ONE heavy feeding or multiple light feedings for fish? WHY?

[damselindistress]

Since I've been working from home most of the year I now do multiple feedings - NLS pellets around 11ish, nori and some Hikari seaweed extreme around 2ish, then the heavy stuff for dinner...LRS and/or mysis around 7 or 8 because nobody likes to go to bed hungry lol.

When I work in the office I can only feed once in the evenings. Feeding multiple times a day I've definitely seen the benefits, the fish are less aggressive towards each other and they look nice and plump. I dread having to go back on site to work ha.

Oh yeah, don't ask me about my nitrates lol. I try to pretend they're not there haha.

 

[j.falk]

I feed twice a day...a few pellets in the morning and the a bigger portion of frozen food in the evenings. It seems to work for me. The fish are fat and happy and corals keep growing...I assume that's a good thing?

 

[Ebisan]

I have been feeding heavy to medium multiple times a day trying to get my nitrates and phosphate up. Currently undetectable and 0.01-0.03 respectively.

 

[Paul B]

I feed once a day which is not the best thing for fish that are used to eating all day but the fish have to live with me, I don't have to live with them. Sometimes if I get bored I will throw in some live white worms just for fun at different times of the day.

My tank is old and many of my fish are small so the tank produces a lot of it's own food so they can pick all day. The mandarins, pipefish and smaller bleenies and gobies eat like that.
Some of my fish are 30 years old and they have not complained yet.
Not to me directly anyway.

 

[SmugglersReef]

I feed heavy once at lunchtime (I work from home) Chlorella flakes, NLS pellets, and Mysis sometimes. Then a few times a week I feed at night, some nori on a clip or chopped up shrimp for the LPS and the fish. My fish are fat. Some need to go on diets.

 

[ReefLab]

I feed 6 times a day.
4 times with Eheim auto feeder
Once in morning and another at night with frozen food. I mix in selcon & reef chili into the frozen food and pause the return when feeding frozen

 

[H3rm1tCr@b]

I've taken to feeding small amounts maybe 3-5 times daily, depending on how much time I have. I'm trying to improve the nutrients in the tank to kick the dinoflagellates out for good!

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

Normally I would do two light feedings each day. A tiny pinch of pellets when lights come on in the morning (easy if you're in a rush) and a quarter cube of frozen, often with spot feeding, just before lights go down in the evening. I have a healthy population of 'pods that my wrasse snacks on all day. I have 5 fish.

But for the past two weeks I've been feeding way more. A stubborn goby has had me dumping food in way beyond normal. A pinch of this, a dollop of that! Every combination of food, vitamins, and supplements. Morning, noon, night! Needless to say the other tank inhabitants have been having a great time.

And it paid off today! Happy to announce that it looks like I can stop panic feeding. I saw her eat actively twice today! I found something she likes!

Now to get the hair algae that I grew while trying to feed her under control.

 

[Floppyfish]

Depends on the day for me with my work schedule. Some days I do 2 light, one morning & one evening with either pellets or flakes. Other days I do 1 heavy usually in the evening and that’s the days I feel with frozen foods.

 

[ACReefer]

I turn my pumps off and give them a light feeding in the morning and a little heavier at night. I also feed my corals twice a week

 

[Debramb]

I get the food ready and then add it several times until it is gone. Sometimes I do it early in the morning and other times at noon.
Out of the freezer.
LRS, 2 kinds of Mid Jersey, shrimp, squid and silversides

I add Selcon and defrost it in tank water. The chunky stuff is for the eels. If they dont eat it somebody else will.

They know it is up there

I have also added 3 sheets of nori, fed some white worms to the CBB and gave some guppies to the lions.

Beautiful display tank!!

 

[KingTideCorals]

So because of my oddball livestock list I do my best to be an absolute helicopter reefer.. (when I'm home)

With that being said, my Hawaiian Cleaner Wrasse at first needed some extra love to get to eating... have a thread on it here.. go into more detail. Also, the christmas tree worm rock and NP gorgonian love the little extra feedings through out the day!

So my answer was light multiple feedings for my lagoon!

Hawaiian Cleaner Wrasse

Hello Reefers! Reaching out because I myself just picked up a Hawaiian Cleaner Wrasse at my LFS for 60bucks?!? Saw it swimming in a tank with with a single other cleaner wrasse and I just felt that I needed to take it home. I have done some research about them previously, but here is what we...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Don Lidtke]

I feed dry food soaked with vitamins in the morning and frozen at night. Everybody appears healthy and happy.

 

[Stigigemla]

In the nature we can divide fishes into 3 different feeders planktonic feeders, bentic feeders and predatory fishes.
The planktonic feeders get most food at dawn and dusk but they are looking for food all day.
If we feed them only a few times per day they learn when and stays passive the rest of the day. If You add spontaneous feedings on different times they will look for food and be more active all the time the light is on.
The bentic feeders eat all day and are normally active grazing all day.
The predatory fishes normally eat more and not so often. They can loose their appetite if they ware fed every day.
Morays that are near adult size often eat more if they are fed large chunks once or twice a week.
Its normal for them to stay calm for a few days after feeding and to be more active when hungry. With a bit of practice You can see when its time to feed again.

 

[Steph1]

I am new to this hobby but my answer is not in your options for voting. I have a 16 gal (58ltr) reef tank being stocked for 8 weeks. I have 2 adolescent Clowns, one being about 1.5 inch and the other about 1 inch. I feed about 1/5th of a frozen block of frozen mysis shrimp and about 6 vitalis maine pellets every 3 days on the advice of a freind who is fairly experinced in the hobby. Any thoughts?

 

[Stigigemla]

This is about how You feed in a shop to keep some fishes in a sellable size. A Fishfarmer feed small clowns several time a day and each time so much so You see the belly is swollen. But with such a new tank it is wise to feed carefully. But with time they need more. And feed more often it is better both for the fishes and for the bacteria population.
After about 2 hours the food is processed and the fishes are hungry again.

 

[Steph1]

Thanks Stig, yes I will review how I feed in a couple of weeks when I feel (hopefully) I have a handle on my parrameters.

 

[ScubaFish802]

I read a great post on here elsewhere about how naturally some of these reef fish are feeding many times a day. I’ve noticed since starting small random feedings throughout the day the fish seem happier and less stressed overall.

 

[Steph1]

That makes sense mate, my current regime has cause the dominant fish to be very aggressive and possesive of the food indeed!

 

[rusgum]

Saltwater fish spend a lot of energy. She needs fuel, so feeding is small but frequent. Auto feeder to help. And it's better for the system. Less will get unwanted.