How much to feed fish? Do we tend to overfeed our pets? Easy to feed a lot, difficult to feed the right amount

Fortunately for mr, I’m not as analytical some
But in general and from my experience what I see people don’t understand the amount of energy fish spend swimming around and in place. And they don’t offer enough often enough of a varied diet.
“Uhhh yeah, I’ve got a pellet and frozen mysis and I alternate them” just ain’t cutting it!
There are past posts where I have shared my feed menu
Nothing has everything, but everything does!
 
MichaelB said:
Does what your fish eat in two minutes not apply? I also saw something about their stomach being the size of their eyeballs to estimate how much to feed?

You mentioned weight and body %based feeding prob has potential just seems a little impractical long term like i don't see myself weighing fish food before feeding them or weighing the fish to make it really accurate.
Click to expand...
It is my understanding that this is the approach from professional fish farms translated to our hobby and I assume fish farms want their fish well fed and healthy too.

I am not sure if it is impractical really. Seems rather easy to weigh food. The auto feeder can be calibrated once to consistently feed the amount I want. Weighing frozen food is easy too.
 
clownvan said:
I think you can feed a fish in a tank too much. It is not like it is out in the wild where it is constantly working for its food, hustling away from predators, etc. and in need of that many calories.

A fat fish is not necessarily a healthy fish.
Click to expand...
I tend to agree in general. Although I do not know if a fish can actually overeat. I lean towards a maybe. My father in law has a trout farm, and there are concerns with fish eating too much, but need to check. I think it is more a waste, vs negative impact to the fish, which makes me believe there is a sweet spot to feed the fish adequately and do not pollute the water too much in which the fish actually has to swim in.
 
Kensington Reefer said:
Fortunately for mr, I’m not as analytical some
But in general and from my experience what I see people don’t understand the amount of energy fish spend swimming around and in place. And they don’t offer enough often enough of a varied diet.
“Uhhh yeah, I’ve got a pellet and frozen mysis and I alternate them” just ain’t cutting it!
There are past posts where I have shared my feed menu
Nothing has everything, but everything does!
Click to expand...
I am really curious who you see not feeding enough. I feel it’s mostly the opposite.

The variety piece is interesting. Paul Baldessano who is as passionate about fish as you are thinks a fish can live very happy and healthy on the same food for decades, demonstrated through regular spawning etc.

Still, I tend to support the variety argument, but I also believe that pellet food has much evolved in the past few years, and some provider have excellent varied ingredients. So it is not as one dimensional nutrient wise as it could appear. I have 6 different types of pellets in my auto feeder mixed, but I am not convinced it has to be.

Also, LRS frozen food is a good alternative for those who do not want to prepare their own food.

I do not consider brine shrimp an adequate food source.
 
Alexander1312 said:
Paul Baldessano who is as passionate about fish as you are thinks a fish can live very happy and healthy on the same food for decades, demonstrated through regular spawning etc.
Click to expand...
I don't have too much input here, but spawning cannot be a reliable indicator of "happy and healthy". I've seen some very consistently-spawning clowns in minuscule containers. Sanjay Joshi, at least at one point, had several pairs of clowns in his overflow alone, each with maybe a gallon of water, which bred regularly.

I need to ask one of my angelfish keeping friends about this. He went deep into the fish nutrition rabbit hole
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top