach to feeding.

Mine get fed 3 or 4 times a week, and not a lot at that, and I have some big fish in my busy 360g com tank.

During holidays of anything up to a fortnight, they don't get fed at all!!! I just have a neighbour come in to check on evaporation levels.

What I will say though is that when they do get fed, they get quality food, and lots of variation.

 

[Alice B]

I'm starting to really look at how big that pinch is now, the fry do need fed, and currently I don't want the adults eating the fry, or eggs, although with the rams they need to eat several bunches of egg while the foundation won't let me set up other tanks. However until I get marbles in the BA Tetra tank to hide the eggs, they probably need to go on a diet

 

[GaryE]

If I am not planning to breed fish I skip a day or two a week. When I get around to breeding them, I will increase feedings about 3 weeks before.

If you are using flake or pellet processed foods, be careful of overfeeding as fish can pack on deadly fat with 'convenience foods". There are also species that need different feeding than others - a swordtail seems to need more food than a neon, in my experience.

 

[kiko]

I always overfeed them right after a water change to stimulate spawning as I have plecos and they tend to spawn after overfeeding and waterchanges
and no...feeding and then changing water doesn't work specially because plecos breed when there's more than enough food laying around
at least my L144 breed systematically for me this way...
but usually I just look at the substrate...I have fluval stratum
and whenever I overfeed the substrate gets this white stuff on it..whenever that happens I stop feeding them for a day or 2 until the soil is back to its normal brown color
this happens around once a week
my water changes are done based on 400 tds...last one was done 7 weeks from the previous one....and my tds comes out around 320-330 from tap
but usually they're around 2/3 weeks apart..not sure what took so long last time to reach the water change mark but I like it...less work xD

 

[seangee]

When I am home I normally give them one or 2 days a week off feeding. I do travel a lot so they often end up with a fast of a week or more. If its more than a week then I will typically feed every day the week before and after the extended fast.