Feeding fish until they bulge- hurting or helping?
- Thread starter rallysman
- Start date
There would be absolutely no way to prove that.rallysman;3090524;3090524 said:
Even if a fish were to get larger than normal you could just argue it was some other factor (like genetics)
I don't think there is anyway to come to a conclusive answer with this by asking other hobbiest. Too subjective. Unless there is a study out their on obese fish this is nothing more than who can come up with the must creative arguement
dbcb314;3090549; said:
I'm not asking for anything with 100% conclusive results, I'm just looking for a benefit of power feeding.
Age, size, and feeding routine could help determine the overall effect.
Most people power feed to make the fish grow faster, so does anyone who does that have a fish that has reached the claimed max size or anything near that?
Okay, so I feed my Barras until they get a pot gut, and I have seen nothing unhealthy about this practice. I think they look quiet healthy. My Barras are not mature, far from it, the largest is only 16 cm, but for everyone who has had young Barras, he looks pretty healthy for his size and young age. I feed him til his belly pops out (when I feed him pellets he comes right to the surface of the water so it doesn't really affect water quality cause the pellet barely touches the water).
It would be good to se a mature Barra who has been fed like this.
It would be good to se a mature Barra who has been fed like this.
Lol, they wont show up any stockyness or beefyness at such a young age, I think most the food goes into their length. Once he reaches about 40 cm it might be worth showing off the results when his growth is less focussed on increasing his length.
I just posted the pics to show my fish are not unhealthy from the feeding, as for pics of a mature fish ,I can't offer those, I want to see pics of some though 8D
rallysman;3090565; said:
my old lemon fins (18-19") might have qualified: my old 90g
but I dont know if that is max size or not..
Like a few have said so far: Depends on the fish.
Big predators will more likely handle power-feeding better than fish that are habitually grazers in nature (i.e. discus etc.).
I don't mind feeding my young fish a lot so that they grow quickly. However, you only need to visit a public aquarium to see what happens when you overfeed adult fish with a fatty diet. Tail lobes get bent, and you'll see layers of fat on their head. Aquacultured fish are also susceptible to 'obesity' - I've cleaned a lot of aquacultured fish here (from 30-45cm / 12-18" in length) in Australia that had their entire gut enveloped in about 2.5cm/ 1 inch of fat.
Fish physiology is very different to mammalian, bird, or reptile physiology, and it varies between families of fish too. For one, fish use ammonia as their method of excreting waste resulting from a protein-based metabolism - not urea as mammals do, or uric crystals as birds and reptiles do.
Fish's tolerance to protein levels in their diet would also be completely dictated by what they are. Most people who keep African cichlids know that for the most part, Malawi cichlids in particular are omnivorous, and require a substantial part of their diet to be vegetable matter. Feed these things on a pure protein diet, and not only will they become unwell, but if they live, they accumulate a lot more fat (workmates witnessed a 20cm Aceii a local had been feeding barramundi pellets all its life).
Anyway back on topic, I'm not voting because the situation varies from species to species. I believe that YOUNG predators can be power-fed to a degree without too much detriment, but that care must be taken to ensure that your fish are compatible with this technique.
Big predators will more likely handle power-feeding better than fish that are habitually grazers in nature (i.e. discus etc.).
I don't mind feeding my young fish a lot so that they grow quickly. However, you only need to visit a public aquarium to see what happens when you overfeed adult fish with a fatty diet. Tail lobes get bent, and you'll see layers of fat on their head. Aquacultured fish are also susceptible to 'obesity' - I've cleaned a lot of aquacultured fish here (from 30-45cm / 12-18" in length) in Australia that had their entire gut enveloped in about 2.5cm/ 1 inch of fat.
Fish physiology is very different to mammalian, bird, or reptile physiology, and it varies between families of fish too. For one, fish use ammonia as their method of excreting waste resulting from a protein-based metabolism - not urea as mammals do, or uric crystals as birds and reptiles do.
Fish's tolerance to protein levels in their diet would also be completely dictated by what they are. Most people who keep African cichlids know that for the most part, Malawi cichlids in particular are omnivorous, and require a substantial part of their diet to be vegetable matter. Feed these things on a pure protein diet, and not only will they become unwell, but if they live, they accumulate a lot more fat (workmates witnessed a 20cm Aceii a local had been feeding barramundi pellets all its life).
Anyway back on topic, I'm not voting because the situation varies from species to species. I believe that YOUNG predators can be power-fed to a degree without too much detriment, but that care must be taken to ensure that your fish are compatible with this technique.
