How many times a day do you feed your fish?

Hello everyone.

I've been wondering if I am under feeding my fish. I feed them once a day usually in the morning. I feed them flakes and pellets. Once a week I feed them brine shrimp or krill.

Is once a day enough feeding?

I am afraid to over feed my fish and have my water quality deteriorate but I also don't want to under feed them.


How many times a day do you feed your fish?

 

Once a day, six days per week.

 

Hello,
You are feeding the fish correctly now, don't change a thing
Feeding the fish in the morning allows them to burn off some of the food and digest it correctly while they are active during the day
Only feed your fish the amount of food that they will completely clear in 2 minutes and no more
Fish in aquariums need very little food to stay in peak condition as they are not expendinfg energy looking for their food - they have room service
Over feeding fish is probably the worst thing that novices do to their tanks
This will pollute the water as not all the food is eaten and just rots in the filter / substrate

 

I do once a day for 6, skip the 7th and let them clean up the tank before they get more.

Flakes (vegI and normal) and pellets (vegI and normal) are every other day to balance out the diet, about the 4th or 5th day comes ice-cream treat day!!! Bloodworms/tubifex worms or brine shrimp are the treats, sorry no ice-cream.

 

It depends, sometimes none, sometimes up to 3 or 4 times. Usually only 1 or 2.

It all depends on what and how much.

 

My betta bites my finger to get his food, so he has to work a little for his. Hehehe. I feed him three to five omega one betta pellets a day, sometimes 2-3 freezedried bloodworms once a week or less, or some of the sinking proteiny pellets my corys love. Once a week ish I give thawed pea.

The nice thing about counting food pellets is I can feed him many times a day but divide the day's total up so he's not getting too much.

 

Most tropical fish I will feed once per day, 6 days per week with a varied diet like others on the forum. Flakes or pellets Sunday - Wednesday, frozen bloodworms or brine shrimp on a Thursday, defrost frozen peas on a Friday, then fast (and pwc) on a Saturday.

For goldfish, little and often. I don't currently have any goldfish as I don't have the space for them, but as many will know, they don't have a stomach, and so can't store food like we do (and most tropical fish for that matter)


Mikey

 

Good morning,

I feed all of my fish once a day, every day, sparingly. As long as everyone gets a bite or 2 or 3, everything is just fine. If someone misses out, chances are they will not miss out the next morning.

A variety of foods is always nice for your fish. I use staple food sticks and pellets 5 days and I feed treats such as Freeze Dried Krill, Red Shrimp, Freeze Dried Earth Worms twice a week.

Too, I add Garlic Guard and Vita Chem to each treat day:





https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/new-fish-food.102685/

https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/breakfast-treat-day.90859/

Fresh veggies such as Romaine Lettuce and raw zucchinI slices daily.

Best wishes for your fish!

Ken

 

Thanks for the reply I am glad I'm doing the right thing.

 

I feed my tanks every other day.

 

well.... I guess this tells me what I already knew. I overfeed my babies. I feed twice a day, almost every day. The betta boys only get three pellets each, each feeding time. The 29G tank gets a mix of flakes and NLS pellets, and the girls get just the flakes.

Time to switch to once a day....

 

I feed my tanks every other day.

Same here. They all get fat anyway.

 

My betta bites my finger to get his food, so he has to work a little for his.

One of my bettas has gotten to the point that he will only eat off my finger. Usually, if the pellet floats away in the water, he won't bother chasing it, won't even turn to grab it. He likes to be hand fed - not spoiled in any way. The shrimp and snails seem to clean up any misses he has. A couple of the shrimp come right up to the surface to chase the errant pellets.

 

When I first started in this hobby I fed twice daily. Now I feed once per day with a fast day each week. Since I started feeding less, the nitrate level in my 29 gallon dropped significantly and the tank is easier to keep clean.

 

well.... I guess this tells me what I already knew. I overfeed my babies. I feed twice a day, almost every day. The betta boys only get three pellets each, each feeding time. The 29G tank gets a mix of flakes and NLS pellets, and the girls get just the flakes.

Time to switch to once a day....

Lol same kev. I'm guilty as well, I'll do flakes w/ (1) algae wafer or flakes w/ shrimp pellets M, W, F, and HikarI frozen blood worms w/ (1) algae wafer or HikarI frozen blood worms w/ shrimp pellets T,TH,Sat. I've been doing two feedings per day, one in the am and the other at night. I've also introduced freeze dried blood worms as a treat that I'll be giving out once a week. I always make sure everything is eaten during feedings and if not it gets removed with a net, but my group has no problem devouring every bit of food I put in. Which is fascinating to watch btw.

Looks like I 'll be cutting back though based off the responses I'm seeing. That's more money in the bank for me as well as less clean up, Sounds good to me.

 

(Vaguely for-profit hatchery here that sort of has to super-grow fish and does water changes out the wazoo so most of you should ignore this, but: )

3-4 times a day with a mixture of high quality flakes, frozen foods, grindal worms, pellets, bbs (well, on the rare occasion I'm not being too lazy to hatch them), gammarus scuds, and feeder fish/shrimp depending on age and species.

 

When I first started in this hobby I fed twice daily. Now I feed once per day with a fast day each week. Since I started feeding less, the nitrate level in my 29 gallon dropped significantly and the tank is easier to keep clean.

+1 to this. See, I don't see this line of reasoning spelled out very often, but:

1. We accept that an aquarium is a (mostly) closed system. Except for gas exchange and evaporation taking place at the surface, nothing much gets into or out of a tank that we don't put there.

2. Nitrogen (as NH3, NO2, and NO3) has to come from somewhere, which means we put it there...

3. ...so the "bioload" of an aquarium is largely a function of how much nitrogen we add in the form of food.

(There are other factors at work here; I said "largely a function of" instead of "completely dependent on" for a reason.)

Less food = less ammonia = less nitrate = cleaner tank and water.

 

I don't think there is any right or wrong answer here...
In the wild fish do not have a set schedule of when they eat, so I have no set schedule when I feed them
Some days I may feed them 3 or 4 times, other days once, and some days nothing
My fish are always hungry, and I know I can easily over feed them, but for the most part I don't

Feeding is one of the great pleasures of owning and caring for fish, and I enjoy feeding them, and I also enjoy deciding what to feed them. I honestly believe the different food choices we give our fish are more for our pleasure than for the fishes

I say feed away, but only feed very small amounts if you feed 2 or 3 or 4 times a day

 

For me, it depends on the tank. Most of my tanks are heavily planted and as a result, have lots of microorganisms that the fish snack on. I feed my livebearers at least twice a day, with one or two fasting days a week (usually when I'm working and forget to feed ) but my other tanks are rarely fed. I feed the betta rubra girl plenty as I want her to be prepared to get eggy when her hubby arrives next week <3 and a few of my domestic bettas get daily feedings for various reasons, one who's recovering from an array of health issues, I want him to have plenty of nutrition, and his tank isn't as heavily planted as the rest of mine are, so he gets twice daily feedings.

The rest I pretty much leave alone. I drop some microworms into the wild betta tank every now and then, and flakes and pellets maybe once or twice a week for everyone else. I'm a very light feeder

 

I am looking forward to getting a colony of scuds going so I can let my fish forage for themselves part of the time. That's why I've been following Junebug's progress with that biological supply company...

 

I am looking forward to getting a colony of scuds going so I can let my fish forage for themselves part of the time. That's why I've been following Junebug's progress with that biological supply company...

After we move I'll be removing the guppy colony from the pipefish tank and adding the scud colony in instead I'll just breed the guppies as feeders in a separate tub and harvest the fry, so the scud colony doesn't get gobbled up by all the adult guppies immediately.

 

haha well there's always fishgobble if you want scuds.

I still haven't heard back from them :c annoying.

 

I feed my fish everyday. They get either New Life Spectrum with GarlicGuard drops and Vitachem drops, Rapashy, Bloodworms, or Brine Shrimp. I mix it up a bit for them. Although, the fishies in the 30G are the only ones who will eat the Rapashy. The other fish in the QT's will not touch it.

If you take what you normally feed everyday and cut it in half (1 serving divided into 2 halves), there's no reason why you cannot feed two times a day. I personally feed once a day out of convenience.

 

For me the feeding depends on what type of fish.

If you are growing out fry or even juvies you need to feed more often (& do water changes more often)

If you are feeding herbivores you need to feed more often (& do water changes more often).

I like the once a day, for 6 days per week rule for most fish. I usually fast my tanks the day after feeding bloodworms / tubifex worms.

I also don't feed them when I go on vacation for 10 days or less. They can go quite awhile without food.

 

For me the feeding depends on what type of fish.

If you are growing out fry or even juvies you need to feed more often (& do water changes more often)

If you are feeding herbivores you need to feed more often (& do water changes more often).

I like the once a day, for 6 days per week rule for most fish. I usually fast my tanks the day after feeding bloodworms / tubifex worms.

I also don't feed them when I go on vacation for 10 days or less. They can go quite awhile without food.

I agree, depends on the type of fish and rate of metabolism.

Goldie's metabolism speed up at higher temperatures, also, if you are growing show quality a Goldie's such as Ranchu, most will feed 2-4 times a day.

 

I don't think there is any right or wrong answer here...
In the wild fish do not have a set schedule of when they eat, so I have no set schedule when I feed them
Some days I may feed them 3 or 4 times, other days once, and some days nothing
My fish are always hungry, and I know I can easily over feed them, but for the most part I don't

Feeding is one of the great pleasures of owning and caring for fish, and I enjoy feeding them, and I also enjoy deciding what to feed them. I honestly believe the different food choices we give our fish are more for our pleasure than for the fishes

I say feed away, but only feed very small amounts if you feed 2 or 3 or 4 times a day

Thanks for putting into words what my brain refused to do

 

Looks like I will be switching to once a day as well. Maybe occasionally twice a day. Especially after reading the stuff here.

 

I feed my community tank (look at bio for stock list) one time a day but everybody seems to say feed them multiple times a day. Should I feed them twice a day? How many times a day do you feed your fish? Should I feed them more? Thanks! I just want what’s best for the fish.

 

I feed my fish twice a day.

 

Once a day. Sometimes not at all. If once works for you then stick with it.

 

I don't think there are any true set feeding parameters for aquarium fish. Feeding frequency regimes are as varied as individual fishkeepers.
The type fish kept also dictates what foods need to be provided & frequency.
Feeding a quality food 1x or 2x a day is a pretty good measure.

 

I feed them once a day.
The only times I'll feed twice is when I either want a picture or if I want some interaction with them but when I do that, it's only a fraction of what I would actually feed

 

I feed all my fish once a day except for my goldfish!

 

2-3 times, though note most are juveniles.

 

In nature most fish are constantly searching for food. Feeding a few times a day is best imo as long as your water params are good. The more you feed the more water changes are needed.

 

To keep a clean tank this time around, I should really stick to once, but...who am I kidding lol

(1) NLS or Omega One pellets or flakes in the morning.
(2) Bug bites (nutrafin) little treats in the afternoon.

-A piece of zucchinI (or cucumber) usually sits on the bottom of the tank 2x a week, so I'm sure even community fish nibble at it.

Even at that rate - the food lasts an insane amount of time, I usually end up throwing out the food ~ 6 months to a year after expiry (keep in freezer).

 

NLS Thera-A pellets once a day
NLS H20 Stable Wafers I drop these in 2-3x a week
Wardley Shrimp Pellets sometimes
Frozen black worms or frozen bloodworms once a week

 

For my normal tanks once a day, roughly 5 days a week.

If I have babies or anything like that I may more often.

 

My Frontosas get fed two or three times a week. Fry gets fed two or three times a day. Juveniles get fed once or twice a day

 

I feed my community tank (look at bio for stock list) one time a day but everybody seems to say feed them multiple times a day. Should I feed them twice a day? How many times a day do you feed your fish? Should I feed them more? Thanks! I just want what’s best for the fish.

I feed my bettas about 4-5 days out of the week, once a day. Other days are for fasting purposes. I feed my community tanks 6 days out of the week to make sure they are getting enough food, 1 day no food for fasting purposes.