Any evidence that fasting actually benefits fish?

[Gr8KarmaSF]

Most of us do it for a day or two but is there any evidence that fasting actually benefits fish?

 

[me_wee_todded]

well i guess that sice they live in a tank they are sorta living a sedentary lifestyle. so i guess skipping a meal or too cant hurt.

 

[Polypterus]

Most of us do it for a day or two but is there any evidence that fasting actually benefits fish?

This truly does depend on a number of factors.
Species, temp, food type, age, sex, seasonal and diel effects, etc.. all play a significant role.

I'm not sure this could be answered in a blanket response that would cover all factors that would apply to this either being beneficial or detrimental .

 

[ewurm]

Many fish in the wild don't eat every day. It depends on what you are keeping.

 

[sicxspeed]

From what I understand, not feeding also helps manage waste in food and fish waste for a day or so allowing the biological filtration a little time to get an upper hand in balancing out there job.

 

[Gr8KarmaSF]

From what I understand, not feeding also helps manage waste in food and fish waste for a day or so allowing the biological filtration a little time to get an upper hand in balancing out there job.

Sweet I liken dis answer.

 

[davo]

I guess its either little and often, or a lot not so often, so I can be sure not just the quickest more boystrous fish get the food first. That is one reason i do it with some communities.

 

[circusvoodooninja]

I feed all of my fish twice a week. They do fine, and the water quality is great.

 

[pinoy]

My aro gets wild when not fed so fasting is not an option. He is with several other fishes.Those fish will all be bruised if the aro is not fed. The only fish i fast is the flowerhorn. He is already huge and he gets bigger if fed more. He is almost two years of age.

 

[M|L]

there are very little legitimate scientific study on fish keeping lol.

most of what we know are derived from what has been studied on humans and other animals. aside from "scientific studies", it's the experiences from expert keepers that help us answer most of our common questions to fish keeping.

it's known that if you overfeed an animal, the digestive system (namely, the small intestines) can not extract the nutrients properly because the food is being moved through the system too quickly.

fasting is also trying to imitate the feeding patterns of the fish in the wild. a lot of predators don't get to eat 2, 3 or more meals a day as they would in captive care. so fasting is part of a natural feeding cycle when food may be scarce during certain time of the season.