When Did Everyone Start Feeding So Much?

[The_Paradox]

So basically you follow John's recommendations on cuc size

Other way around. I was battling snails vs shrimp over a decade ago on YouTube and a decade before that on MySpace.

 

[The_Paradox]

@EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal a MANtis gotta eat.

 

[Pntbll687]

I think it started when skimmers and refugiums became more efficient than in the past, causing nutrients to drop or bottom out. People started feeding more, simply because they could.

I feed 3x a day using auto feeders and tdo chromaboost pellets mixed with some hikari seaweed extreme. Then I'll feed frozen every couple of days.

 

[Debramb]

I feed 4-5 times a day when I introduce new fish, to help keep stress levels as low as possible. After 3-4 weeks I go down to twice a day, sometimes three times.

I give them nori at least once, sometimes twice. But I’m home during the day so it’s easy for me. When I wasn’t, I was feeding once a day.

Also when I look at videos of marine fish in the wild, they’re so fat and plump. I figure that’s how they’re meant to be.

Yes, it’s those wild videos of my fish in the wild so fat, I agree!

 

[TWYOUNG]

I "think" I overfeed. I feed a mix of a homemade seafood mix, freeze dried krill and mysis shrimp along with pellet food twice per day. Also a sheet of nori three times per week. As long as I can manage nutrient export I don't see a downside although I'm starting to see some tiny bristleworms in my socks. I have three tangs and a rabbitfish with big appetites. Also like to keep my Flame Hawk well fed so he doesn't eat my ornamental shrimp, and have sand sifting stars and crabs to clean up.

 

[Jimbobalou622]

I generally do two light feedings a day sometimes one heavy one. If I get called out and miss a day I don’t think twice. I have a jerk Damsel solo in a tank that gets fed every other day and he’s 15 years old (I took responsibility for him so… he’s a jerk). All my fish do have the option to hunt pods or algae if they want and they do. Anyways years ago this was pretty common. At what point did 3+ times a day become common practice? One of my buddies thinks I’m satan for only feeding once or twice a day. It really gets him when I remind him I only feed frozen 2-3 per week.

It’s not common for me. I feed frozen twice a week.

 

[Kershaw]

For me it all depends on how much natural food is in the tank.

My first tank had, worms, micro brittle stars, pods, amphipods and much more. There was so much life in the tank feeding one or two frozen cubes a day was enough. That’s was 180gal back in 2012.

My current tank after a several year break was started with dry rock and some live rock from someone who started with live.
There is only bristle worms that I have seen so I feed 3 times a day. 2 auto feed one frozen and nori.

As I increase bio diversity I will just feedings.

 

[Roatan Reef]

I have a fat dog too.

Lol...me too

 

[ca1ore]

Depends, of course, on the fish you keep. Some will do fine on 2-3 feedings a week …. others will die.

 

[vlangel]

I auto feed flake once a day and I feed frozen once a day. I have a lot of macroalgae that need to grow too so there's that too.

 

[leon.1980]

I feed a mix of reef jerky, a few powders and other freeze dried all mixed in a plank auto feeder 3 times a day. It only turns of for 5 seconds at a time but it seems to be enough.
I do have to stay on top of algae more but to me it’s worth it. My fish don’t look malnourished, they are much more active and my coral seems healthier. I even have a purple gorgonia that would only open half its polyps once a week or so. Since I started auto feeding a few times a day polyps stay open all day every day.
I’ll never go back to once a day.

 

[reddogf5]

There is a difference between how OFTEN you feed, and how MUCH.
I think how much is pretty simple, if not easy - about 2,5 to 3% of fish weight per day of food (dry).
I think for how often, the more the better as most of the fish we keep seem to be on the side of squirrels foraging all day for nuts than lions eating a cow once a week.

 

[Viking_Reefing]

I’d rather put it the other way around. Years past we way underfed our fish. Not all that surprising as the nutrient export methods we had available were fairly inefficient compared to today.

Can some fish survive and do well with a restrictive feeding regime? Sure. Is it optimal? Hardly.
Consider their feeding habits in the wild. Most fish that we keep, especially benthic feeders and planktivores, consistently feed throughout their waking hours and that’s what their physiology is designed for.
A lot of the fish that were considered impossible in the past are now being kept without to much issue and I’m willing to bet it has a lot to do with feeding.

I would probably say the opposite: most people are underfeeding their fish. At least when it comes to frequency of feeding.

 

[fish farmer]

There is a difference between how OFTEN you feed, and how MUCH.
I think how much is pretty simple, if not easy - about 2,5 to 3% of fish weight per day of food (dry).
I think for how often, the more the better as most of the fish we keep seem to be on the side of squirrels foraging all day for nuts than lions eating a cow once a week.

How are you determining the percent body weight of your fish? Are you catching and weighting them monthly or just guesstimates?

 

[reef tank 2.0]

I have always fed once a day (in the evening). Never had a lot of fish, but there certainly wasn't anything left over, that I saw. I would feed the serpentine starfish directly, every other day.

as for feeding corals, i didn't do this very often. i felt that added a lot of nutrients in the water that never got consumed. but i didn't have a whole lot of experience with this. tried it a few times, and never saw much of a change in the corals, so I cut back. They always seemed to get bigger and look good, so I was happy with that

when i first got into the hobby, it was suggested to feed fish every 2-3 days. I don't know, in my mind, that would be borderline starvation . i have to eat daily, as does my dog. and so do the fish

 

[Digimes]

My tank is tiny, but I cut a sliver from some frozen food and feed daily, once in the early morning and once in the late evening. Weekly, I toss in some AB+ and just started a slight mix of Reef Roids. I have some nano pellets I toss in sometimes instead of the frozen or when out of town. I keep it pretty basic. Also, I was out of the loop for a bunch of years and everyone went all automated but I stick with the old school stuff, which has been working for me during the last 6 months.

 

[cilyjr]

At what point did 3+ times a day become common practice? One of my buddies thinks I’m satan for only feeding once or twice a day. It really gets him when I remind him I only feed frozen 2-3 per week.

I'm not sure if I would consider it common practice, but a lot of us do it more often.

I'd say it happened right around the time where we were not afraid to have some detectable nitrate and phosphate.

 

[The_Paradox]

I think it started when skimmers and refugiums became more efficient than in the past, causing nutrients to drop or bottom out.

That was pretty common 15-20 years ago too. Back then it was always a battle figuring out how dry to run your skimmer. Even today if you’re bottoming out due to skimmer you can just dial it back and save electricity and heat in the tank. To your point it could be when people decided they wanted high nutrient tanks. Decades ago <2ppm nitrate was pretty common. In last ten years I think I have seen any my tanks over 10ppm maybe five times.