kribensis12
I know where you live
Okay, I was talking to Steve from Angelsplus over the phone the other day and he really enlightened me. Here are a couple things I learned.
Almost all fish keepers overfeed.
Yes, I am serious. I have recently found out that I have been overfeeding. I was definately not aware. When you feed your fish, you should feed them only a little bit. Not the 3-5 deal your fish food can has been telling you. When you feed your fish, they should STILL be hungry when your done, albiet not AS hungry. When you feed them the next time, they should feed voraciously.
Your filter is not there to pick up leftover food.
When your filter picks up leftover food, the food is still in the tank. It's just in a filter. So, imagine not having a filter and still feeding the way you do. Would you be worried about the appeareance of the tank? Would you be afraid of a couple stray flakes resting on the bottom? If so, your over feeding. When the food goes in your filter, it just breaks down. Which is a personal invitation to all bad bacteria. Why may lead to help problems in your fish, like internal and external bacterial infections. Do you clean your filter often? If and when you do, is there a lot of gunk in it? Black slime ect.? If so, you are overfeeding. That slime is the remnants of the food you've been feeding them. That is not to say it shouldn't be a little dirty, but there are not enough impurities in your water to gunk up the filter.
Growth affect on fry.
Overfeeding has a huge growth effect on fry. You would think, that giving them more than enough would cause them to grow faster, right? WRONG. Feed sparingly, like mentioned earlier. If a fish eats a mass amount of food at once, it doesn't absorb all the nutrients. It's intestinal tract only allows the fish to absorb so much at one time. The other food just passes through, undigested (causing you those nasty water problems). After overfeeding, it will be full and not be ready to eat later, or at least it wont eat as much as it would normally. Feeding sparingly and often gives you the opportunity to power feed you fish more nutrients in one day.
Okay, I just figured this might help some of you guys out there. I am constantly more aware of feeding than I was before. I am aiming to give my fish the best growth rates as possible, as well as keeping them healthy.
-Krib
Almost all fish keepers overfeed.
Yes, I am serious. I have recently found out that I have been overfeeding. I was definately not aware. When you feed your fish, you should feed them only a little bit. Not the 3-5 deal your fish food can has been telling you. When you feed your fish, they should STILL be hungry when your done, albiet not AS hungry. When you feed them the next time, they should feed voraciously.
Your filter is not there to pick up leftover food.
When your filter picks up leftover food, the food is still in the tank. It's just in a filter. So, imagine not having a filter and still feeding the way you do. Would you be worried about the appeareance of the tank? Would you be afraid of a couple stray flakes resting on the bottom? If so, your over feeding. When the food goes in your filter, it just breaks down. Which is a personal invitation to all bad bacteria. Why may lead to help problems in your fish, like internal and external bacterial infections. Do you clean your filter often? If and when you do, is there a lot of gunk in it? Black slime ect.? If so, you are overfeeding. That slime is the remnants of the food you've been feeding them. That is not to say it shouldn't be a little dirty, but there are not enough impurities in your water to gunk up the filter.
Growth affect on fry.
Overfeeding has a huge growth effect on fry. You would think, that giving them more than enough would cause them to grow faster, right? WRONG. Feed sparingly, like mentioned earlier. If a fish eats a mass amount of food at once, it doesn't absorb all the nutrients. It's intestinal tract only allows the fish to absorb so much at one time. The other food just passes through, undigested (causing you those nasty water problems). After overfeeding, it will be full and not be ready to eat later, or at least it wont eat as much as it would normally. Feeding sparingly and often gives you the opportunity to power feed you fish more nutrients in one day.
Okay, I just figured this might help some of you guys out there. I am constantly more aware of feeding than I was before. I am aiming to give my fish the best growth rates as possible, as well as keeping them healthy.
-Krib
Paid/paying the consequences now got a feeling that over feeding is where all my current problems stem from. Good article though 
