Poll: Fish Feeding Frequency

[Jrco226]

Feed my 40G reef 1x a day always frozen food. My large FOWLR gets 2x a day with frozen and nori strips.

 

[hfa3501]

So, I am curious - feeding 3, 4, 5, or 6 times a day how are you able to keep you water parameters in check? I have found that if I feed more than twice a day, my parameters are all out whack and I start to get cyano on the gravel.

I have a 60g cube
sal 1.025
Po3 .02
No4 .05
DkH 9.5
Calc 460

My fish are 6 line wrasse, one spot foxface, ocellarus clown, and an arc-eyed hawk. Corals are 2 goni's, 2 acans, pulsing xenia, bue clove polyps, and a couple mushrooms. I feed the corals once a week with reef-chili after lights out with pumps off. I am feeding the fish once a day with mix of frozen and flake - I alternate the frozen (brine, mysis, plankton mix, and spirulina)

 

[Kmsutows]

I only feed every other day frozen Mysis and some pellets for the clowns just to make sure they get what they need. Multiple times a day seems crazy I guess it just depends on your livestock

How is it crazy to feed multiple times a day? In the wild most fish pick constantly. Many fish (like anthias) will be very unhealthy if not die without multiple a day

 

[PeterG]

Twice a day - I mix one PE Mysis shrimp cube with a small pinch of pellets and feed with baster in AM and then a pinch of flakes in the PM.
I'm new to reefing and still conflicted with making sure everyone has enough to eat and worrying about overfeeding.

 

[crahan]

I have not fed my tank a single molecule of food in the last two years.

180g with four tangs, leopard wrasse, engineer goby and yellow damsel. All are extremely fat and active. They browse all day off the rock and when I scrape the glass with the flipper they hit the algae that releases in the water column.

They keep the rock very clean and I'm afraid they would get lazy if I added food. If they showed any sign of slimming down, I would introduce food but they are all a bunch of fatsos.

 

[rockhead51]

This is a silly thread unless we start with volume and stock.

32 gal cube. 2 occys, cherub angel, orchid dotty back, YWG and pistol shrimp pair, conch, couple of trochus,, 4 nassarius, 3-4 each redlegs and blue legs crabs, soft corals and frogspawn.

Fed once a day, alternate days between:
DAY 1: 2 pinches of pellets, broadcast; and
DAY 2: Mix of mysis, spirulina, reef fuel, and reefsnow, target fed.

 

[Shelby]

My feeding schedule depends on the day. During the week I leave the house before the lights come on , so they get fed when I get home in the early evening - usually brine shrimp. On weekends and days off they get a morning feeding of flake or pellets and the evening feeding of brine. I try to get some nori in there at least once a week.

 

[kris2001]

Once daily

 

[sdcosta]

I feed frozen once a day and then what I call snack time a mix of pellets and flakes once a day as well... so I guess twice a day?

 

[Larry L]

Over 62% of responses indicated they do not use an auto-feeder. Not sure why, but I honestly thought more folks used them.

I've used auto feeders in the past, but don't currently. I think the main reason is that when I feed, I enjoy that extra interaction with the tank, and it's also a good time to take a really close look at how everything is doing.

 

[madcanary]

Pe flake and pe pellet before work. Frozen mysis after work. Nori around 5x a week
I’ll mix up some masstick every few days and broadcast Reefroids and Brightwell Aquatics fish and coral food twice a week at night.

 

[DSC reef]

So, I am curious - feeding 3, 4, 5, or 6 times a day how are you able to keep you water parameters in check? I have found that if I feed more than twice a day, my parameters are all out whack and I start to get cyano on the gravel.

I have a 60g cube
sal 1.025
Po3 .02
No4 .05
DkH 9.5
Calc 460

My fish are 6 line wrasse, one spot foxface, ocellarus clown, and an arc-eyed hawk. Corals are 2 goni's, 2 acans, pulsing xenia, bue clove polyps, and a couple mushrooms. I feed the corals once a week with reef-chili after lights out with pumps off. I am feeding the fish once a day with mix of frozen and flake - I alternate the frozen (brine, mysis, plankton mix, and spirulina)

Smaller feedings combined with the fish eating most of it rather than large feedings with the fish not consuming it all will make a difference in nutrient levels.

 

[DSC reef]

I have not fed my tank a single molecule of food in the last two years.

180g with four tangs, leopard wrasse, engineer goby and yellow damsel. All are extremely fat and active. They browse all day off the rock and when I scrape the glass with the flipper they hit the algae that releases in the water column.

They keep the rock very clean and I'm afraid they would get lazy if I added food. If they showed any sign of slimming down, I would introduce food but they are all a bunch of fatsos.

Im not doubting you by any means but how is this possible? Your tank is producing enough algae and other foods to feed your fish? Have you had these fish the entire time since you stopped feeding? I just can't comprehend how that's good for the fish but in this hobby I learn new things all the time.

 

[Mark-Stover]

I'm still learning here and don't even have a tank yet, so excuse my ignorance, but....if you are the type that feeds frozen food multiple times per day, how do you do it when you go on a vacation? Do you have someone come over to tank-sit multiple times per day?....or, are vacations a thing of the past once you have a tank?

 

[Kmsutows]

I'm still learning here and don't even have a tank yet, so excuse my ignorance, but....if you are the type that feeds frozen food multiple times per day, how do you do it when you go on a vacation? Do you have someone come over to tank-sit multiple times per day?....or, are vacations a thing of the past once you have a tank?

This has become difficult but a week of less food is fine. Hell, by some of these responses it's still feeding more! I have someone feed and top off water/dosing once per day when away. Was every other day until I've gotten into more difficult species of fish and coral

 

[dbl]

I'm still learning here and don't even have a tank yet, so excuse my ignorance, but....if you are the type that feeds frozen food multiple times per day, how do you do it when you go on a vacation? Do you have someone come over to tank-sit multiple times per day?....or, are vacations a thing of the past once you have a tank?

Vacation time can be a little nerve racking, at least the first time or two. Take a look at this thread for planning ideas: https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/vacation-time.67/

 

[jenjen]

4x a day, variety of pellets & flake from the auto feeder. Frozen once a day in the evening, and on weekends they get fresh clams or oysters. There's also always nori in there for the tangs, angels & rabbitfish, but everyone seems to nip at it.

 

[Mark-Stover]

Vacation time can be a little nerve racking, at least the first time or two. Take a look at this thread for planning ideas: https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/vacation-time.67/

Thank you very much for the link. That answers a lot of my questions on this subject....boy are there a lot of questions in this hobby!

 

[DSC reef]

Thank you very much for the link. That answers a lot of my questions on this subject....boy are there a lot of questions in this hobby!

You've come to the right place to ask questions.