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

[ppatches24]

I'm feeding a variety of frozen foods. Usually feed once at night and it's about half a cube or less for 4 fish in a 75 gallon. 2 clowns a wrasse and a tomini tang. Within 2-10 minutes the food is completely plucked out of the water. I've put more in after that because they looked hungry but didn't really eat much after the initial half cube. I do this sometimes to make sure that what I'm feeding is enough.

Not sure if that is over or under feeding. Probably over feeding. There is set algea in the tank but it's still under a year old.

 

[Neil S.]

I only feed once a day; but all my fish are definitely fat.
If I could, I would feed smaller amount more frequently.

This is exactly my position. I would like to feed a couple of times per day, but can only feed once. I do however feed enough that all of the food is consumed in about 3-4 minutes. Very little actually gets into the sump area. I only feed frozen style foods (dissolved in a cup of tank water first). All of the fish seem quite healthy, no ones too fat or too thin. (I hope).

 

[Barnabie Mejia]

Dang, I feel like a total jerk now.....
in my 29g I have 1 clown and a mandarin goby, and I feed every 2 days (LRS frozen) sometimes I forget and it will be every 3 days.
I know a while back I was feeding a little more frequent, my glass was real dirty real quick, so I spaced it out a little more and it still gets dirty, but not as bad. maybe I should just feed every 4-5 days? just kidding....

 

[Cheche]

I feed them and I feed them some more lol ... and I keep feeding them and I love feeding my fish lol you have them there for a reason right ? So why be cheap on your fish ? Just feed them lol if you see anything wrong test your water and do wc .. but just bcoz we want to be to cautious or tooo clean we need to regulate.. don’t be shy just feed your fishhhhh!!!! I hope this help and happy reefing !!!

 

[29galreefer]

I feed as little as possible (6 pellets) with all my few fish getting a piece. I try to do this at random, which may be worse as fish tend to be healthier in other aquariums with regular feedings, but by doing little pinches at random they all feed and I rarely see a single pellet touch the ground. Feed my corals separate. With this sometimes my fish go for a few days without food and sometimes 2 feeds a day. All look really happy and natural though, and sometimes give them frozen food too

 

[RedSea500MaxS]

I see everything. Under feed. Over feed.

One friend today said he feeds his coral 3x a day! With auto feeder and he has a 30” clam and a Space Invader that’s like 18”. Huge SPS, all super healthy.

are we starving our corals...to get water quality?

 

[Breadman03]

I voted that I don’t feed enough. I had issues in the past that I believe were partially caused by a lack of nutrients. I’m currently keeping my feeding moderate while my rebooted system deals with the uglies, but I’m now paying attention to my nutrients and planning my feeding and filtration out to keep about 5-10ppm of NO3 and about 0.01 PO4. My goal is to maximize (within reason) the food that goes through my system without excessive dissolved nutrients.

 

[Jmas4]

I believe the longer you have the tank, you know/feel when it is too much or too little. You become in tune with your fish tank. I make my own fish food and inside are different size food particles so all my fish/inverts can eat. I know I am feeding enough because new fish that are thin become fatter and my existing fish are growing. They eat all thier food in about 10 to 20 sec. I also know that I'm not feeding too much because my parameters are around 4 ppm nitrate and 0.01 ppm phosphate which result in minimal algae.

Good luck and happy Reefing

 

[Marlon C]

I knew I recognized that gorgeous fish. I saw those at the Maui Ocean center at their outdoor natrual sunlight exhibit. That place is run on natrual sea water being pumped from the ocean

 

[ca1ore]

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.

A good way to mitigate against this is to not only NOT turn pumps off when feeding, but actually pour the food into a power head. Broadcasts the food around the tank quickly so that even the less aggressive feeders get enough.

 

[stanleo]

I feed a cube of frozen mysis, plankton, brine, or daphnia in the morning and in the early evening I feed a two inch square of seaweed sheet and either flake or pellets. Twice a week I use a syringe to target feed the anemone and twice a week I add coral food to the frozen. Fish seem plump and happy and it never takes more than five minutes for all the food to be gone. But I am still never sure if this is enough or too much.

 

[Shooter6]

It takes fish a while to start looking thin and on the other hand it takes a little bit for them to start looking plump. So as we know this has to do with how much or how little they are getting to eat. As I prepare my cube of food per day, look at my fish, look at my algae, I wonder is this too much or not enough? Some fish are FAT one is thinner. Is it enough?

So my question today is related to feeding your fish and how much. Not from what you have read but from personal experience.

How do you, personally, gauge when you're overfeeding or not feeding enough?

Thanks @vetteguy53081 for this photo

Beautiful tang!

 

[madweazl]

I feed as much as I can without increasing nutrients beyond my setups ability to remove them. I provide LRS Reef Frenzy twice a day and algae sheets occasionally. The tang isnt getting as much food as it should (I should be adding the algae sheet every day but I'm usually lazy) but all the other fish are blimps. When I had the CBB, we were also adding a whole littleneck clam daily; nutrient levels were higher but all the fish loved picking at the clam. Coral health appeared to be fine at the higher levels so it never bothered me. The 75g gets about three cubes a day for seven fish.

We have anthias in the 150g and it gets LRS Reef Frenzy three times daily. Since the setup is new and nutrient levels are nil, it gets fed much heavier.

 

[Ross B Reef'n]

Our tangs get 1/2 sheet of organic nori in the morning and I feed 1 cube mysis, 1 cube brine and 1 cube calanus on a doser distributed by 4 feedings a day for my Anthias and everyone else. 200g total water volume tank.

Our fish:
- Naso (Blond Naso)
- Yellow (Yellow Tang)
- Crazy (Blue Eye Tang)
- Mr Wrasse (Clown Fairy Wrasse)
- Mr Anthia ( Male Dispar Anthia)
- His Girlfriends ( 4 female Dispar Anthia)
- Hokey and Pokey (our clowns)

 

[Dana Riddle]

Depends upon the fish. I feed my tank several times a day (mysis, algae and 'meat' based frozen cubes, pellet food, nori sheets) and the tangs are no where as fat as those I saw in Hawaii.

 

[Johniejumbo]

My tank looks like a snow globe when I feed.

 

[Whasmack]

My tank looks like a snow globe when I feed.

Mine too

 

[marco fish]

I feed 4-5 cubes of homemade food once a day, to 15 fish. My reef is 100 gallons, plus a 30 gallon frag tank tied into it, and have a total water volume of approximately 165 gallons including the sump. I believe that it’s perfect because after testing NO3 and PO4 they stay stable after testing time and time again. Fish are definitely healthy and stable, corals have great color and have been growing well after I figured out the feeding regimen and not recklessly just feeding whenever and whatever. I also stopped feeding the sheet of Nori that I was on a daily basis because PO4 increased significantly. That is all that I feed my reef, I do not feed corals! In the list of fish are a cleaner wrasse and a Anthias and I have had them for over a year and a half. I do pause the gyres for 30 minutes, anything else stays running including a couple of 1500 sicce pumps and the return pump as well. I do that usually about 5-10 minutes before as I am thawing out the food and letting corals extend polyps and relax for a little while. Just my 2 cents

 

[ReefFrenzy]

I feed as much as I can without increasing nutrients beyond my setups ability to remove them. I provide LRS Reef Frenzy twice a day and algae sheets occasionally. The tang isnt getting as much food as it should (I should be adding the algae sheet every day but I'm usually lazy) but all the other fish are blimps. When I had the CBB, we were also adding a whole littleneck clam daily; nutrient levels were higher but all the fish loved picking at the clam. Coral health appeared to be fine at the higher levels so it never bothered me. The 75g gets about three cubes a day for seven fish.

We have anthias in the 150g and it gets LRS Reef Frenzy three times daily. Since the setup is new and nutrient levels are nil, it gets fed much heavier.

Thanks for the mention of our foods and how you feed your aquarium inhabitants! Clams work great for CBB as you discovered. This statement certainly is a great way to approach feeding..."I feed as much as I can without increasing nutrients beyond my setups ability to remove them." I think as hobbyists we try to battle nutrient levels so much that sometimes fish can be under nourished which leads them to be susceptible to disease and other stressors. Several people have commented about uneaten food being blown around like a blizzard and then settling into the rock work where it begins to decay. This can be a legitimate concern if the fish don't consume all the food before the flow in the tank makes it disperse. It may seem unorthodox but for many years hobbyists have shared videos with us of them feeding a frozen piece of LRS to their food via tongs or an algae clip. It certainly seems to help reduce the amount of food blowing around the tank and I've heard no reports of any side effects with the fish since the food is in 80 degree water and nearly thawed as they pick at it a nibble at a time. Good luck and this is a great thread!

 

[hotdrop]

Maybe I have different problems then everyone else but I see feeding as being the same as dosing except more complicated to do correctly. Im trying to get my phosphate level to .10 and keep it there and adjusting the food accordingly. This has been releitively hard when mixing different food types because the resultant phosphate levels change depending on many variables, such as how much food was eaten vs rotting, as well as difficult accurately measuring such small amounts. If I overshoot I have to cut back the next day to keep levels correct. For example yesterday I was at .05 and I did a big feeding and 24hrs later im at .15 so that means ill feed lighter and have it drop to .1 and slowly up the food.
Honestly im thinking about just switching to auto feeding because the dosing consistency will be so much better, maybe shoot for underfeed a little and bump the numers up when they dip lower than I like with some frozen foods.