Is there a general rule for how much to feed?

[Chris Van Daele]

Hello, I am relatively new to the hobby and I have been slowly learning all the ins and outs. So far I have been fairly lucky and my tank seems to be doing fairly well. I have a FOWLR set up and currently my live rock is doing very well with lots of nice colours coming in. I do seem to have a lot of the red algea growing....especially in my sand bed and it has me wondering if it might be due to overfeeding. Is there a general rule for how much to feed? Maybe an amound of food per inch of fish? The other difficulty is some of my fish being far more aggressive eaters than others so I end up feeding a little more so the more timid fish get some at the bottom.

All input is appreciated!!

 

[Ludders]

Sounds like a cyano bacteria outbreak to me. Feeding depends on your equipment really and what your test results tell you about your water conditions.

Many people are fooled by low readings, but then you see a photo of their tank and all the uglies and you fast realise their problem and the water parameters posted, are not a true indication of what's actually going on.

What are you currently keeping stock wise including coral and inverts, as well as capacity and what equipment do you have to export or convert the nutrients?

 

[Chris Van Daele]

I have a 75 gallon with sump, Refugium, and skimmer.
I don’t have corals as I have a trigger and puffer that like to nibble on things. I also have a foxface and 2 clowns.
I don’t have much of a CUC as the puffer will eat just about anything. All I have currently is an urchin

 

[S-t-r-e-t-c-h]

No food/fish guideline, but I've always shot to have all of the food you put in eaten in ~30 seconds or so.

For the more timid feeders, try feeding at opposite sides of the tank at the same time. Feed the same amount, but broadcast the food more.

 

[Ludders]

Do you have much algae or uglies growing at the moment? and if not, what are your PO4 and NO3 levels like? Do you have a refugium?

 

[Kmsutows]

Yeah a very general rule would be what gets eaten in 30seconds or so but a couple times a day. It's hard to generalize as it all depends on the fish. Some species need to be fed 4x a day but others a large meal once a week. Really need to know the fish

 

[PatW]

The no food after 30 seconds works well. If you have algae, you have excess nutrients in your system. You need a way to export the nutrients. Most people use a combination of algae grazers like snails with nutrient export like a skimmer, water changes, macro algae in a refugium, carbon dosing, GFO among others.

 

[madweazl]

All eaten in 30 seconds? My fish (and corals) would be hangry; they eat for a good three minutes, twice a day (and some algae sheets in between most days). My opinion, there is no rule. If the fish stay plump, they're getting enough. If the fish have sunken bellies, they need more (there is no other answer). If your tank cant support feeding in that manner, you need to adjust so it can (that may mean getting rid of fish).

You cyanobacteria issue (if that is what you're seeing) may or may not be related to your feeding habits. Can you provide some more information?

 

[madweazl]

Timed dinner last night, took them 4 min 40 sec and there was still a bit of food floating around lol.

 

[Instigate]

All eaten in 30 seconds? My fish (and corals) would be hangry; they eat for a good three minutes, twice a day (and some algae sheets in between most days). My opinion, there is no rule. If the fish stay plump, they're getting enough. If the fish have sunken bellies, they need more (there is no other answer). If your tank cant support feeding in that manner, you need to adjust so it can (that may mean getting rid of fish).

You cyanobacteria issue (if that is what you're seeing) may or may not be related to your feeding habits. Can you provide some more information?

+1

One thing I was doing wrong was feeding too quickly. Now I try to feed slow enough that the fish are able to eat pretty much everything I put in the tank.

 

[Kmsutows]

For the most part, SMALL frequent feedings better replicate what they'd eat in the wild. I can't imagine any fish we'd keep in a reef tank going on a 4-5 minute binge in the wild. I guess if your filtration and water parameters can afford it, go for it? Still doesn't make sense

 

[madweazl]

+1

One thing I was doing wrong was feeding too quickly. Now I try to feed slow enough that the fish are able to eat pretty much everything I put in the tank.

I don't even do it slow; I toss it in there and let everything go to work. Looks like a snow globe LOL.