ONE heavy feeding or multiple light feedings for fish? WHY?

[ReefHomieJon]

Usually 2 light feedings on weekdays … 3 on weekends and holidays! This might be another poll topic … but I throw Vortechs into feed mode and the fish all get into position for the feeding … I'm wondering how many bother to "reduce" pumps for feeding or just pour the goodies in at regular flow?

I only turn off my reurn pump but leave my powerheads in the DT on. I wait u til everything has been eaten and enough time for the corals to eat and absorb the AB+ before turning back on the return. Otherwise half of the food would end up in a filter sock

 

[Steve Elb]

Usually 2 light feedings on weekdays … 3 on weekends and holidays! This might be another poll topic … but I throw Vortechs into feed mode and the fish all get into position for the feeding … I'm wondering how many bother to "reduce" pumps for feeding or just pour the goodies in at regular flow?

I leave the pumps on as I fed frozen. It blows it around and the fish snatch it. Rarely makes it to the sand

 

[MichaelReefer]

If I could, I would probably feed throughout the day...HOWEVER because of my work schedule being so long... 6am to 5pm...by the time I get home its 5:30...unless I stop at the LFS hehehe; I really dont have time to do that. I also prefer to not use pellets or flakes so an auto feeder is out of the question.

 

[Indytraveler83]

I try to do either 3 medium feedings or 4 light feedings a day.

This is primarily due to keeping wrasse and anthias that need to eat quite often.

 

[Doglips56]

When feeding your fish do you choose ONE heavy feeding or multiple light feedings and why? Maybe you feed multiple heavy feedings! Tell us why?

There was no choice for “one heavy feeding and one or multiple light feedings”

We feed heavy first thing in the morning our homemade food which makes everyone happy as it has chunks of multiple seafoods mixed with seaweed and algae plus high quality pellets and mysis blended in.
Then in the late afternoon I will give them a light feeding of pellets. My Sailfin LOVES the fresh Macro I grow in a separate tank (red ogo, dragon’s tongue and sea lettuce) placed in a clip a few times a week. Tomini doesn’t touch it interestingly.
So 1 heavy feeding and another light feeding

 

[radiata]

Multiple heavy feedings

keeping my Anthias happy.

 

[Tired]

What works best will depend on the fish. Most small reef fish would do best with more, smaller feedings, since they graze on bugs all day. Frogfish and other sit-and-wait predators with large mouths should be fed a large meal less than once a day.

I don't actually feed my fish on purpose. I have a trimma goby who lives in a tank with a lot of amphipods. He gets small meals more than once a day, because he eats the amphipods. I've fed him maybe a dozen times since I got him in February, and he's fat and happy just from grazing.

I feed my inverts a couple times a week, coral about once a week. The inverts are a micro decorator crab, hermits (that I feed because they actually are omnivores, not herbivores, and I keep them as pets instead of cleanup crew), a porcelain crab, and some micro brittle stars I intentionally feed. They get mysis. Including the porcelain crab! You don't need to give them filter-feeder foods, they'll grab mysis.

 

[SMB]

Most fish on a reef eat constantly. They spend the day looking for food and eating (unless reproduction gets in the way).
A large school of Tangs is like an invading horde, eating everything they can find from fish eggs to algae.
It would seem more natural to feed many times a day.

 

[Kryptonian]

3 medium feedings per day with 2 nori snacks in between. I've noticed that when a feeding is late or I forget a nori snack, there's significantly more aggression (it's not harmful aggression but more like playful bullying if that makes sense). Feed random stuff, LRS, mysis, spirulina, nori, clam, silversides, shrimp, bloodworms, no real schedule to what is fed when other than nori.. All soaked in Selcon and other added vitamins while defrosting. If all feedings are on time, I can put in a nori sheet and six or seven fish will all be on it at the same time without any bullying or chasing each other off.

 

[Robinreefs94]

Quite subjective since whats light or whats heavy but the way I see it I do 2 heavy feedings daily. Mostly because I want my fish happy and well fed and I want to get more nutrients in the water column.

 

[RJKain-777]

Heavy in, heavy out.

My auto feeder goes off 3 times a day , a sheet of nori a day, and frozen Atleast 3 times a week

 

[NDIrish]

Wish had "Other" option available. I feed heavy in the morning and at night, during the day give (2) light feedings.
All food is frozen type. Make up a concoction of FRS Nano, oysters, plankton, mysis, baby brine, bloodworms and a piece of nori.

 

[Thomas.Pope]

I presentely have 3 tanks with multiple fish in each
Mostly Tangs in two of those tanks.
I like to see my fish fat and healthy looking. so, I feed my fish 2 or 3 times a day and fill the veggie clips when I notice they are empty.

 

[Terr-c]

Usually 2 light feedings on weekdays … 3 on weekends and holidays! This might be another poll topic … but I throw Vortechs into feed mode and the fish all get into position for the feeding … I'm wondering how many bother to "reduce" pumps for feeding or just pour the goodies in at regular flow?

When I feed, I put all my power heads in feed mode (off)

 

[Dr Jimmy]

I have wrasses and am currently battling ULN... multiple heavy feedings for me. It's a small tank so even heavy feeding where I end up catching food in the filter doesn't add up to much... and anything that breaks down should help my situation with ULN.

 

[RUKelly]

I do one heavy feeding, in the evening. Thaw out commercial fish food cubes (Ocean Nutrition formulas 1&2, plus mysis, cyclops cubes). My tank guru says I am overfeeding, so this week we’re reducing the food drastically (from 5 cubes to 2). Hopefully my candy stripe hogfish won’t think my royal dottyback is a special meal!

 

[keephowlin]

I usually feed pretty heavy twice a day. I wish I could feed lighter more frequently, but it isn't realistic due to work schedule. I do put the tank in feed mode which stalls the return pumps for 20 minutes and turns down the MP40s for 10 minutes. That way after the first 10 minutes, the wavemakers kick on and stir anything left over up in the tank for 10 more minutes before the return pumps come on and remove it.

 

[Pete Luna]

I feed my fish HEAVY twice a day. Love the aminos it provides out their tail pipes.

 

[SaltyT]

My earmuff wrasse eats like a horse so I feed multiple "heavy" feedings so all my other wrasses can get some food.

 

[damselindistress]

Since I've been working from home most of the year I now do multiple feedings - NLS pellets around 11ish, nori and some Hikari seaweed extreme around 2ish, then the heavy stuff for dinner...LRS and/or mysis around 7 or 8 because nobody likes to go to bed hungry lol.

When I work in the office I can only feed once in the evenings. Feeding multiple times a day I've definitely seen the benefits, the fish are less aggressive towards each other and they look nice and plump. I dread having to go back on site to work ha.