How Often Should I feed em?

[quakana]

I have 5 fish

4.5 "Foxface
4 "Copperband Butterfly
1" Clown
1.5" Hippo Tang
2" purple firefish

I feed them a combo of flake, formula 1, forumula 2, brine shrimp plus, and Mysis
I alternate these everyday but my question is how often to I feed them. Currently I am feeding twice a day and they all eat until its gone....the little pigs Is twice a day too much?

its a FOWLR tank with a cleaner crew

[leveldrummer]

every third day is just fine. but if you cant take it, every other day will do.

[quakana]

Originally Posted by leveldrummer

every third day is just fine. but if you cant take it, every other day will do.

From reading older threads and your post just know I was shocked at this? No disrespect intended...just real curious and suprised...I have always fed my fish once or twice a day. Not a ton of food mind you but enough for them to eat for about one to two minutes twice a day


here is an interesting mini blurb on feeding as well maybe I am overfeeding but the fish seem to eat and my water parameters seem fine as well


If you watch fish for a while, especially in the wild, you will notice that the herbivores are constantly looking for food or "grazing" as some people say, the carnivores pretty much just cruise around, passing up easy meals. Herbivores, such as Tangs, have a longer digestive track than carnivores. This is because it takes longer to digest algae in order to extract the protein required for the fish to survive. Carnivores have a shorter digestive track because it doesn't take as long to extract the protein from the flesh of another critter (snail, fish, shrimp, etc.).
Herbivores, ideally, should have a constant food source available to them. The algae that grows in your tank will provide a certain amount of this, but unless you have a lot of it, you will need to supplement their food supply. Prepared foods, such as many flake foods, are concentrated food and (depending on the type) can supply the fish with everything they need. Feeding your fish a little bit of food once or more per day is closer to the way they eat in the wild than feeding them a bunch every 2 or 3 days.
Fish (even sharks) will only eat what they need to survive. If you watch your fish when you feed them, you will see that they will actively eat for 5 minutes or so, then ignore the remaining food for hours. The food that remains in the tank is wasted and will end up on the bottom of your tank, creating even more nitrates.
If you only feed your fish once every 2 or 3 days, it is not the way most fish eat in the wild, which is what we should try to duplicate. In my experience, feeding twice per day, only what is consumed in about 5 minutes has been the best. Carnivores, on the other hand are a different thing. Eels are an excellent example. They will go for days without eating, then suddenly feed voraciously for a couple of minutes. It has been my experience that if you have a mix of carnivores, omnivores and herbivores in your tank, they will all find and eat what they need if you feed lightly twice per day.

[luvmylo]

hey how big is ur tank??? I hope it's rather large. ur foxface, copperband, and hippo (especially) the hippo need some roaming room.

[quakana]

Originally Posted by luvmylo

hey how big is ur tank??? I hope it's rather large. ur foxface, copperband, and hippo (especially) the hippo need some roaming room.

46 right now but planning on migration to a drilled 90 that I already have

[luvmylo]

o i c They should be pretty happy in a 90. I'm concerned about the bio load in the 46. What are your perimeters??

[quakana]

Originally Posted by luvmylo

o i c They should be pretty happy in a 90. I'm concerned about the bio load in the 46. What are your perimeters??

right now 0 amonnia....0 nitrite and about 10 nitrate
PH is around 8.0-8.2 temp is 75 degrees
10% water changes twice a week with ro water