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Anonymous
Guest
How often should you feed the inhabitants ie fish in your tank without affecting water quality(overfeeding)?
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Anonymous
Guest
That would depend on the types of fish you have in your tank and the type of setup i.e reef, FO, sandbed, no substrate, liverock, etc.. 
Remember many fish in the wild spend most of their waking time foraging for food. So they're expending energy looking for food and it's not like there's a giant hand over them dropping down food, so foods may not be as readily available as they are in our tanks at one particular time. In our tanks they're not expending the energy looking for foods and are usually just competing with other tank inhabitants for the foods we feed or are growing in the tank i.e. pods, algae, etc. Tangs in particular tend to graze on algae all day. The general rule of thumb is to feed smaller portions more often than larger portions less often. Having said that there is something called "work" which some of us have to do so we can't feed our critters every couple of hours or so. :lol:
I try to feed fish at least 3x a day small portions which they can consume in a few minutes, target feed shrimp, crabs ( if you have them ) serpent or brittle stars once a day plus leave small particles of food around for the bristleworms and other critters. When it comes to Tangs and other algae consumers keeping a few small sheets of Nori in the tank for them to graze on all day.
Now when it comes to corals, anemones, etc. that's another can of worms.
Regards,
David Mohr
Remember many fish in the wild spend most of their waking time foraging for food. So they're expending energy looking for food and it's not like there's a giant hand over them dropping down food, so foods may not be as readily available as they are in our tanks at one particular time. In our tanks they're not expending the energy looking for foods and are usually just competing with other tank inhabitants for the foods we feed or are growing in the tank i.e. pods, algae, etc. Tangs in particular tend to graze on algae all day. The general rule of thumb is to feed smaller portions more often than larger portions less often. Having said that there is something called "work" which some of us have to do so we can't feed our critters every couple of hours or so. :lol:
I try to feed fish at least 3x a day small portions which they can consume in a few minutes, target feed shrimp, crabs ( if you have them ) serpent or brittle stars once a day plus leave small particles of food around for the bristleworms and other critters. When it comes to Tangs and other algae consumers keeping a few small sheets of Nori in the tank for them to graze on all day.
Now when it comes to corals, anemones, etc. that's another can of worms.
Regards,
David Mohr
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Anonymous
Guest
i agree with Dave in that the frequency depends on the species.
i have very few fish even once my tanks are established and they usually can find most of what they need in the tank.
i presently only have a single Clarki, a clown goby, and a yellow tang in my 90g. they went without feedings for weeks at a time. i do add a little protein (blender mush) from time to time for the benefit of my LPS and the Clarki but i really don't know that it is a requirement.
there is plenty of pods to prey upon when the Clarki has the entire population to split between itself and a tiny goby that often ends up in the sump for weeks at a time.
the tang is a temporary new hire but he can't keep up with the algae load as it is. if he were to eradicate it i would feed daily nori.
i do feed regularly now but only because i am housing a RBTA. and i feed it a couple times a week and the food has spirulina and various rarities that the fish will appreciate.
my last tank i fed daily with mush because it became densely populated with little water volume. it seemed necessary as food would be rabidly devoured when added.
just to be more lenghty :wink:
i think many species of anthias could go without frequent feedings in my tank if i were to only keep one or two if i were to remove the current inhabitants. the pod level is quite high when the predators are kept at a minimum.
i have very few fish even once my tanks are established and they usually can find most of what they need in the tank.
i presently only have a single Clarki, a clown goby, and a yellow tang in my 90g. they went without feedings for weeks at a time. i do add a little protein (blender mush) from time to time for the benefit of my LPS and the Clarki but i really don't know that it is a requirement.
there is plenty of pods to prey upon when the Clarki has the entire population to split between itself and a tiny goby that often ends up in the sump for weeks at a time.
the tang is a temporary new hire but he can't keep up with the algae load as it is. if he were to eradicate it i would feed daily nori.
i do feed regularly now but only because i am housing a RBTA. and i feed it a couple times a week and the food has spirulina and various rarities that the fish will appreciate.
my last tank i fed daily with mush because it became densely populated with little water volume. it seemed necessary as food would be rabidly devoured when added.
just to be more lenghty :wink:
i think many species of anthias could go without frequent feedings in my tank if i were to only keep one or two if i were to remove the current inhabitants. the pod level is quite high when the predators are kept at a minimum.
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Anonymous
Guest
so in otherwords me feeding once a day isnt overfeeding...
I have a 150 with a pair of A. ocillaris, a pair of pajama cardinals, a three stripe damsel, a rusty angel, and a Z. desjardinii tang. I feed the tang a 3 x3 piece of nori every other dayalong with a selcon soaked cube of mysis. The other days I feed two cubes of mysis. I feed my H. Malu a silverside every 2-3 days. I don't directly feed the two maroon serpent stars but they always find something.
I always hear alot of people say they never feed there fish and have seen some great looking tanks where the fish seem ok and are never fed. Must make maintance easy but I like to feed all the fish everyday. The seem happier when they are fat!
I always hear alot of people say they never feed there fish and have seen some great looking tanks where the fish seem ok and are never fed. Must make maintance easy but I like to feed all the fish everyday. The seem happier when they are fat!
LordNikon":gugb2z0z said:
Not by a long shot!
Even fish that you might read "feed 3 times daily" do quite well when fed once or twice a day. There are exceptions, some tangs come to mind. My fish, including an imperator do great on one or two feedings a day. As stated above, captive requirements are different that requirements in the wild sometimes. Jim
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