Feeding; one big feed vs multiple smaller ones.

[David R]

I've been thinking about how (and what) I feed my tank, and I'm thinking of changing up the routine a bit.

Little bit of background, my tank is basically a 2000L community tank with about a hundred tetras, 30 clown loaches, a dozen geophagus, angels and a few other cichlids plus a couple of plecs. Lots of fish that would typically forage for food continuously. One thing I want to avoid is the "obese" look so many aquarium-raised clown loaches have, but at the same time to ensure all the fish get a decent amount of food I have to feed a fairly large amount of food. Their staple diet is a mix of NLS Thera A and Cichlid Formula 1mm pellets and NLS flake, which I feed twice a day by dropping into a "feeding tube" so it sinks into the water column rather than floating over the overflow, as seen in this clip.

I was considering setting up an auto feeder to dispense a smaller amount of granulated food on a regular basis, but I'm pretty sure that will have the opposite of the desired effect with the bigger more boisterous fish eating tons. So I'm thinking one big feed per day is probably the best solution; dump in a heap of food to let them forage and clean it all up so everyone gets a chance at it, and then let them fast for the next 24hrs. I might even stretch it out to just six feeds a week and skip the feeding on water change day all together.

Thoughts? Do we usually over-feed our aquarium fish?

 

[tlindsey]

I've been thinking about how (and what) I feed my tank, and I'm thinking of changing up the routine a bit.

Little bit of background, my tank is basically a 2000L community tank with about a hundred tetras, 30 clown loaches, a dozen geophagus, angels and a few other cichlids plus a couple of plecs. Lots of fish that would typically forage for food continuously. One thing I want to avoid is the "obese" look so many aquarium-raised clown loaches have, but at the same time to ensure all the fish get a decent amount of food I have to feed a fairly large amount of food. Their staple diet is a mix of NLS Thera A and Cichlid Formula 1mm pellets and NLS flake, which I feed twice a day by dropping into a "feeding tube" so it sinks into the water column rather than floating over the overflow, as seen in this clip.

I was considering setting up an auto feeder to dispense a smaller amount of granulated food on a regular basis, but I'm pretty sure that will have the opposite of the desired effect with the bigger more boisterous fish eating tons. So I'm thinking one big feed per day is probably the best solution; dump in a heap of food to let them forage and clean it all up so everyone gets a chance at it, and then let them fast for the next 24hrs. I might even stretch it out to just six feeds a week and skip the feeding on water change day all together.

Thoughts? Do we usually over-feed our aquarium fish?

I've been thinking about how (and what) I feed my tank, and I'm thinking of changing up the routine a bit.

Little bit of background, my tank is basically a 2000L community tank with about a hundred tetras, 30 clown loaches, a dozen geophagus, angels and a few other cichlids plus a couple of plecs. Lots of fish that would typically forage for food continuously. One thing I want to avoid is the "obese" look so many aquarium-raised clown loaches have, but at the same time to ensure all the fish get a decent amount of food I have to feed a fairly large amount of food. Their staple diet is a mix of NLS Thera A and Cichlid Formula 1mm pellets and NLS flake, which I feed twice a day by dropping into a "feeding tube" so it sinks into the water column rather than floating over the overflow, as seen in this clip.

I was considering setting up an auto feeder to dispense a smaller amount of granulated food on a regular basis, but I'm pretty sure that will have the opposite of the desired effect with the bigger more boisterous fish eating tons. So I'm thinking one big feed per day is probably the best solution; dump in a heap of food to let them forage and clean it all up so everyone gets a chance at it, and then let them fast for the next 24hrs. I might even stretch it out to just six feeds a week and skip the feeding on water change day all together.

Thoughts? Do we usually over-feed our aquarium fish?

They will be fine with once a day feeding and a little over feeding if you choose before water change day for fasting.

 

[RD.]

I never feed on water change day.

 

[Coryloach]

I feed one big feed once a day because majority of my fish are bottom feeders at completely different sizes. I feed them by sinking the NLS pellets with my hand. I basically hold the pellets and sink my hand into the tank, then open up for them to fall. The loaches come up biting them right out of my hand. The reason for one big feed is to make sure all fish, small and large get to some pellets because none can be fast enough to eat all at once despite some being greedier.
When I have growing fish, I do drop a 2nd feed also, targeting said fish.

I do read about smaller feeding, more often being more beneficial but it doesn't work in a community tank for me. I don't do fast days, never did, don't see any reason for it. I don't consider my loaches obese at all. They're not the thin/narrow look either. I think mine look solid and strong, no distended or blown out of proportion bellies but they are tick around their spines and I can nearly see muscles.

 

[esoxlucius]

I used to feed 7 times per week, once every morning. The growth rate of my fish was good and, as already mentioned, my clown loaches started to resemble little barrels too. That's when i decided to ease off on the feeding a bit. Nowadays i'm down to 4 times per week and my fish are still growing well and yes my clown loach are still like little barrels. I honestly think i'd get away with feeding my fish only once or twice a week (and save a fortune in the process!).

I think most hobbyists overfeed, it doesn't help when you go near your tank and your fish go crazy as if they haven't been fed for months so you tend to buckle and give them food. I think the common concensus between experienced hobbyists is that underfeeding is way healthier for your fish than overfeeding. Of course this would only work with a tank full of mature fish, you wouldn't get away scrimping on the food if you have fry and/or juveniles.

 

[duanes]

Although larger predatory species grab a large meal when they can, lay low and digest it, often for days..
In nature species like Geophagines constantly sift, and eat very small items, as do tetras that seem to be constantly eating throughout the day.
I fed my tanks according to the way species seem to eat in a natural setting, whether it matters in the larger scheme of things???
I did find, when feeding fry many small meals throughout the day, the survival rates were much higher than 1 or 2 gorge fests.

 

[Deadliestviper7]

Most herbivores and omnivores eat smaller more frequent meals,while larger predators can go days without food.
Most cichlids eat frequently ,almost always small meals.

 

[David R]

Cheers for the responses, all good info. Duanes, ideally I'd feed my tank so they could continuously graze, but like you I wonder how much it actually matters to the fish? I'm sure in habit the Geos would continuously sift, but I think there would be fluctuations in how much food they actually find. The type of food I'm feeding and the amount of it means it spreads out far and wide and they might be finding small pieces of it up to an hour or two later. Not quite the same as grazing all day but I think it's fine for them.

Along these lines, I had a friend who set up an auto feeder that regularly dropped granulated food out of a pipe at the lower level of the back-right corner of his tank for his group of Geophagus. It worked really well in that they could almost continuously graze as nature intended, but the downside was that they didn't associate his presence with food and were incredibly shy and skittish until he eventually stopped the auto feeder and started feeding them himself.

 

[Coryloach]

I think the common concensus between experienced hobbyists is that underfeeding is way healthier for your fish than overfeeding.

Neither overfeeding nor underfeeding is healthy. or better than each other.
The danger of overfeeding is polluting the water. I am safe to say I've managed to strike a balance without a problem in every tank I've had in terms of daily amount of food and extra feedings here and there don't cause any issues either. I am sure many others don't have issues feeding the fish well daily....

Underfeeding causes malnutrition and stress, quite dangerous as "experienced" hobbyists start starving their fish to preserve the water quality in their ever growing population of fish after reading comments like this online.

There was quite an interesting article I read several years back about monsterfishkeepers and malnutrition in large fish. I tried to find it again to post here....It was a shocking read but you get the idea, tanks not big enough to support both the fish and the amount of food they require to stay healthy....

 

[the big kahuna]

Nice set up. Just wondering, don't the Uarus pick your tetras off from time to time? The Uarus I keep before were aggressive.