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

[Paul B]

You can't overfeed fish. Their stomach is about as large as their eye and thats all the food they can eat. If a wrasse or triggerfish comes upon a dead beluga whale, they will try to eat the entire thing. They can't.

Fish should be fed about as much as they can eat. They don't always have to be full but eventually you will know how much is all they can eat. After a while they will still try to eat, but there is no room left.

Their digestive process is different than most of us. If you feed them to many times, they will just push out whats in their intestines and eat more. Learn how much satisfies them and give them that much. If some fish don't get to eat at that meal, it's their problem and they will know better next time. Fish can also go without eating for a very long time, some of them can go months as they are cold blooded and use very little calories just staying alive.

 

[Brian W]

I feed 1 1/4" cube of LRS every other day to my 2 clownfish, 1 filefish and clean up crew gets the rest. There is always left over in the tank for the CUC

 

[Terri Caton]

I learned to feed based on the algae levels in my tank. Too much and I cut back on the food. Works really well.

Someone on here said feed once a week?! That seems cruel. In the wild they are eating at will. I have Anthias and a Moorish Idol so feeding even only once a day is not an option.

 

[Terri Caton]

My tank looks like a snow globe when I feed.

The fish Love that! They much prefer live food (many of them) so the food flying around like it's swimming makes the fish crazy happy! My shrimp are a little challenged with that but they are big and happy so must be ok.

Me too don't turn off my pump. If extra food gets in there oh well. Just clean it.
Many very successful reefers do "heavy in heavy out". Keeps everything, including the human, happy.

 

[Kimberely]

I feed 1/3 of a cube of frozen mysis daily to my nano with 3 fish. They clean it up within 60 seconds. I also fast them twice a week. But my fish are little chunks. Lol

 

[RedSea500MaxS]

How about live foods? Any comments.

Dr Macs has been sending out some very interesting information. But is that sales of facts?

expensive?

 

[ShaggyRS6]

I mix a little brine cube, a little mysis cube, some flake and a few pellets in a cup, so in total the amount of food equals approx one frozen cube of food. Everything except for the Tang is trained to come to the corner of the tank where there is the least amount of flow and with a 5ml syringe I slowly start to feed. Most of the fish will eat most of the food at the area I am feeding.

After a few squirts of that I blast some small amount into the main flow. I don’t use the entire cup. I feed then a little over the next 3 hours.

How do I know if am starting to feed too much? I get that horrible gutty feeling in the out of my stomach! That tells me

 

[Terri Caton]

How about live foods? Any comments.

Dr Macs has been sending out some very interesting information. But is that sales of facts?

expensive?

I like anything that is closest to what is found in their natural environment. They do too. That being said, they are in a closed system without all the subtle things found in the ocean that do not exist in our tanks. So, I feed flakes and pellets too for more concentrated food sources.

They love frozen. They'd like live food even more but that's not realistic for most people day in and day out.

I've heard a few people say that when the animals were fed live food they then refused anything else.

 

[Paul B]

I feed live worms every few days.

 

[fishybizzness]

My grindal worms multiply so fast that I feed some to the fish just about every day. I also feed some homemade food consisting of octopus, squid, shrimp, mussels and mahi roe. I also have a auto feeder that gives a small amount of hikari algae pellets every morning because I don't get home until late afternoon. Is giving the fish live worms every day too much in your opinion?

 

[Spottedreef69]

I think the textbook answer is this:

Feed only the amount of food that is completely consumed in 3-5 minutes. If after 5mins if there is still food swirling around, you've fed way too much



.

Sometimes there are bits and pieces we see as food leftover and the fish Do not eat those pieces. They pick and choose. So it's hard for me to adhere to that rule of thumb 100%. Still I try to.

 

[mta_morrow]

My grindal worms multiply so fast that I feed some to the fish just about every day. I also feed some homemade food consisting of octopus, squid, shrimp, mussels and mahi roe. I also have a auto feeder that gives a small amount of hikari algae pellets every morning because I don't get home until late afternoon. Is giving the fish live worms every day too much in your opinion?

If they eat all of it, then it’s not too much.

 

[Somethings fishy]

I feed a mix of frozen food once a day and my auto feeder feeds pellets three times a day. Nitrates and phosphates still at 0 so I feel like I can feed more but that's a lot of food!

How you keep so low. What all media do ya use??

 

[Kryssie]

I am cracking up because I just dropped a frozen clam in my tank for my fish this morning. I looked up after reading this and my Vrolik’s Wrasse and Foxface Lo both look like swimming eggs. Everyone else looks normal though.

 

[burton14e7]

How you keep so low. What all media do ya use??

I have no idea. Bare bottom tank with a Nyos Quantum 120 and I had a very very small ball of chaeto in a fuge running 16 hours a day using a Kessil H80. The chaeto could never grow because I had no nutrients. I turned that off last week but I did like how it kept my PH up at night. So no media whatsoever, just a skimmer.

I started dosing Sodium Nitrate on Tuesday, 1 ml a day, and as of yesterday I have my nitrates at 2ppm. I have some trisodium phosphate on the way and I'm going to try dosing some to get my phosphates up to detectable.

 

[Another Newbie Reefer]

I feed 1/3 of a cube of frozen mysis daily to my nano with 3 fish. They clean it up within 60 seconds. I also fast them twice a week. But my fish are little chunks. Lol

What fish do you have? What size nano?

 

[Kimberely]

What fish do you have? What size nano?

29 gallon nano with a small sixline and a large pair of ocellaris

 

[Cheche]

Well one more time on this topic!!! Tbh I feed my fish to keep them happy and healthy they eat and I feed them more lol if I was you I will do the same feed your fish that is why you got them right!! Plus the extra nitrate help with the corals as long as you keep the the water change on a regular schedule who cares about how much the push out or (pup) so feeeeeeeeedddddd yourrrrrr fishhhhhh!!!!! Lol my opinion

 

[allanmdonaldson]

I also feed multiple times a day. I turn off my powerheads and make sure there is enough for some food to settle to the bottom. This is for the crabs etc. Powerhead comes back on after 5 minutes and blows up what is left on the substrate. Water parameters are good but I di feel I overfeed at times.

 

[CBonito]

I throw in some frozen brine shrimp and some frozen plankton twice a day.
I feed phytoplankton to the entire tank once a day. I don't make any special efforts. I just throw it in and watch everyone freak out.

My goal is to get my refugium to do the feeding and eventually only feed for my entertainment.
I've done it once, I'll do it again.