How Often Do You Feed Your Fish?

[slimeneo]

I only feed my fish once a day, but WILDER has suggested feeding them twice a day. It's common knowledge that if the fish don't finish their food in a couple of minutes, then you're overfeeding... but my fish are like monsters, they gobble everything up in less than a minute! Especially my gold barbs, they eat so much that their stomachs get bigger... and I don't even feed them that much, just a tiny pinch...

I feed them flakes, freeze-dried bloodworms (soaked in water though, and I plan on feeding less of these) and sometimes romaine lettuce/cucumber. The problem I have with lettuce is that I can't control how much they eat. I put in part of a leaf in and they gobble it up in a day or two... and its a lot for them considering their stomachs are the size of their eyes (I have platies and gold barbs). So I fear that I overfeed them a lot.. sometimes I fast them the day after bloodworms or lettuce.

So I was just wondering, how often do other people feed their fish (and what kinds of foods), and am I really overfeeding them? I've had 2 fish die of swim bladder (well I think, anyway) and I really don't want it to happen again (one of the possible causes is overfeeding..)

 

[mbeer21]

Once every day. Flakes and sinking pellets 6 days, bloodworms 1 day. Algae wafers every few days, and a bit of veggie once or twice.

 

[dbanner]

I voted "3 times a day" but I only feed my young Thai Silk Flowerhorn 3 times a day as I was told to do so by a very knowledgable member of this forum before this i was feeding once a day but since tanking his advice my flowerhorn is now more active, has more colour and is growing at the proper rate

I have an Ornate Birchir with my flowerhorn but the Ornate will only take food around once every 2 days or so.

Smaller fish iv owned in the past iv fed once a day missing 1 day a week which was usually a Sunday and I had no problems at all. That was things like tetras, barbs and gouramis.

Iv also had red belly piranhas that I used to feed once every 3 days. They would take more of a variety of food this way and seemed much less shy. It also used to bring out their hunting instinct.

 

[slimeneo]

That's interesting, so how much you feed depends on what kind of fish it is?

 

[fluttermoth]

^ Actually that's a good point, and very true.

Things like big catfish and oscars are better fed large-ish meals two or three times a week, as that's more how they'd fed in the wild, being opportunistic hunter/scavengers.

Things like small tetras and barbs are best fed once or twice a day a day and tiny fish, like microrasboras, or growing fry, small meals, three times a day.

But for the average community, once day with a staple flake or granule, one day a week frozen food or veggies, depending on the fish you have, and one fast day.

 

[dbanner]

That's interesting, so how much you feed depends on what kind of fish it is?

Yep exactly and as fluttermoth kindly explained

 

[slimeneo]

Thanks c: I think I'll be changing my feeding patterns accordingly then.

 

[Flute]

I feed once a day, but I've been meaning to split the total dried amount into two feeds a day. I've been getting planaria worms on my glass, so I know I'm over feeding. They get quite a variety of foods: I have Tetra flakes, tetra prima and veggie flakes, which get mixed together so they have a good balance. When they're not being fed dried foods they'll get peas once a week or so (or when I remember to buy them!), and they get live mosquito larvae a couple of times a week too. They also get JMC catfish pellets, which the corys and cichlids go nuts for. Haven't fed much in the way of frozen foods recently because I've had a free live food source in the form of mosquito larvae in our garden. They love live bloodworm too, but I'm a bit iffy about feeding it in case they bring in anything nasty. They don't think much of cucumber or lettuce. Oh, and they'll get chopped up prawns as a treat occasionally. And then I mix Vitazin in with their food once a week too I usually fast for one day a week, sometimes more if they've had more treats than usual.

I used to feed just tropical flakes and veggie flakes, with the odd frozen treat. Since giving them a more varied diet they seem much happier, with much better colours and my corydora and paired cichlids are spawning regularly.

 

[CezzaXV]

I aim for one a day but I also understand the benefits of fasting one or two days a week. Therefore, I AIM to feed every day but it's inevitable that I'm going to forget at least one day a week.

 

[M4R13Y]

Once a day (occasionally but not often twice a day) and I sometimes give them peas as a treat.

 

[tricky-z]

i feed twice a day. flake food in the morning and a mixture of freeze dried bloodworms, freeze dried brine shrimp, and sinking pellets at night

 

[dougie]

I like to vary the feeding pattern. In my (probably incorrect) opinion fish would feed as opportunists, not at the same time every day. So mine get dry foods every day bar one fast day, and every other day also get frozen brine shrimp or similar, with bloodworm the day before fast day.

 

[Moby-Krib]

^ Actually that's a good point, and very true.

Things like big catfish and oscars are better fed large-ish meals two or three times a week, as that's more how they'd fed in the wild, being opportunistic hunter/scavengers.

Things like small tetras and barbs are best fed once or twice a day a day and tiny fish, like microrasboras, or growing fry, small meals, three times a day.

But for the average community, once day with a staple flake or granule, one day a week frozen food or veggies, depending on the fish you have, and one fast day.

Always a good response, .. AND lest we forget the importance of the fasting day..This is needed for most.
And that as being a cold blooded animal we COULD go up to an excess(this is per species and may other variables) w/o damage to a healthy fish..

I wont vote as the choices don't regulate for what fish are we exactly supposed to be feeding.