How often do you feed your fish?

How Often Do You Feed Your Fish?

  • Once a day

    Votes: 61 46.6%

  • Multiple times a day

    Votes: 44 33.6%

  • Every other day

    Votes: 12 9.2%

  • Once a week

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Other (please specify in comments)

    Votes: 14 10.7%
  • Total voters
    131
Here is a good rule of thumb when feeding your fish: their stomach is about the same size as their eye, so feed according to that.
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That's what I heard too. However, cyprinids don't have a stomach.
Some people recommend to feed small amounts a couple of times per day because of that.
 

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That's what I heard too. However, cyprinids don't have a stomach.
Some people recommend to feed small amounts a couple of times per day because of that.
Click to expand...
I'm confused... Are you referring to Rosy Barbs? If so, they're not cyprinids.
 
I'm confused... Are you referring to Rosy Barbs? If so, they're not cyprinids.
Click to expand...
I'm confused too. What else would they be?
Pethia conchonius – Rosy Barb (Puntius conchonius, Barbus conchonius)
 
If you look at the link I provided, you'll see that they are big fish which need to be in a tank 100 x 30 cm with a larger school.
If that is the case, you feed them every day.

10 l might be enough for a few shrimp and if you really need to have a fish, maybe a betta.
 

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I'm confused too. What else would they be?
Pethia conchonius – Rosy Barb (Puntius conchonius, Barbus conchonius)
Click to expand...
Oh gosh. I'm so dumb. I'm sorry.
I was thinking about a completely other thing.

Yes they are cyprinids.
I'm so sorry xD
 
If they are babies, I would feed them at least once a day until they are no longer juveniles. At which point you can cut back feeding to once every other day. Just make sure you don't give them more than they will consume in less than a minute.
 
So I have 3 silver dollars, one electric blue acara, a BN pleco, a pictus and one remaining zebra danio (I also have a nerite and a colony of mts) how often do you all feed your fish? Mine are pigs so the "feed what they eat in 5 minutes" doesn't work becUse they eat everything. I feed 1-2 times daily and they get one day no food. My tank is littered with waste. I clean it and bam poo everywhere. Messy fish. So I know I'm over feeding (especially with the occasional mts bloom. So how often do you feed your fish? Is bI daily safe? Or tridaily?
 
I feed my fish once a day (before I go to bed). Feeding twice a day is fine. I've never heard anybody feed three times a day though.
 

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I feed my goldfish 3x a day - I read somewhere that more, smaller feedings are better than fewer large feedings (for goldfish). I also keep a close eye on the waste level and check nitrate periodically.
 
I feed twice a day, but that is because my angelfish are quite large so they need quite a bit of food. I also have two large catfish. However if your fish are small I think its alright to feed once a day especially if you give them quite a bit of food.
 
Hello!
I feed mine 5 - 3 times daily but in very very small amounts and I fast them for one day per a week.
 
I feed most tanks twice a day with a fast day once a week. Fry tanks get fed 3-5 days a week. Ponds get fed once every 2 or 3 days in summer.
 
This is a total newbie question, but I've heard conflicting advice. I have 2 platies, 1 guppy, and 1 dwarf honey guarami along with a cory and bamboo shrimp. All my water levels are good (PH, ammonia, etc) and the tank is clean. Right now I'm feeding them twice a day (once in the morning and once in the evening), should I be feeding them like I am currently doing or every other day or just once a day? They all eat all the food within a minute. Thanks!
 
I feed my fish morning and evening. Sometimes on weekend morning, noon, evening, smaller amount.
 
Breakfast and dinner. Just like in the wild.

Ever been fishing? Best fishing is at sunrise and at sunset.

I've even heard that it's good to not feed them for a day every once in a while. It makes them feel like they're in the wild where there's a non-stop search for food. I don't do this though. I love watching them eat.
 

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I asked a similar question here recently and the consensus from the experienced fishkeepers was that twice a day is fine, as long as you are feeding small amounts (i.e. the same amount you would give if feeding once a day but split in two). I find this actually helps me to avoid overfeeding, as I'm less anxious to make sure that every fish gets enough food when I know they'll have two chances a day. So I feed less
 
My frequency of feeding and amounts depend on if fish are adults or juveniles.
For instance, in my discus tank:
In tank:
5 large discus (adults)
7 rummy-nose tetras (adults)
1 bristle-nose pleco (adults)
Feed:
am: 1 frozen beef heart cube
small pinch of NLS flake for rummy nose tetras.
pm: 1 freeze-dried blackworm for all fish.
1 algae disc for pleco.

In my 30 gallon tank, because they are juveniles, I feed three small feedings daily.
10 Imperial Tetras ( juveniles)
7 emerald green (juveniles)
am:
Brine-shrimp frozen
noonish:
small pinch of NLS flake
pm:
1/2 cube of freeze-dried blackworms or bloodworms.
 
I feed them 5-6 times a week, once a day, with 1-2 one day fasts at random days of the week.
ystrout fish don't get to eat everyday in the wild, two meals a day isn't really the wild.
 
I don't attempt to replicate in the aquarium the frequency or infrequency of feedings that they get in the wild. Why would you? I don't see the benefit.
Juvenile fish need frequent feedings to grow strong and protect themselves (build immunity) against bacteria and parasites that they would not be exposed to in such high numbers in the wild.
What a young fish needs in a closed system ( the unnatural parameters of the aquarium) is not what they need in the wild.
Once a day feedings, and certainly skipping feeding 2 x weekly will be a detriment to young growing fish, not beneficial.
With adult fish, a once a week "fast day" is necessary if you are prone to overfeeding your fish during the week, don't feel like feeding, or don't do weekly water changes. It benefits you, not the fish.
Now for certain species, like a goldfish, where you supply a feed such as pellets as their primary diet, a day of fasting or feeding with peas is therapeutic. But, even then, it is the lack of variety of feed and the reliance on processed foods that necessitates a fast in the first place in these fish.
Just my take.
 
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How often do you feed your bettas? I have a 4 female sorority, and for the last couple of days I have noticed that I'm not having to remove any un-eaten food. I switch them between the flakes and blood worms. One of them I separated into a breeding net for a bit cause her poo was kinda white-ish see through....so I fed her daphnia but all is well now.
ANYWAYS, I'm getting off track. Since they eat all their food should I feed them more? Should I let that be it then feed them again later in the evening? (For instance....I fed them 4 pinches of flakes today and they had it gone within 2-3 minutes.)
 
Sounds like your feeding them just the right amount of food. If they leave food leftover then that means your feeding to much. I feed mine 5-6 days a week with a fasting day or two.
 
Awesome! Thank you! I just didnt want to under feed them you know? K that makes me happy. Thank you!
 
I don’t know - My sorority girls are sooooooooo fat. Like, they are giant fish. So I’ve been fasting three days, feeding two days in a row, fasting three more days...

I had been dropping a pinch of food every day for them which they would have to share with the catfish, and he would go up and gobble a lot of it, but they just got sooooooo fat that now I distract them with pellets and make sure they each only get like four pieces, while dropping 10 pieces of “sinking carnivore pellets” for the cat... which he gobbles up like it’s nothing... every time I feed them.

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I prefer more frequent, small portions as opposed to one large feeding. So I'll do two small feedings a day. The goal is to prevent too much food from settling, especially if you don't have a clean up crew.
 

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I'm curious how often I should feed my fish. The directions on most of the fish food I've seen recommends twice per day and to only use enough food that the fish can consume in several minutes. Is it okay to feed them first thing in the morning and be done with it?
 
I usually feed once every other day to keep my ammonia down. Feeding one per day isn't bad, but I wouldn't do twice a day.
 
I turn off any water circulation including air stone, and feed tiny amounts twice a day because I like to watch them eat.
 
I used to feed once a day but recently I’ve changed to two small feedings when the lights come on and just before lights go out.
 
I like to do one per day when most convenient to clean extra food because my fish don’t always eat the same amount every day.
 
So I have 19 fish:
3 firemouths
1 jewel cichlid
1 kribensis
1 electric blue acara
1 Senegal bichir
6 serpae tetras
6 Buenos Aires tetras.

I will feed them in the morning, they’ll eat all of it, and then later in the day, I drop in more food and they eat all of that too. Then at night I feed them again and they eat all of that. Am I overfeeding? Just now, I fed them and they all ate but my bichir didn’t get much, so I put another cube of bloodworms in a jar, spun it around with some water so they’d defrost and dumped them in. Everything ate, not just the bichir. So I don’t know what’s going on. Everything that isn’t a tetra is about 2 inches or so long.
 
Fast days will always benefit fish, and it’s typically quite hard to underfeed. They are amazing at begging, and hardly do you ever see emaciated/underfed fish in the hobby. This will only happen if you TRY to starve your fish. If a fish is skinny, that is typically due to deformity, sickness, or sometimes age.

You’ll almost never seen uneaten food, as fish will eat just about everything you give them, but if there are leftovers this would mean you may want to consider reducing amount.

Bloating and constipation are both signs of overfeeding. Remember that the stomach of most fish is about the size of its eyeball
 
If you don't have food waste then IMO you're not feeding too much. But be mindful excessive feeding leads to increased fish waste produced... If your filtration can handle it then you're good.
Bichrs like their snails and crustaceans. A lot of other fish won't bother the snails. I'd toss a couple of small ones in and see how it responds. They are nocturnal so you might not notice them scavenging. I'm not sure what you're feeding but perhaps the bichr would benefit from some sinking pellets that sink too fast for the other fish to grab. Just a couple.
 
What kind of snails? I did feed him pellets this morning and he’s eating them fine, but I would like to feed him snails. He is really small though, only two inches, so I’m not sure what kind of snails to feed him.
My filter is a Marineland Emperor 400. So far it’s been working pretty well. Might install a few DIY filters or something later on, we’ll see, but the tank is pristine right now.
 

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I feed once a day their main diet which is NLS pellets and supplement norI for the tangs every other day.

What's your feeding schedule like?
 
I usually do once a day with Omega Flakes and on occasion I put some bug bites or omega pellets for my corys... I have 7 tanks thanks to the $1 per gallon sale and partially this site ... I feed other things as well but the aformentioned foods are their staple diet.
 
I go btwn once a day and every other? Depending. If just flakes/pellets more often. If shrimp every other or so.
 
Depends. I usually feed twice a day the 20 gallons with the Black Ruby Barbs, Rummynose and Corydoras and once every two days the 5.5 gallons with the Celestial Pearl Danios. But since I moved the Celestial Pearl Danios in the 20 gallons, I feed three times a day. The only problem is that I don't see the Celestial Pearl Danios eating at all and that worries me.
 
Flakes & pellets in the morning and a small amount of fresh or frozen in the evening. Duckweed as an occasional addition.
 

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