Fasting your fish

[Machine 79]

What is more of the point of skipping a day of feeding...is it for water qualities sake or for digestion of the fish? What if the majority of the stock is a year old... Juvenile ?
Wouldn't it have an effect on the fishes aggression?
I had this debate with a friend of mine and I'm guilty of feeding lightly 2 times a day, with juveniles, with no ill effect other than having to increase some maintenance.
It all came about with his claim of not having hardly any nitrates. I personally think his tank has not totally cycled yet due to squeezing out his sponge filters every other day in tap water with the tank only being in use for a month.

 

[esoxlucius]

It's healthier for the fish if they're not 'stuffed' all the time. Less feeding also means less waste so yes, this can only help with the nitrate situation. And of course less feeding means your fish food lasts longer so better on your pocket too.

The vast majority of fish in my 360g are adult now and I only feed five times per week, so I have two fasting days. I'm reviewing the situation all the time and eventually may even get down to a feeding regime of twice per week. But I reiterate, this is a tank full of adults, such a feeding regime wouldn't be good for the development of juveniles.

And it sounds like your friend is quite the expert, lol.

 

[12 Volt Man]

i don't feed on water change day

 

[duanes]

In nature, fish like large carnivores seldom eat every day, in fact they may only eat once every 3 days, or even once per week, so have evolved to cope with that regime , and just like humans that over eat, and tthcrn develop diseases like hypertension, and cholesterol problems leading to other maladies.
Fish that eat too much and especially " non"- carnivores that are fed too much protein too often, can develop fatty liver disease, and intestinal problems.
I normally feed two days and give the 3rd day off.

 

[Ruturaj]

I understand carnivores in nature eat less often and in higher quantity than herbivore which eat all the time. I see it as they can fed less often but I don't see why we have to. I assume feeding right quantity regularly should stop us from overfeeding and keep aggression low as well if that's a factor.

 

[Rocksor]

I understand carnivores in nature eat less often and in higher quantity than herbivore which eat all the time. I see it as they can fed less often but I don't see why we have to. I assume feeding right quantity regularly should stop us from overfeeding and keep aggression low as well if that's a factor.

The second problem is lack of activity, mobile predators spend lots of time and great distances searching for food. For example, South American pikes are easily overfed, especially the non-dwarf species. You need both high flow and reduced feeding to keep them fit and torpedo shaped. Whenever you see a carnivore the looks like a humpback compared to others of its kind, then it's pretty obvious that they are fed too much high quality food.

 

[Ruturaj]

The second problem is lack of activity, mobile predators spend lots of time and great distances searching for food. For example, South American pikes are easily overfed, especially the non-dwarf species. You need both high flow and reduced feeding to keep them fit and torpedo shaped. Whenever you see a carnivore the looks like a humpback compared to others of its kind, then it's pretty obvious that they are fed too much high quality food.

Agree. Water current and moving space is definitely very important. I think social interaction plays a role too, otherwise fish might decide to stay at a place.

 

[Magnus_Bane]

Agree. Water current and moving space is definitely very important. I think social interaction plays a role too, otherwise fish might decide to stay at a place.

Honestly fish are just like any other pet. Some are going to be lazier then others while some will eat more then others. Had plenty of fish that had weight issues just because they were extremely lazy and ate like pigs, mainly Oscars and Flowerhorns. I've also had plenty of fish that were the exact opposite and we're very active and seldomly ate but even some of them had weight issues. Had that problem mostly with Mbuna's, granted that was mainly due to them having a high protein diet available to them anytime I fed the other fish in the tank and we all know that nobody wants to eat what's healthy for em when there's junk food available.

 

[esoxlucius]

Honestly fish are just like any other pet. Some are going to be lazier then others while some will eat more then others. Had plenty of fish that had weight issues just because they were extremely lazy and ate like pigs, mainly Oscars and Flowerhorns.

I'm not sure i'd agree with this. Our fish are never going to be as active as they would be in the wild, simply because of the movement restrictions we have put on them by sticking them in a box. Fat fish in a fish tank can be attributed to one thing only, not greediness or laziness on the fishes part, but simply overfeeding by the very person who put them there in the first place!

I just think the hobbyist has to realise this and cater accordingly to what the fish NEED, and not what they WANT. Fish begging for food as you near the tank, and hobbyists believing they're starving to death, is an extremely common thing.

And one thing is for sure. Fish, to remain healthy, only need a fraction of what many hobbyists actually feed.