When is the best time to feed your fish?

[IE Reefer]

Hi,
I am in the works of creating a schedule to better improve the health of my tank and fish. Going down the list of alarms I have to set I came across feeding my fish, so my question is (if the title wasn't clear enough) when is the best time to feed your fish? If I feed them 2x or 3x per day, should I change up the food media (shrimp to pellets or other sorts)?

 

[Sean Clark]

I feel that this is a question that is very dependent on your system and your fish. I feed my fish 4 times a day a mix of 5 different foods for every feeding. Nori is always extra to that.

Nobody can suggest to you how to feed your fish without more information.

 

[IE Reefer]

I feel that this is a question that is very dependent on your system and your fish. I feed my fish 4 times a day a mix of 5 different foods for every feeding. Nori is always extra to that.

Nobody can suggest to you how to feed your fish without more information.

Ok, what would you like to know? I have a 29g DT with 6 fish (Ocellaris Clownfish, Green Chromis, Flame Tail Blenny, Yellow Watchman Goby, Mandarin Dragonet, and ORA Sunset Dottyback). I've been feeding them quite late in the day (8 pm or 9 pm) sometimes not at all, hence why I want to start a schedule. I've been feeding Rod's Food for almost a month, which they all love, even the Dragonet will get into it. I attached a screenshot of my lighting schedule, lights turn on at 9 am and turn off at 11 pm. That's really all that I could think of to include, please let me know what other info you might need to better come up with a suggestion and I'll be happy to provide you with it.

 

[Malcontent]

I bet a lot of fish are crepuscular. I feed at dawn/dusk.

 

[plankton]

If you have high energy fish like anthias harem the answer is yes! Feed them several times per day. Easy.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

+1,about the open water swimmers or zoo/phytoplankton eaters.

Id say. When u can. Mid day. When lights just come on. When they just go out. Mid night black out 12am feeding.
Do it all. When u can. Lol.

Feed 1 time a day big feed.
Feed 3-6x a day. Small amounts.

You'll find balance and patients. U got this. No one knows ur tank better than u.
D

 

[fishmonkey]

I was wondering this too. Been feeding for the past 6 months around 30 minutes to an hour before the lights go out. Haven’t really had any problems. One reason why is my corals seem to be fully open by then and also it’s just convenient.

 

[IE Reefer]

I think what I'll try to do is get an auto feeder for pellets once they wake up (9-10 am), then feed a small amount once I get back home (3-4 pm), finally, I'll feed them when I feed the corals or from 7-9 pm.

 

[Sean Clark]

Ok, what would you like to know? I have a 29g DT with 6 fish (Ocellaris Clownfish, Green Chromis, Flame Tail Blenny, Yellow Watchman Goby, Mandarin Dragonet, and ORA Sunset Dottyback). I've been feeding them quite late in the day (8 pm or 9 pm) sometimes not at all, hence why I want to start a schedule. I've been feeding Rod's Food for almost a month, which they all love, even the Dragonet will get into it. I attached a screenshot of my lighting schedule, lights turn on at 9 am and turn off at 11 pm. That's really all that I could think of to include, please let me know what other info you might need to better come up with a suggestion and I'll be happy to provide you with it.

Type of fish is the main thing I was looking for. Thanks.

The mandarin is the only fish that I would want to make sure is getting more food more often and definitely not skipping feeding.
Good to hear that it is eating Rod's food for you.
Do you have a good population of cocoapods in the tank? That will help a ton.

 

[i cant think]

I’d feed 3-4 times a day if not more with that fish list. I have the hopes of owning a similar care fish (Signigobius biocellatus) and any fish with care like a mandarin should not be missing meals. I have a 20g Red Sea Max Nano and competition for food in that tank is everything at the minute (There’s a 1.5” Blue Star Leopard and a 2-2.5” Naoko fairy wrasse in there temporarily).

 

[IE Reefer]

Type of fish is the main thing I was looking for. Thanks.

The mandarin is the only fish that I would want to make sure is getting more food more often and definitely not skipping feeding.
Good to hear that it is eating Rod's food for you.
Do you have a good population of cocoapods in the tank? That will help a ton.

Oh yeah, I can 100% tell that I have Isopods, unsure if I have a good population of Copepods though, I reseeded about a month ago. I was really surprised that it was eating Rod's, my assumption is that it prob assumed the shrimp was pods.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I feed twice a day, and I try to offer as much variety of foods as possible. I feed at the same times every day, I think its important to keep a schedule, the fish seem happier that way. And their internal body clocks are spot on, 15 minutes before feeding time, they all gather in the spot where I drop the food

 

[damsels are not mean]

Remember that most of the fish we keep are pelagic planktivores. They spend all day picking food out of the water column continuously. The way we feed them is unnatural and causes issues in a few specific kinds of fish (none you listed). Ideally, you'd drip a dense mix of planktonic foods into the tank 24/7 and grow enough algae and pods for your benthic eaters to graze constantly, but this is not really practical for tanks that are moderately to heavily stocked. I think you should feed as many times as you have the time to during the day and the amount per feeding should depend on your nutrient export. For me it's 3x a day a mix of spirulina flakes, mysis, and nori (only herbivores eat the nori). But my tank is lightly stocked.