jase1

hi there
is it being cruel to feed fish just the one time daily, or do they need 2/3 times daily? what else does anyone suggest i feed them apart from flakes. my tank is about 7 weeks old, so still in the cycling stage.

5 platys
4 rummy-nose tetras
5 neon tetras
26 g tank

Thanx

peacemaker92

well, it normally depends on how many fish you have and what type of fish they are. Since you have that many fish, you should feed twice a day. It's not actually cruel to feed fish only one time daily. You're helping them on their daily diet which they need. Unless the other fishlore members have other suggestions and comments?

Tavel

I think feeding once a day is adequate. They're cold blooded and don't need to eat like we do (they don't use energy to maintain their metabolism, so they only need about 10% as much energy as a warm blooded animal for the same amount of activity).

they can even miss days and be just fine. Just don't try to compensate for missed days by feeding them twice as much the next day...haha.

COBettaCouple

I feed our fish twice a day, but each feeding is half of what I'd feed them in a day. Some break the feeding into 3 times. This helps the fish eat more of the food that you put in, reducing leftover food and is good for their digestion of the food.

jase1

thanx all for your advice

Charmaine

You can also feed your fish blood worms. I feed my fish once a day and they are very healthy and full of energy.

jase1

Thanx for your advice Charmaine
I have some bloodworms, but my lfs told me not to feed fish yet with these, i think because i was just setting my tank up! Do i have to wait till my tank finishes its cyle before i can feed them with bloodworm?

Charmaine

You can start feeding them the worms right away but make sure to feed them a bit at a time, your fish can eaily over feed on blood worms. Remember that your fish's tummy is only the size of it's eyeball. Your fish should do just fine.