how many times a day should you feed!

[firefishred]

how many times a day should you feed!

[MalHavoc]

Depends, I guess. Some fish are grazers and like to snack all day. Others may not need that. What sort of fish are you keeping?

[kevin2000]

My 02

Remember that all the food you place in the tank either gets consumed by the fish/corals or ends up decaying on the bottom of the tank. The food that gets consumed ends up getting "pooped out" .. both the uneaten food and poop are contributors to phosphate & nitrate which are considered fertilizer by farmers and hence the algae issues many aquarist fight.

When dealing with food ... a small amt goes along way .. and don't feed until the fish is "full" & toss those books which say you should feed your fish for several minutes .. you would not consider feeding your dog/cat until they were full why would you think that makes sense with your fish.

[Sk8r]

The more often you feed, the less you should feed at a time. ;)
A guy who knows fish pretty well says maintenance for fish is one fishy mouthful a day, period. When your fish all start getting swag-bellied after feeding, probably you're going to have fat little fishes---and this [my own suspicions, mind] actually may not be good for them. People studying freshwater bettas found that they will live longer than two years [the standard] but that the extreme fatty diet fed them was causing a buildup of fat in the liver, quite a large buildup, which was contributing to early death.

My own rule is: often enough, not obsessively, skip a day now and again, and vary the diet day to day. I also run a 20g refugium rife with pods so my fish can snack all day the same as the algae eaters can, and this is a natural food. I would not worry leaving my tank for 4-5 days unfed. I keep mostly pod eaters and algae eaters and detritus eaters, and the fish that eat only what falls in the tank are approaching 'too fat' under the above observation: got to put the chromis and dartfish on a diet.

[Malenurse]

Firefishred - the size and set ups of our systems sound similar. What types of rock, fish, corals do you have? I've been in and out of this hobby for 25 years and I still don't have a clear idea about feeding. I've been from one extreme to the other and everyewhere in between. There are postings on marinedepot.com forums by Eric Borneman (a well-know reef expert) where he talks a lot about his reef feeding philosophy and even gives a recipe which I'm trying right now. He believes in feeding a good amount daily and feels that the corals really benefit from this. He also explains that, once a reef finds its own balance, heavy feeding will NOT cause problems like high nitrates. It's very interesting. Take a look at these articles if you get a chance.

[firefishred]

I have ...
1 Firefish
1 Royal Gramma Basslet not a Bicolor Pseudochromis
1 Yellow Clown Goby
1 Red Sea Star (Fromia milleporella)
3 Scarlet Reef Hermit Crab
1 Dwarf Blue Leg Hermit Crab
1 Emerald Mithrax Crab
1 Peppermint Shrimp
1 Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp

[firefishred]

I currently feed 1/2 a cube of formula one,once a day. I have ...
1 Firefish
1 Royal Gramma Basslet not a Bicolor Pseudochromis
1 Yellow Clown Goby
1 Red Sea Star (Fromia milleporella)
3 Scarlet Reef Hermit Crab
1 Dwarf Blue Leg Hermit Crab
1 Emerald Mithrax Crab
1 Peppermint Shrimp
1 Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp

[kevin2000]

I would feed a fraction of what your feeding .. first off .. don't feed the "clean up crew" that kinda negates the whole purpose of the "clean up crew" ... the amt of food that 3 small fish need per day is very small.

[Jrmass]

I agree with Kevin2000 completely. The amt that you are feeding your fish is entirely too much. The amt that you are actually feeding them is what you could feed to 6-10 fish. In my tank I also have just three fish (full grown maroon clown, and two blue damsels) so, we would have about the same bioload in an identical tank. I feed my fish the equiv. of (1 to 1.5) 1"x1" flakes 2x a day and I've even concidered lowering that but, they eat everything and still continue to beg (which most fish will do). But, just resist the urge to feed them again as fish are like puppies. They are cute as long as they are healthy. And proper health starts with proper dieting practices.

Jason

[greenbean36191]

I wouldn't even be feeding daily with that stocking list. I would feed about half of what you're feeding, every other day maybe.

[spellbound]

This is a great thread. firefishred thanks for asking this. I presently have: Sailfin Tang, Yellow Tank, Lavendar Tang, Dwarf Angel, Yellow Wrasse, Goby and 2 Spotted Pajama Cardinals; thre BTA's, 2 open brain corals, open brain coral, xenia, colt coral, flower pot coral, brown polyps, green star polyps, brown and green mushrooms, and some kind of flower polyp; 1 filter feeding sea cucumber I have been given so many names for I don't know what to call it (tan with orange spines has stayed in the same spot at the top of the intake since it crawled there after being put in the tank); clean up crew blue legged hermits, snails, 3 emerald crabs, 2 black and 1 brown sea cucumber and 3 brittle starfish.
I feed this: a small cube of frozen copepods with snow and 1 cube of frozen mysis shrimp or plankton in the morning (abt 10 am). About 1 pm I put in 1/2 sheet of seaweed. About 3 pm I put in 5 or six small pellets slow sinking 1.5 and then about 8 pm I put in Kent Chromaplex and Mocro-vert. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I feed the BTA's either silversides or shrimp. Sundays we are closed so they usually fed only the pellets and snow with the frozen copepods. The clean up crew keeps the rocks very clean. Nothing growing on them. They still look bare.
This is actually a reduced feeding due to the nitrates hanging between 10 and 20. I used to feed more. Nitrates have now been hanging more around 10 - 15.
Since those who know better are monitoring this thread, should I cut back even more?
Thanks for your advice.

[firefishred]

Thank You MalHavoc, kevin2000, Sk8r &
spellbound. You all have been very helpful!!
And to Malenurse check out my gallery pics!

[greenbean36191]

I would cut the micro-vert, chromaplex, and snow completely. They aren't helping anything. I'd also only feed the anemone once a week unless you're trying to get it to grow fast. I would still feed daily, but only one cube, the seaweed, and the pellets.

[spellbound]

greenbean36191
Thank you very much. I greatly appreciate your advice.