How Many Times a Day Should I feed My fish and Coral?

[Royal Gramma Man]

Hi,
I've been hearing that people feed their critters 1-2 times a day. They also alternate what type of food based on the time of day. For foods, I have frozen mysis, brine shrimp, kelp, and krill and some flakes. I feed my corals the brine or Mysis once a week. I also have one medium clown pair, a royal gramma, and a cleaner shrimp.

If anyone can offer some advice on how many times I should feed my fish and corals, and what I'm doing right vs. wrong. Thanks!

 

[CanuckReefer]

Hi,
I've been hearing that people feed their critters 1-2 times a day. They also alternate what type of food based on the time of day. For foods, I have frozen mysis, brine shrimp, kelp, and krill and some flakes. I feed my corals the brine or Mysis once a week. I also have one medium clown pair, a royal gramma, and a cleaner shrimp.

If anyone can offer some advice on how many times I should feed my fish and corals, and what I'm doing right vs. wrong. Thanks!

Need a list of your coral stock somewhat.... different species, different requirements. Also if they are very fine filter feeders maybe another food option....

 

[a4edwin]

Feeding depends on the type of fish you have some are very active and require more feedings like an anthias. If you have clowns they’ll always be hungry as soon as you walk up to the tank they’ll swim right up to the top corals same thing some have different feeding requirements.

 

[ReefPig]

Normally (pre-covid) I would feed twice a day, morning and after work.

I've recently been feeding 3-4 times a day, same amount of food over more feedings.

I just defrost a few cubes of various stuff in the morning and use it throughout the day.

More feeding I feel the fish eat more overall, even with the same amount of food in total, seems much less waste.
Corals seem happy too.

 

[Willbiker]

I feed 2 or 3 times per day. Usually pellets in the morning, nori seaweed sheets on a magnetic clip at lunch and frozen cubes in the evening, alternating between between brine shrimp, mysis shrimp and frozen copepods. I then target feed reef roids to my corals once or twice per week with a long turkey baster.

 

[HB AL]

I have a heavily populated tank with fish and corals. I feed them once a day in the evening 12 cubes of various types of Hikari frozen and pe mysis. This keeps my fish well fed and healthy. The corals I dont feed with any " coral food " they live off the light, food they catch from when the fish are fed and fish poop.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Fish 2X per day is suffcient and what they can consume in 60-90 seconds. ITS EASIER TO ADD FOOD THAN TO REMOVE IT.
Coral: 2-3X per week is sufficient and very little needed.

ADD SELCON VITAMINS AND GARLIC EXTRACT TO YOUR FISH FOODS REGULARLY FOR VITAMIN AND IMMUNE SYSTEM HEALTH

 

[Willbiker]

I have a heavily populated tank with fish and corals. I feed them once a day in the evening 12 cubes of various types of Hikari frozen and pe mysis. This keeps my fish well fed and healthy. The corals I dont feed with any " coral food " they live off the light, food they catch from when the fish are fed and fish poop.

Masterpiece!

 

[ReefRusty]

I know you can buy an automatic fiah feeder for pellets and flakes. But how do people feed 2-3 and even 4 times a day?? Work? No work? Job, no job? Locked down because of covid? Just trying to work out as I'm shift work and do 12 hour days and an hour travelling each way.. may only do 2 or 3 days in a row before a day off but how do people work around all these other factors to feed?

 

[ReefPig]

I know you can buy an automatic fiah feeder for pellets and flakes. But how do people feed 2-3 and even 4 times a day?? Work? No work? Job, no job? Locked down because of covid? Just trying to work out as I'm shift work and do 12 hour days and an hour travelling each way.. may only do 2 or 3 days in a row before a day off but how do people work around all these other factors to feed?

As I said, pre-covid was twice a day, morning and night.
Here in the UK we're back in lockdown, I've not even been to the office since March of last year, so 4 times a day feeding is easy.

 

[Willbiker]

I know you can buy an automatic fiah feeder for pellets and flakes. But how do people feed 2-3 and even 4 times a day?? Work? No work? Job, no job? Locked down because of covid? Just trying to work out as I'm shift work and do 12 hour days and an hour travelling each way.. may only do 2 or 3 days in a row before a day off but how do people work around all these other factors to feed?

Maybe get an auto feeder then to do one feed during day with a good quality pellet then do one feed of frozen food yourself when you wake up. You can also buy nori holder which the fish can pick at all day long...like this
https://images.app.goo.gl/uywQUJUVSfyqGxND7

 

[CanuckReefer]

I know you can buy an automatic fiah feeder for pellets and flakes. But how do people feed 2-3 and even 4 times a day?? Work? No work? Job, no job? Locked down because of covid? Just trying to work out as I'm shift work and do 12 hour days and an hour travelling each way.. may only do 2 or 3 days in a row before a day off but how do people work around all these other factors to feed?

I'm with you somewhat lol, you never know what they day (or night) may bring...they get once a day minimum, and graze otherwise. If I miss a second feed for a day or two I carefully disperse when I have time the extra...

 

[CanuckReefer]

Feeding depends on the type of fish you have some are very active and require more feedings like an anthias. If you have clowns they’ll always be hungry as soon as you walk up to the tank they’ll swim right up to the top corals same thing some have different feeding requirements.

Yup Anthias do not fit my sporadic ( at times) schedule. And I dont trust the lovely wife to feed them, I'd probably have nitrates and phosphates from here to eternity if so lol

 

[vetteguy53081]

I know you can buy an automatic fiah feeder for pellets and flakes. But how do people feed 2-3 and even 4 times a day?? Work? No work? Job, no job? Locked down because of covid? Just trying to work out as I'm shift work and do 12 hour days and an hour travelling each way.. may only do 2 or 3 days in a row before a day off but how do people work around all these other factors to feed?

My feeder has up to 8 cycles for a given day. When i was on 3rd shift. . . fed at 7:30 a, 11a, 3:30p and 8:30p by hand

 

[Royal Gramma Man]

Need a list of your coral stock somewhat.... different species, different requirements. Also if they are very fine filter feeders maybe another food option....

The corals I feed are a ricordia florida, and a duncan

 

[CanuckReefer]

The corals I feed are a ricordia florida, and a duncan

Nice...I occasionally feed my Duncan, tiny bits of chopped up scallop. Devours them...and it also gets any cyclops that drift by when broadcast feeding.

 

[Gtinnel]

But how do people feed 2-3 and even 4 times a day?? Work? No work? Job, no job?

I'm with you. I leave for work before lights come on and I get home about 4 hours before they go off. As a result I only feed fish once per day. I target feed corals a few times per week.

 

[Gup]

Feeding depends on the type of fish you have some are very active and require more feedings like an anthias. If you have clowns they’ll always be hungry as soon as you walk up to the tank they’ll swim right up to the top corals same thing some have different feeding requirements.

 

[Gup]

I have a pair of Picasso Clowns.. Breakfast, lunch & dinner, their dorsal fins are up out of the water frantically waiting to be fed. I bought a pair of juvenile Mocha Storm Clowns a couple days ago. Now they mimic the Picassos and do the same thing.

 

[AutumnReefs]

I feed something like 4x a day. Its much more natural than once a day for many fish.