Fish feeding adivice

[naluralstyletanks]

Hello all, for a while now and especially recently I've realized how little you actually need to feed fish. I was recently watching a video saying to feed them every other day and that it encouraged more scavenging behavior, which I feel like may encourage my algae eaters to eat more algae, would I be correct on this? For reference I feed a decent amount, due to stocking, once a day. I think this also should decrease maintenance and algae growth in my tank (I have various floating plants and pothos growing that remove all nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia, as well as epithitic plants so maintenance is mainly just filter cleaning and not water changes)
Hers some additional info
Stocking: 12 ember tetras and decreasing, should be 8 otocinclus I'm haven't been able to get a good count recently b/c they've been rather timid since I did a black out a few weeks ago, about 20 cories (estimate based of past, they're never out all at once) 7 sparkling gourami, 2 Siamese algae eaters (also timid since Black out) 2 hillstream loaches, at least 2 shrimp, and about 15 or so mystery snails(relatively small)
40 galons
Medium flow
All fish are perfectly healthy
What are your thoughts? Should I change my feeding or no? Also if I should change, should I slow transition into a new schedule or just immediately move it?
Let me know if you need any additional info

 

[Noroomforshoe]

My opinion
Is that feeding less causes stress, can cause aggression and can cause the more active and aggressive fish to out compeat the others for food.

Yes it might be easier to maintain the tank if you feed less, but I would recomend that keeping less fish rather then starve the ones you have.

I dont know if feeding less will encourage algae eaters to eat more algae. It wont work with ottos for sure, they eat bio film and algae, The hillstream loaches need algae to eat, and wont eat too much else. It might encouradge the SAE to eat the other fishes slime coat. And then the shrimp will be on the menue.

That is my opinion, I could be wrong, and I am not trying to be rude!

 

[_Fried_Bettas_]

I have adopted a feeding strategy of feeding very heavily twice a week. Feeding a lot at one time makes sure plenty of food gets past the aggressive eaters, and my shrimp and corydoras get some, too. I feed in between these times, but very lightly. I think almost everyone tends to overfeed small fish. I think it is harder to overfeed large fish 6+ inches.

 

[bgarthe]

Nice tank.

I feed mine daily with an occasional missed day. For me, feeding them what they’ll eat in two minutes works great……small amount daily. I do have the CoryCats taking a bit longer with the sinking catfish pellets. My 4 tanks are made up of tetras and rasboras w CoryCats for cleanup. I have done this with all my past fish as well (platies, guppies, discus, gouramis, angels, rams, swordtails, apistos, and even Koi). If your fish are healthy with nitrates being generally lower, then (imho) you’re good to go…..watch your fish and, in a weird way, they’ll let you know.

 

[A201]

I totally agree with Noroomforshoe

My primary tank has at least 100 fish consisting of various Barbs. Tetras and Loaches.

All of these fish are voracious eaters. I have to feed an unbelievable amount of food pellets & flakes, just to ensure enough food reaches the substrate for the Loaches.

I feed once daily, but feel comfortable not feeding while on occasional weekend trips, ect.

As for the reduced feeding plan to ease tank maintenance duties, IMO, that's a no go. Lol

- Light management is the best weapon against algae.
- Regular weekly 25% - 35% water changes, no matter what feeding plan is used, keep parameters in check.
- Don't overdo gravel vacuuming. Allow the benificial bacteria rich substrate to do its thing.

Develope a sensible feeding schedule & menu for your fish, not a skimpy one.

 

[kansas]

I have about 40 rasboras, gouramis, and loaches in a 55.

The tank is heavily planted and I use a turkey baster to blast some of the food into the weeds. At one time I had fewer fish and many more snails. I take the reduction in snails as a sign that I'm not overfeeding. Having all those plants helps absorb extra waste if I do overfeed at times.