Does anyone fast their fish?

[Auquanut]

I have always fasted (not fed) all of my fresh water guys once every 4 or 5 days. It seems to be good for them, and gives them a chance to clean up the tank. Even the African cichlids don't go on a murder spree if they miss a meal. I haven't done the same for the reef tanks because I don't want anyone making a meal of my corals. I'm still kinda new to the reef world, so not sure if the same principal would apply. They occasionally go without a meal if we are out of town, just wondering if anyone does this as a regular part of the feeding schedule.

 

[cracker]

I don't fast my tanks. Seems to me fish & corals need a steady source of food.

 

[ca1ore]

When I travel for work, or go on vacation, my fish don’t get fed ...... does that count? I see no benefit to it though.

 

[vegamedic]

Two things come to mind:

1) Not everyone feeds their tank every day, I feed mine around 5 days a week for instance.

2) If you're seeing a side benefit of allowing the tank to get "cleaned up" (presumably via fish scavenging uneaten food from previous feedings), I'd consider feeding less and skipping the planned "fasts." Fish don't really fast in nature, and I can't see a reason why it would be beneficial to the individual since they're not really evolved to do that in nature as far as I know

 

[mort]

As above really. I don't see the point because they don't fast in nature. Some predatory fish go a while between meals but most fish need to almost constantly feed. Many fish don't really have a way to store excess food if they gorge themselves. Species like anthias have a really short gut so need to be fed multiple times a day rather than just once and fasting can be really bad for them.
If your getting excess food or a dirty tank, consider feeding smaller amounts more often but totalling what you are now. It's likely the food will be processed much better by the fish.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Saltwater fish travel and graze all day in the wild in search of food source and while freshwater fish can endure this, saltwater fish need to graze/nibble regularly. They are already tempermental and can be even more so when hungry or in a territorial situation.
I use an auto feeder to assure they have some type of supplement until they get a regular feeding in the evening.

 

[Auquanut]

Not advocating scheduled fasts for the reef tank. In fact, it's not something I do myself. Just wondering if anyone does. In several of my freshwater tanks, some degree of overfeeding is necessary to ensure everyone gets fed depending on activity level, where they hang out in the water column, etc... I had seen years ago that regular fasts were good for the digestive tract and could help prevent bloat (particularly in cichlids). Don't know if there's any science behind that. I will continue my regular fasts in the freshwater tanks because it works for me. I have 5 FW tanks with a total volume of about 350 gallons(LOTS of fish). I like to think my little guys are happy and healthy, and I rarely loose a fish. Last one was a 3 year old Beta about 4 months ago. I was devastated.