How often do you feed your fish?

Feb 27, 2009
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#2
Depends on the fish for me.

My Otocinclus sp. eat constantly on available algae and veggies are added daily.

My microrasbora eat what they find in the planted tank, but are fed 2x a week with a quality flake food and 1x a week with freeze dried food.

My dwarf puffer is feed 1x a week with frozen meaty foods plus whatever snails she may find.

My Badis sp. are fed 1x a week with frozen meaty foods. They also will eat some of the freeze dried food offered to the microrasbora.

Fry and any adults intended for breeding are fed daily to build up egg production.
 

skjl47

Large Fish
Nov 13, 2010
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Northeastern Tennessee.
#3
Hello; Every day can be fine if you are careful about the amount. One of the more difficult aspects of fish keeping can be how to judge the proper amount to feed. I was overfeeding early on and it took some time to learn.
I now skip a day or two each week. This seems to give the fish an incentive to scour for any leftovers.
I came to this over time and after many long weekends away from home. I would leave for a few days and find the fish fine upon return. The tanks would look better as well.
Fish need much less food than I though when i first began keeping them. Many new to fishkeeping are guilty of some level of overfeeding.
Should you decide to skip a day of feeding from time to time it will not be in anyway cruel.
I also like to have a population of snails. They will eat any excess food in places the fish may not be able to get at, the MTS are good at plowing thru the gravel. I also like to have some live plants as well.
Light feeding should help the tank stay cleaner over time and allow the tank to stay set up longer before a teardown is necessary.
 

Dec 5, 2011
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Walla Walla, Washington
#4
For me, this is my feeding plan:

Betta Bowl: Feed a few pellets once in the morning, and once in the evening.

10g Tank: Feed a pinch of crushed (so that the fry can eat it) flakes, and one algae disk (for the catfish. Yes, she eats them, not just for plecos :p) once in the morning, once in the evening.

Does anyone think I am overfeeding? Should I start feeding only once a day? Someone suggested me getting a snail or 2 to help clean the tank. Would that be a good idea since the tank is already overstocked?
 

Nov 5, 2009
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CT
#5
For me, this is my feeding plan:

Betta Bowl: Feed a few pellets once in the morning, and once in the evening.

10g Tank: Feed a pinch of crushed (so that the fry can eat it) flakes, and one algae disk (for the catfish. Yes, she eats them, not just for plecos :p) once in the morning, once in the evening.

Does anyone think I am overfeeding? Should I start feeding only once a day? Someone suggested me getting a snail or 2 to help clean the tank. Would that be a good idea since the tank is already overstocked?
snails would only make things worse in terms of being overstocked. clean what exactly? if its just left over food at the bottom of the tank your cory should clean that up as long as it hasn't been there too long. as long as your very careful about overfeeding 2 small feedings a day should be fine. if you were going to add anything to that tank you might consider getting another cory as they are much happier in groups

as for me 1 usually feed once a day but if i miss a day here and there i don't panic. generally the amount they say you should feed on the packaging is too much. it may not hurt the fish to feed that much but they don't need it and it will cause your water conditions to deteriorate faster.
 

Jan 23, 2012
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Aurora CO
#6
if i miss a day here and there i don't panic. generally the amount they say you should feed on the packaging is too much. it may not hurt the fish to feed that much but they don't need it and it will cause your water conditions to deteriorate faster.
I agree with this. The directions on the food can is way to much. I was feeding every 3 days and sometimes even went a week without feeding them and all seemed well. I grabbed some live black worms the other day and they really love them. The cory's slurp them up like spaghetti. The serpae tetras bite them and they wiggle until there gone. Even the black neons and cardinals chow them down. And the siemese algae eater eats them like crazy. I try and skip a few days because they just seem to eat better when I do.
Your right about the quality of the water going down if you over feed. Even in a well established tank.
 

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