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How often do you feed your fish? (Poll)

Feeding Frequency Poll


  • Total voters
    87
2-3 times a day
F2 flakes, F1 pellets, frozen mysis and cyclopeze sometimes clams

2 clowns
2 mandarins
3 anthias
Sailfin tang
Powder blue tang
Potters wrasse
3 royal flasher wrasses
 
every other day
hippo tang
yellow tang
2 gobies
2 clowns
blenny
bicolor

one cube of frozen shrimp.
 
There seems to be a wide range of answers. I'd be curious as to what mass of food people feed per mass of fish per day.

Matt:cool:
 
Set-up:
90g + 20g sump w/ chaeto, reef octopus skimmer rated for a 200g tank running 24/7, 165lbs live rock, never had an issue with cyano or algae, don't run any sort of carbon or GFO, nitrates/phosphates almost always near 0.

Bioload:
3 large male fairy wrasses
2 medium sized clowns
1 juvenile mimic tang
1 blenny
1 chromis
1 large watchman goby
lots of snails, 2 emerald crabs, 2 skunk cleaner shrimps, 1 urchin, ton of LPS, SPS, zoas, mushrooms

Feeding:
Feed 1 cube of either marine cuisine or emerald entree every other day, and hang a small sheet of nori 2-3x per week. Feed about a tablespoon of oysterfeast about 1x per month. Everyone is fat and happy, hard corals are growing like weeds.


EDIT: Planning to add a few anthias to the mix in the next few months, at which point I will increase to 2 cubes every other day and seed the tank with pods and plankton beforehand to meet the high metabolic needs of anthias.
 
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Feed once per day, alternating cubes of mysis and cyclopeeze one day with a chunk of Larry's Reef Frenzy the next.

2x percula clowns
firefish
five bar mystery wrasse
leopard wrasse
pajama cardinal
algae blenny
midas blenny
scooter dragonette
flame angel

120 gal DT, 15 gal sump
Skimmer (SRO 2000) runs 24x7
 
180 gallon 50 gallon sump
1 vlamingi
1 yellow tang
1 tomini tang
4 clowns
Midas blenny
Starry blenny
Divided leopard wrasse
Melenurus wrasse
2 flame cardinals
Bluedot watchmen
1 chromis
Royal gramma

I feed heavy 1 cube formula 2 and 1 cube of mysis and some rods everyday
I run a modded asm g3 24/7 my tank is a softie reef so a little dirty water goes a long way with Xenia
 
Feed flake at least once a day, nori every other, frozen a couple times weekly.

75 display, 100 total gallon system.

2x clown, yellow tang, rabbitfish, x1 anthias, half black Chromis, mystery wrasse, yellow watchman, tail spot Blenny, candy hogfish.

Bubble king 160 skimmer and biweekly water changes.
 
75g DT, wet dry filter, no skimmer yet but it's ordered.
1 yellow tang
1 green chromis
2 nano clowns
1 falko hawk fish
I feed a small pinch of cyclop eeze in the am with a small pinch of flake food every morning. Twice a week I do a 2"x1" dried seaweed on a veggie clip for the tang. Also twice a week I do a 1/4 cube of frozen brine.
Although it seems like a lot, not much is wasted.
 
75 gallon RR, 30 gallon sump(1/2 full) with a DSB with a nice clump of chaetos. Bubble Magus 200P

I feed every 2 or 3 days. I will feed pellets, flake, mysis, or coral frenzy. When I feed I will do a small amount of (pellets or flake) with (mysis or brine or a little bit of coral frenzy).

2 B&W Ocellaris clowns
1 Tomato
1 SailFin Tank
1 Chalk Basslet

Emeralds
Snails
Crabs
2 Brittle Star Fish
SPS
LPS
1 Clam
1 Oyster
Softies
 
40g breeder - Everyday/Every other depending on how the fish's stomachs look: 2 clownfish, 1 royal gramma, 1 tanaka's pygmy wrasse, 2 peppermint, 1 cleaner,
hermits, nassarius snails, orange chesnut turbo snails, cerith, margarita.
Ricordia, Acans, Forgspawn, Hammer, Orange Plate, Blue Cloves, Purple Star Polyps, ORA Green Toadstool, Spearmint Finger Leather, Zoas, ORA Red Planet, ORA Green Birdsnest

5g pico - Every other day: 1 tailspot blenny, 1 cleaner, 1 blue legged hermit, 1 nassarius, 2 cerith, roughly 3 dozen tiny white starfish, and atleast a dozen large bristleworms (it's a very simply and clean tank)
Neon Green Nepthea, Acan, blastomussa merletti, ricordia, red/green mushrooms.

The 40g (4 months old) I feed Ocean Nutrition Prime Reef flakes with a tiny pinch of mixed pellets from 3 brands and once a week one cube of Ocean Nutirtion Frozen Prime Reef.

The 5g (1 year old) I feed strictly Ocean Nutrition Herbivore Flakes. The blenny doesn't like frozen and the shrimp and CUC will eat anything.
 
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Maybe 3 should be 3+? I probably feed 5-7 on average.

There seems to be a wide range of answers. I'd be curious as to what mass of food people feed per mass of fish per day.

Matt:cool:

That's the key. A lot of people feed more mass than me by far. Breaking up feelings helps ensure it gets eaten before settling though. So, you can feed more if you feed more often, everyone seems fixated on frequency though, which really doesn't mean anything at all, especially without mass or volume.. 1 have 4 tanks in my system,connected, for a total volume of a bit over 220g. About 9 fish and a number of LPS and a few NPS that I feed often, but still probably only feed a cube per day.
 
Maybe 3 should be 3+? I probably feed 5-7 on average....
I agree. I would feed 5 or more times a day if I could.

This is much closer to how fish eat in the wild (i.e., continuously).

As inverted noted, this also helps minimize the amount of food wasted.

It's possible this would help stabilize nutrient loading on the tank.

And as I've found, it minimizes aggression.

Matt:cool:
 
40 gal - Maroon Clown, Clown Goby, Fire shrimp and assorted CUC.

Fed every other day or two for longest time but increased it to daily just recently. I try to alternate daily between Ocean Nutrition Flake and Frozen Mysis, Brine, or a frozen blend of everything from Jay's. Once or twice a week when I'm giving a frozen feeding I also try to spot feed my Dendro, Acan, Duncan, & Favia.
 
75 gallon DT 20 gal Sump 75 lbs live rock

2 mocha clowns (medium)
melanus wrasse (medium)
green choris wrasse (medium)
Manderin (small) Eats Frozen!
goby/pistol
yellow tang (medium)

I feed pellets every day when I get home from work. The fish are waiting in there feeding corner for me. If I forgot all I need for a reminder is to look over at my fish tank and there are all my fish waiting for there food in the corner. Clowns don`t stray to far from there Host ( pusling xenia) until its after five then they are sitting there waiting with there puppy face on.

Then I try to do NORI like 2-3 times weekly ( melanus cant get enough of the stuff....)

Frozen P.E mysis every other day sometimes on the third day.
 
3 times mix of flakes and pellets

2 clowns
1 Green Clown Goby
1 Bule Green Chromis
1 Royal gramma
1 Randall's Shrimp Goby
1 Tiger Shrimp
1 purple fire fish
1 cleaner shrimp
1 candy cane shrimp
xx number for crabs and snails


15 Gal
skimmer
HOB filter rated for a 55 gal tank
DIY HOB refugium
 
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Thanks for everyone's comments and thoughts so far...

Preliminary analysis;

So far it seems that even if you combine, "2X a day, 3X a day, and every time I thing about it" only ~28% of the participants feed what I would term as "somewhat/pretty often during the day".

Interestingly enough, Every other day is the second most frequent feeding schedule @ ~ 30% and once a day the most popular so far @ ~ 42%.

comments--
Consider for a moment 'feeding Frequencies' as what you feel it takes to satisfy your tank's inhabitants until the next time you feel you 'should' feed them (No matter the reasons, ex... aggression, to contentment, requirements according to a book/website...).
and given your tanks' filtration/nutrient exportation.

I understand this is unique and subjective to your own level of comfort in caring for your animals, however that way, no matter the mass amount of the feeding. The 'feeding frequency' is what you deem appropriate for your tank at that feeding occasion(s).

Does this change perspectives at all on how often to feed your tank? Looking for perspectives, but feel free to weigh in. If you have not voted yet, please do and comment. This has already been helpful.
 
5 days a week.
1 hippo tang
2x clowns
2 cardinals
1 scribbled rabbit fish
3 wrasse
1 pygmy angel
1 scooter blenny
1 bi color blenny
tank is 70 cube 30x30x19 with a 60 gallon sump so even thought there is alot of fish in my display there is plenty of water volume to handle the bio load.

second tank 120 w/ 40g sump
1royal gramma
1 filefish(eats aptasia, frozen and pellet)
2 cardinals
1 kole tang
1 hippo tang
1 sailfin tang
2 clowns
1 pygmy angel
1 foxface
2 chromis
feed frozen once every other day, pellets 5 times a week.
 
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2 x Day mysis and other frozen foods

1 Hippo
1 Flame Angel
1 Bi Angel
1 Mel Wrasse
1 Tusk
1 Yellow Tang
2 Clowns
5 Chromis
1 flame hawk

90 mixed reef soon to be 180 mixed reef
 
75G, Reef Octopus Skimmer, 15G Sump w/LR, 4 Chromis, 2 Ocellaris, Yellow Watchman Goby/Tiger Pistol Shrimp, Purple Dottyback, Tailspot Blenny, Flame Angel, Flame Hawk, Yellow Coris Wrasse
Feed 1x Daily Frozen Mix, Mysid/Cyclopeeze, Brine, Mega Marine Algae, Marine Cuisine Mix, supplement 4x/week with Marine Life Spectrum pellets
 
2 x Day mysis and other frozen foods

1 Hippo
1 Flame Angel
1 Bi Angel
1 Mel Wrasse
1 Tusk
1 Yellow Tang
2 Clowns
5 Chromis
1 flame hawk

90 mixed reef soon to be 180 mixed reef

Just wanted to clarify. During each feeding I add Selcon and vitamins as well as garlic. The frozen food is defrosted in filtered water strained and the vitamins are added. Salt water is added to the cup then I pour a little of the slurry into the tank at a time so it is all eaten. Usually three times each feeding for about 15 minutes total.

I also feed nori a couple of times per week.

My frozen mix is half a cube of mysis, half a cube of reef plankton, and a small piece of reef carnivor food.
 
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