heavy feeding, and fish health...

[Magnum Man]

over feeding is easy to do, not just for newbies, but even for veterans... I'll admit, that I do it... I have many tanks that have a large variety of fish, most tanks are heavily stocked, and when you have immature fish, that aren't the most aggressive of eaters, it's easy to do, in trying to make sure everyone gets enough to eat, I've gotten pretty good with figuring out the 5 minute rule, so I don't have food sitting around... but that doesn't mean the aggressive eaters are not over eating... the catfish clans, seem to be the easiest to over feed... most of my catfish, that are not just biofilm eaters, are all pretty fat... I would guess floating foods, rather than slowly sinking foods might help a little, but my African, lined glass cats and my Cory's will all go to the top for floating foods, if that all that is offered... I only feed once a day, and occasionally skip a day, as it's doubtful, that in the wild, any fish gets to eat it's fill every single day... just curious of any health problems with gluttony, on aggressive eaters???

looking at an angel fish, or a silver dollar, they don't appear fat, maybe they don't store any, and just poop out more than they can use... I know from raising farm animals, that many animals store fat differently... sheep for example are supposed to store fat from excessive graining, inside their rib cages, rather than outside their rib cages, putting pressure on their organs... I can't say, as I haven't butchered many aquarium fish... that said I do raise and butcher Tilapia, Tilapia seem like an oily fish, but I don't recall seeing any significant fat deposits inside their rib cage???

 

[Naughts]

Yes, it's one of the many complexities of keeping community tanks, who eats what and are any species likely to be out-competed and deprived of food? Overfeeding has dire consequences for the fish who are opportunistic feeders and prone to fatty livers and/or loss of agility thus body condition. Also for the whole tank due to poor water quality.

The '5 minute rule' sounds arbitrary. Most species I keep will have eaten within a few seconds. However grazers like cories, shrimp and snails will be eating most of the time.

My community tanks are fed four times a week, less if I'm away. I avoid fish with incompatible feeding (and other) needs to their tankmates. People with fry or with immature tanks may need to feed more than I do.

 

[MaloK]

It's always fun to have good food that everybody goes out for excited...

But sometime finding something that goes under the radar a little more, is practical and doesn't get raided like there's no tomorrow. It's pretty difficult with commercial food, but some pretty nice things can be done home made, that draws less attention.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I generally feed multiple foods in a tank. Often the difference is between foods that tend to float for a while as opposed to those which sink. This helps a lot to insure all of the fish get something to eat. However, I believe all fish are basically pigs and they will try to eat anything they think is food.

Another good trick I use is to feed foods of different sizes. Smaller fish want smaller foods and often these are too small for the other fish to eat and get a decent meal from doing so. This method works well when one has fish which spawn in the tank, The babies need tiny foods but the adults need them bigger. So I feed two or three different types and sizes of foods. Also, nocturnal fish can be fed after lights out.

That said there are some fish which should not be mixed with bigger or smaller fish in terms of feeding. Another thing that can help is have a bigger tank. No matter how aggressive any fish is, it can still only be in one place at a time. So, feeding multiple foods and spreading out where you drop them into the tank can also help to insure everybody gets dinner.

The above has worked well for me but other will have to decide how they want to handle the issue of different size fish in a tank getting to eat.
edited to fix typos and a failure to edit out some words where I changed the sentence and failed to delete them at that time

 

[anewbie]

I have top feeders and bottom feeders so i try to mix floating and sinking foods but yes some fishes are more aggressive than others. I probably over feed but i also try to reduce feeding and then watch for hungry fishes - a hungry fish will become more aggressive around food - my clown loaches taught me well that lesson.

The one thing i am very uncertain about is how much to feed larger fishes (like 8 inch chocolate and geo); is one feeding enough or do they need to stuff themselves. I guess i'll never know.

 

[gwand]

I feed Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. A single generous (I think) feeding on those days. Everyone is hungry with this arrangement. Even the shy fish go after their meal. But dominant fish get the lion’s share. That is the way of the world. But no one is starving to death. Even the meek fish.

 

[seangee]

My staple foods are micro granules, including bug bites. I have a few different types that I rotate. At feeding time I turn off the filters for 5 minutes. Most of my fish know exactly what this means . Then I sprinkle food on the surface and the surface feeders and greedy beggars tuck in. When the filters come back on it sinks. By this time the greedy ones are full and the middle / slower feeders are less harassed. When it reaches the bottom the bottom feeders clean up over a much longer time. That also gives me a good idea of how much is left after 5 minutes and if I am over feeding.