feeding schedule for fish???

[homeangler]

I have heard many thoughts on how much to feed your fish, but I can't for the life of me figure out what is to much or to little. some say feed 3 x a day other say 1 x a day while others say feed every other day, I even heard that fish should only be feed once every 2 weeks with snack of lettuce or nori in between. I was told that type of animals & size of the tank should be taken into consideration when feeding. the best advice i have heard so far is feed less more often, but what is less & what is more often? I'm new at this so forgive me if this sound like an off the wall question......
Thanks for any in put.....

[Poseidon]

How about a good solid "it depends"!! I feed my fish once or twice a day, as much as they can eat in a minute or two. So sometimes that means two good sized pinches, other times that means 3-4 pinches of Spectrum Pellets. I also feed frozen foods, maybe three times a week, formula 1, 2, and Mysis Shrimp.

[homeangler]

thanks Mike, I guess it is what ever makes your fish happy & how hard you want to work at keeping your perimeters are in check. I have gone from feeding my fish (juv.emporotor,yellow tang & bld. Naso tang) 3x a day to once and they are not very happy...

[WHOSYOURDADDY]

I have mostly algea eaters that continiously feed off the algea in the aquarium, so I give them a treat about every 2-3 days of brine to supplement their diets and provide food for a scavangers

[charlie]

thanks Mike, I guess it is what ever makes your fish happy & how hard you want to work at keeping your perimeters are in check. I have gone from feeding my fish (juv.emporotor,yellow tang & bld. Naso tang) 3x a day to once and they are not very happy...

Depending on how much live rock you have in your tank, they may not be happy now, but you may be happier later when your fish start to do their designed job, and start picking at the algae on the live rock. I have 3 tangs in my tank, and I only feed 1 time a day, but my live rock is cleaner than a whistle. They will get over it, and I think you will have a happier tank in general when they do.

[Ninong]

the best advice i have heard so far is feed less more often, but what is less & what is more often?

Yes, that is the best advice. It's also the more natural approach. Unfortunately, it's easier said than done.

Most herbivorous fish feed all day long in the wild. That's because they require a much larger volume of the sort of food that they eat than carnivores or omnivores. There are a lot more calories in meat than there are in salad greens. And switching their diet to something else won't help because their digestive system has evolved to process algae as their primary food source.

People who feed their fish only once a day, or less, do so because of other considerations, not because that is what is best for their fish. It is difficult to feed heavily in a reef aquarium without causing nutrient levels to rise to undesirable levels. When I feed sparingly, once or twice a day, I can get my nitrate levels down to 2-3 ppm. When I feed heavily, three or more times a day plus a daily algae clip, my nitrate levels range from 5-10 ppm. I'm sure if I had better equipment, I could get the levels down around 3 ppm and still feed properly.

I have a 120-gal tank with five fish: Two fairy wrasses, one coral beauty angelfish, one foxface rabbitfish and one orchid dottyback. The dottyback is the only carnivore (zooplanktivore) in the tank. The rest of the fish are omnivorous although the rabbitfish is more herbivorous than the others and the fairy wrasses are naturally more zooplanktivorous than omnivorous. I feed my fish two to five times a day, depending on whether I am home all day or not. In addition, I have an algae clip in the tank with a generous portion of dried algae (various commercial aquarium hobby brands that cost too much) that all of the fish except the dottyback nibble on and finish off within two or three hours. I would say that the rabbitfish eats about two-thirds of it. I feed one or two cubes of frozen food daily -- from a variety of at least six or seven different types. I also feed three different types of flake food, three different types of sinking pellets and Cyclop-Eeze, but all of them every day. Sometimes I make my own home-made frozen foods but it's easier for me to get more variety by using the expensive commercial stuff. I would definitely make most of my own frozen foods if I had a larger tank with more fish to feed.

There is no way that we can match the quantity or variety of food sources that are available to fish in their natural environment but we can do our best given the various restrictions that we cannot avoid. This is another one of those areas where compromise is the order of the day. There is no one answer that fits all situations. Each individual hobbyist has to determine what is best overall for his particular setup.

[homeangler]

NINONG! you hit it right othe head!!!! when you say " There is no one answer that fits all situations. Each individual hobbyist has to determine what is best overall for his particular setup"

I guess just as we humens have different cultures & feeding habits based on geographic regions,and learn to adapt as we move or migrate, so do these highly intelligence animals.

I also learned a little trick to keep down your nitrates, is to shut down your system for 5 minutes while feeding, feed slowly so that the fish have a chance to eat. This helps the fish & food to stay in one area so that the fish eat more & you feed less, but the best is that you keep uneaten food from decaying in your filter/sump or dead spots.

As far as the dried algae, go to your local sushi resturant and ask them to order you some or if you are near an Asian market they usualy sell it there. I've seen this same ( or most likely lesser quality ) in LFS for $25 for 50 sheets & I pay $7 for 100 sheets.

I too have made my own concoctions, of what i consider a healthy meal. I take one cube of msy shrimp, about a quarter size of Fmula 2, 8-10small prawns, ground up flake food & garlic ( commercial), thaw & mix then I put it in a little tuper ware & use that for 2-3 days of meals ( of course I refrigerate in between).

Al

[WHOSYOURDADDY]

Doing some research on the web I have come across various articles that I have bookmarked just in case I want to review or learn more indepth.

This one I found interesting from the perspective of making your own meals for both corals and fish

Here is the link to it
http://www.athiel.com/lib4/food.htm

[homeangler]

checked out the site, great food formula, i'll be waiting for my wife to be out for the day before I try it ( if i start cooking for my fish, she'll have me sleeping with the fish & I don't mean like the Godfather style)..