Frequency of feeding

[bigphesta]

How often should you feed a community tank? The food says "two to three times per day" but I've seen on here once a day or even every other day. What's the best for what I have? I know I don't want to overfeed, but I don't want the little guys to starve either.

 

[yhbae]

Once a day will be fine - even once every two days will not kill any fish. The only exceptions are for super-young fries and when you are conditioning fishes for breeding purposes.

Personally, I feed a little every day, and skip one day per week.

 

[cometcattle]

Once a day will be fine - even once every two days will not kill any fish. The only exceptions are for super-young fries and when you are conditioning fishes for breeding purposes.

Personally, I feed a little every day, and skip one day per week.

I do exactly the same.

Never feed your fish (unless we're talking fry) 3 times a day. I wouldn't feed my fish twice a day.

Over-feeding is one of the worst things you can do. Your fish don't need that much food, it isn't good for them.

 

[canarsie11]

It varies just get something that fits your routine and so you dont have to rely on anyone else to feed your fish.

In my 75, I feed once in morn, and drop some algae disc in after lights out. But I feed my fish very small amount of food.

I skip feeding all together sometimes. Whatever works for you

 

[Where the river goes]

twice a day should be fine. My community tank I feed 2 times a day every other day.

 

[yhbae]

Whatever is the frequency, just make sure not to overfeed! To me, that is the most important factor overall...

 

[NinjaSmurf]

This may be stupid, but other than just the tank getting dirty and having to clean out the filter and doing more water changes (enough reason by itself) how is it possible to 'overfeed' your fish? Mine never eat more than they want, and if the get hungry later they pick at anything they find on the bottom. So is it really overfeeding your fish, or is it just making you tank crappy? Because if it's just making the tank crappy then we should say that, instead of overfeeding, because that gives the impression to beginners that the fish will just eat everything and explode

 

[yhbae]

This may be stupid, but other than just the tank getting dirty and having to clean out the filter and doing more water changes (enough reason by itself) how is it possible to 'overfeed' your fish? Mine never eat more than they want, and if the get hungry later they pick at anything they find on the bottom. So is it really overfeeding your fish, or is it just making you tank crappy? Because if it's just making the tank crappy then we should say that, instead of overfeeding, because that gives the impression to beginners that the fish will just eat everything and explode

I guess it depends on the species - many of them will eat until there's no food left and looking like pigs afterwards. Platies are one of them, and so are many of the mbunas. (P Acei absolutely don't stop eating). They will end up eating more than they should, which can affect their health...

 

[FishDan]

Overfeeding leads to "crappy" water. The food rots and contributes to the ammonia problem in the tank. It also is a waste of the food. many fish won't "pick the scraps" at the bottom of the tank until they are starting to get really hungry. I have glass cats that won't touch anything at the bottom of the tank, ever. Even the bloodworms. If it is not floating they won't eat it. I am certain there are other fish like this (and fortunately my other fish do a great job eating the food at the bottom). You can call it whatever you want, overfeeding, polluting the water, wasting money. It all amounts to the same thing in the end: too much food in the tank that the fish do not need.

\Dan

 

[yhbae]

FishDan is correct as well - ever since I cut back on the amount of feed on the mbuna tank, there's less need for me to clean the sponges in the filter. I usually clean the sponges when they rise up the container. I guess this happens when too much particles are blocking in the sponge that water cannot flow through easily. It now happens much less frequently after cutting back on food.