Fish Feeding: When is it too much or not enough?

[mucky1957]

I use mainly frozen blocks and feed one a day and two a day on alternate days. Its all gone within 2 minutes of some frenzied charging around. Nitrate's and phosphates are both within the limit I want so I am happy.

 

[Jon Fishman]

All frozen, once + a day


Some days much more than others. depends when I work. I feed heavy, and over-compensate on nutrient removal.

3 fish in my 140-150 display

 

[TheGulag]

I feel like i overfeed but i know when my 6-lines belly bulges after each meal that I have probably put in too much food. But I dunno for sure

 

[Squidward]

Btw @vetteguy53081 .... what kind of tang is that?

Dussumieri tang.. gets quite Huge.

 

[Dragon52]

Dussumier tang right?

That's it. 1' 9" to big for my tank. Oh well

 

[Admann]

I feed frozen morning after lights on, evening before lights out. During the day if they start chasing each other or looking territorial, I'll give a little snack of frozen again and everybody chills.

 

[csb123]

All my fish are fat and healthy, except my fairy wrasses. They seem healthy, but I just noticed on is missing today. I lost another several months ago. In addition, I’ve not been able to keep lyretail anthias alive long term. I presume it’s because they need to graze on plankton all day.

I feed DIY frozen twice a day, and add a sheet of nori daily. My next plan is to try any auto feeder to drop calanus pods throughout the day.

 

[Mr Fishface]

I feed a whole cube of frozen at least every other day. Somrtimes i do once per day. It only lasts for about a minute - if that. I target feed my duncan every feeding too. Just a small piece of food for him. My tangs get fed nori at least once per day. I recently changed how much i feed to give a small piece on days i feed frozen and 2 or 3 small pieces on days i dont do frozen. Sometimes I'll feed flake food, rather than frozen, just to mix things up a little. I like to feed enough that my fish have plump bellys showing and my crabs can get food. If i still have food swirling in the tank after a few minutes i consider it too much. I would rather do 2 small feedings than 1 big feeding though.

 

[vetteguy53081]

@vetteguy53081
What kind of tang is this. I think I need one.
Sometimes I think to much other not enough but my fish are all nice & plump so I guess I'm doing something right.

Dussomieri. About $200 average and they Do grow fairly quick

 

[SeaDweller]

I feed 4-6x a day. 3-4 heavy pinches of flake in the AM, pellets twice during the day when I’m at work, frozen at night and some more flake before bed. Happy fish, happy corals, happy me.

 

[TinCanHero]

I feel like i feed a little to much because of neut issues, but u also sometimes feel like i don't feed enough.
My fish are plump but you can tell there hungry and pumped for food when its feeding time. I feed a high quality frozen mysis as the base, if im careful and i don't dump it all in at once but feed over a minute or so then im doing okey, but if i dump it all in it doesn't all get eaten and i feel that mysis rotting down between rocks etc is a huge problem for my algae issues. its always hit and miss for me. im hoping now i have a much larger sump and a better skimmer it will be better.

 

[vetteguy53081]

What type of tang is that vetteguy3? Beautiful fish!

Dussomieri tang sometimes called eyelstripe tang

 

[TinCanHero]

I feed 4-6x a day. 3-4 heavy pinches of flake in the AM, pellets twice during the day when I’m at work, frozen at night and some more flake before bed. Happy fish, happy corals, happy me.

Wish i had time to feed 4-6x day!

 

[SeaDweller]

Wish i had time to feed 4-6x day!

Auto feeder when you can’t, yo.

 

[sfin52]

I feed pellets and my own homemade fish food. When I feed my DIY frozen food, the nassarius snails, Mithras crabs, and sand shifting star all come out to partake. This never happen until I made my own food.

This is a very loaded question. I feed my diy frozen once a day most days. The food god does forget once and a while.

I started making my own when my I asked my lfs to carry lrs. They said nope and I started making my own. Everything comes out when I feed.

I don't mind seeing some food on the sand because the cuc will get some. In addition to the cuc, the burrowing fish I have will eat the food that floats across the sand bed.

I have upped my feeding due to my clown shoving as much food as possible in her nem.

 

[Seanislav]

I only say I don't know whether it's too much or not enough, because I generally fall in the middle. Some fish are little piglets and grab everything they can...and their bellies show it. Some are later to the party and either don't get as much or are more selective in what they'll eat...and their bellies show that. I feed heavily to ensure the slow/picky ones get enough, but the little speed demons (mostly tangs and wrasses) typically get more than they need.

 

[ca1ore]

Wow - my fish consume the food within 10 seconds. Now I know that I’m not feeding enough!

No no ..... the old freshwater rule of thumb of 3-5 minutes most definately does not apply to a modern reef tank. If you did that, your fish would be swimming in an eutrophic soup rather than water.

Also, don't feed your fish based on them behaving as if they're hungry …. they will always act like they're starving. Feed your fish based on how they look weight wise. If they are thin, particularly behind the head then they're starving. Ribs/spine shouldn't show, but they shouldn't be a swimming egg either.

 

[Reefadore]

LOL

 

[Fishurama]

It's hard for me to tell. I feed two cubes of mysis a day,2 pieces of kill ripped up,2-3 full pieces of krill for my eel, 9-12 inches of nori(mainly for my tang) and on thursdays (once a week) i spot feed reefroids to the coral.
My stocking in my 120 is:
8 inch sailfin tang
black ice snowflake clown
diamond goby
scooter blenny
spotted mandarin
dusky wrasse
ornate leopard wrasse
blue damsel
snowflake eel
green brittle star
clown goby
lawnmower blenny
2 mini maxis
1 rock flower anemone
snails/hermits/CUC

Coral(that eat):
Duncan(2 head)
Frogspawn(2 head)
Hammer(2 head)
Torch(single head)
large goniopora(softball size)
Blast(4 head)
acan(2 head)

 

[mattdg]

I adjust overall daily feeding amounts at the end of the month, if the phosphates are too low/high. If the fish with a high metabolism are looking skinny, I increase my daily auto feed.