Sad Fish: Are you skipping fish feedings and does it have a negative effect?

Is skipping fish feedings unhealthy for your fish?

  • Yes

    Votes: 95 12.1%
  • No

    Votes: 367 46.9%
  • Not sure

    Votes: 161 20.6%
  • Depends

    Votes: 148 18.9%
  • Other (please explain)

    Votes: 11 1.4%

  • Total voters
    782

revhtree

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Ok admit it. Sometimes you don't feed your fish! Why and how often only you know but sometimes it's just going to happen. But how long can they go? How unhealthy is it? Let's talk about it today and compare notes!

1. Do your fish ever go without a daily feeding and if so why?

2. Do you think missing feedings has a negative effect on your fish?

3. What's the longest your fish have ever went without a feeding?



FEEDINGS.jpg
 

andrewey

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I think it all depends on the fish you have and their metabolism. Many large predators eat one large meal infrequently whereas you have species like anthias that snack throughout the day. That being said, I've never gone a day without feeding the fish at least once. Every time I walk past the tank, they give me their best oliver twist!
 

RMS18

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Agree with above. It depends on the fish. I have a lot of wrasses and I feed 2-3x a day. In the wild they are eating all-day. It also helps that I have a ton of bugs for them to eat. However you take my CCB or foxface, they will eat just as much. My blackcap will not always come out to eat, so again depends on the fish. When they are not feed well there can be light aggression with the wrasses. When they are fed well everyone is clamer.

Same goes with me, when I don't eat I get hangry and you don't want to be around for that lol.
 

dtruitt

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We keep the nori clip loaded 24/7 and feed small portions of reef frenzy, pellets, and freeze dried plankton between 3 and 7 times a day.

We both like feeding the fish. I'm sure most of them could go a week without food without issue, but why chance it?
 

Dr Jimmy

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I think not adhering to a scheduled feeding time is fine (disregarding fish that need frequent feedings). That said, maybe the fish can get hangry. Not sure that's a "health" thing though it might lead to aggression issues.
 

MoreReefPlease

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I use Easymasstick for my community feedings. Since it sticks to the glass everyone can eat, when they want to.

My corals and filter feeders get fed from the same feeding but I still do phytoplan and Marine Snow.
 

DeniseAndy

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I have skipped feeding in most tanks once in a while. Sometimes I only do one depending on situation. However, I do not have really demanding fish and I have tons of maturity in the tank for them to find food.
I think it is good they have to hunt for food, but we need to keep them fed because our tanks generally do not have enough to sustain them.
Even when I feed nori, I sometimes make them hunt for it.

Now, when I had anthias, I fed more often and when I had nps and gorgs, I had autofeedings. It really depends on animals kept.
 

BighohoReef

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1. Do your fish ever go without a daily feeding and if so why? In our 30g nano our fish are feed every other day. With a mixture of mysis and benepets. Primary reason is to keep water quality high and to reduce the amount of waste introduced to the tank and not feed the bad stuff in the tank. It’s served us well in the long run and the fish seem to be doing fine. With our bigger 100g we feed daily there is so much livestock we don’t want to run the risk of our puffer eating any of our corals or inverts.

2. Do you think missing feedings has a negative effect on your fish? I think it would depend on the type of fish you have, your tank size. I think in the short term you might be able to get away with 2-3 days of not feeding (Not recommending that) anything longer obviously will have a very negative effect. From die off to fish eating things you don’t want them to.

3. What's the longest your fish have ever went without a feeding? A weekend we got stuck oversea and couldn’t get touch with the person helping with our tanks. We were lucky enough to not have lost anything.
 

Ef4life

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I hate not being home to feed the tanks. My biocube I’ve gone a weekend without feeding but that’s extremely unusual. It’s just 2 clownfish and they are well fed regularly.

My 40 I have an auto feeder that drops pellets 2x a day and a small amount of nori 24/7. So they get fed regardless, but the main course meal is frozen and they don’t like not getting fed. Also really important to keep my nutrients above 0
 

piranhaman00

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If anything, skipping meals is healthy, just like fasting in humans is good for health. Eating pig style non stop is not healthy :)
 

Mr_Knightley

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I feed whenever I feel like it, which is relatively frequently. I vary my feedings from nothing to 5 per day, so my fish never really know what to expect. I may start feeding more though, because I need to keep them away from my Acanthos! I don't want my trigger tearing into them when I feed them.
 

Wolf89

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I've kept some not-so-reef-safe fish in my reef before. My solution was to feed them more than they could ever want so they wouldnt feel a need to eat coral. If I ever missed a weekend, I bet I woulda lost some coral.
 

fish farmer

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I voted it depends on species, spawning, age, how well they are fed when they are fed.

For awhile the nutrients were high in my tank, I have a pair of clowns and a sixline wrasse. I cut back feeding to every other day and less food at feeding. The fish still maintained a "healthy" look to them.

I did notice that the pair of clowns stopped laying eggs, they were laying almost monthly. I have started to feed heavier and daily again so it will be interesting to see if they start spawning activity again.
 

ca1ore

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As long as your fish are generally well fed and at a healthy body weight, skipping feedings here and there is no big deal. I have frequently let them go 7-8 days when out of town. Arranging for a tank sitter usually creates more problems than it solves. Also keep in mind that fish always act like they're starving so do yourself and your tank a favor and don't fall for that.
 

ReefLab

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My fish get a cube of frozen in the morning and evening and fed twice during the day with an auto feeder. I think it’s good to feed them less throughout the day for enrichment.
 

Doglips56

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Ok admit it. Sometimes you don't feed your fish! Why and how often only you know but sometimes it's just going to happen. But how long can they go? How unhealthy is it? Let's talk about it today and compare notes!

1. Do your fish ever go without a daily feeding and if so why? I’ve intentionally skipped some feedings (I usually feed 2x/day) to try to decrease fish waste and nutrients

2. Do you think missing feedings has a negative effect on your fish? Not physically but I feel like they to get more aggressive when there is less food available

3. What's the longest your fish have ever went without a feeding? My Hippo went 84 hours during our Dino blackout. The clowns are but she never came out of her “bed”
 

sarcophytonIndy

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I never keep track of whether I feed them 6, 8, or more times a day, so I'm sure missing one isn't going to hurt them.
 

BeckyW

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I
Ok admit it. Sometimes you don't feed your fish! Why and how often only you know but sometimes it's just going to happen. But how long can they go? How unhealthy is it? Let's talk about it today and compare notes!

1. Do your fish ever go without a daily feeding and if so why?

2. Do you think missing feedings has a negative effect on your fish?

3. What's the longest your fish have ever went without a feeding?


FEEDINGS.jpg
I love feeling my fish! I would do it 3 times a day if I could!
 

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