Overfeeding a Midas

[Amphilophus88]

Hello,

I have a question about a new Midas I am growing out.
He is by himself in about a 135 gallon tank and is 10 inch. Some might call it a waste of space, but oh well I love that thing.

Anyways, since he is by himself in that tank my nitrate stays between 10-15 no matter how mich I feed, since I also change quite a lot of water (trying to grow out a 14-15 inch beast ).

All the information I can find regarding overfeeding is about water quality.
So what if the water quality is not an issue. Is it still bad to be feeding a lot? let's say 4 times a day while he is already 10 inch.

Because this is what I have been doing and he is still going for the inch a month even at this size, although there is no way he is keeping that up after 11 inch.
He looks real healthy, but I am just wondering.

Thanks.

 

[duanes]

I think fish are like any other animal. Is it healthy to overfeed your dog, or yourself for that matter?
Health issues may not become obvious immediately, but in the confines of an aquarium where the ability or need to work for its food as it might do in nature, seem to me to be reason to underfeed as opposed to overfeed.

 

[Drstrangelove]

Maybe you are only giving him a few pellets at meal time, but for some reason I am picturing a massive feast each time.

Most carnivorous fish species do not have a constant supply of food. They're built for periodic scarcity. Humans (and thousands of other species) have a similar nature. Constantly feeding large amounts isn't necessarily a good thing as the fish may add fat deposits or develop enlarged organs.

(Please note that many herbivorous fish seem to operate a little differently as they tend to graze constantly on small amounts of vegetable matter.)

If you want to feed a lot, my suggestion is that you give it a couple days off from food each week to work off any excess. Fish have a biological condition call compensatory growth where they will eat more and retain more after a famine. Ultimately, healthy fish will all grow at the same rate, so 2 days off per week will not affect long term growth.


Here's a general article on the issue.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compensatory_growth

I've seen many studies and fish where cg was was tested and validated. I haven't seen any studies on the long term effects of constant (over)feeding in fish, but it has never fared well for humans or other mammals.

 

[Amphilophus88]

Thanks for the information.

Well my logic was actually based on the fact that it is better for humans to eat often a day, not a lot but just small amounts quite often. That's how I sort of came up with this feeding pattern.

Interesting article, so I guess that's why he went from 7 to 10 inch in 2 months after I removed all the other fish from the tank. I was already wondering how he could grow like that.

But I think I should mention I am not feeding huge amounts each time, just often. Still I am getting the feeling I should cut back, especially if the grow rate over a longer period of time is going to be the same.

 

[js302]

keep up with the good water changes, cant have too many of those.

 

[CrimsonFog]

keep up with the good water changes, cant have too many of those.

+1

I have noticed more growth in my cichlids from water changes rather than overfeeding - regardless of the food.

 

[ehh]

If I might add, in no way are you wasting space. Bigger is always better. We all know that.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app

 

[neutrino]

As already mentioned, water quality not the only reason to not overfeed, it's as much or more about the health of the fish. Lot of aquaculture study has been done on this but the bottom line is there's an optimal range of feed intake/protein intake for fish and exceeding healthy levels tends not to accomplish much but produce more waste and be detrimental to the long term health of the fish.

Also, as already mentioned, how often you feed doesn't necessarily equal overfeeding, it's more about keeping total feed intake within reason.