I have heard that it is beneficial to your fish to not feed them for a couple days, to clean the intestinal tract or something. Is this true? If so, for all sizes, or just bigger mature ones. Would it affect them if they are used to eating twice a day? Thanks.
Fasting fish
- Thread starter sick_lid
- Start date
For adults, two or even three days is okay. For growing fish, one day is all I do. Never for fry or very young, but once they are past the fragile stage and growing steadily, a day here and there without food is a good idea.
Allan01230;4218051; said:
thats sort of what I think too . . . the only times my fish are fasted is when I'm not around to feed them . . .
I keep a tank at work that regularly goes 2 or more days w/o food on the weekends, never had any problems, but the fish at home are fed regularly, and I don't see any difference
Simple. Not all fish are able to digest their foods quickly so you need periodic fasting to allow the fish time to digest the foods they eat and expel them otherwise you risk increasing their chance of getting bloat and other digestive problems. You don't find fish in the wild getting their meals everyday so there is no reason why fasting cannot be done (except for fry and juveniles). Healthy fish can do well with it for a few days. A week or two without food during vacation is still passable.sick_lid;4223765; said:
Exactly, another good reason besides the health benefits is the fish grow slower, so if you have fish capable of growing huge in a small tank you will have longer time to save up for a larger tank and save money on food.Lupin;4227582; said: