General feeding question

[Rita]

Hey guys! In relation to my previous post stating that I am an over feeder… I was curious to know who feeds their fish twice daily. (I currently feed once daily).

I’ve been watching a YouTube channel of an aquatic veterinarian and she recommends feeding twice daily (and cautioned about over feeding as a health concern).

I’d like to start feeding twice but on weekdays I get up at 5:30am and am pretty rushed to get out the door. I’d hate to turn the lights on that early… is it ok to feed in the dark? Will they still eat or should I try to break up my lighting schedule? What’s everyone’s opinion?
 

Thanks guys!

Edited January 15, 2023 by Rita
Typos

[Gannon]

On 1/14/2023 at 8:12 PM, Rita said:

Hey guys! In relation to my previous post stating that I am an over feeder… I was curious to know who feeds their fish twice daily. (I currently feed once daily).

I’ve been watching a YouTube channel of an aquatic veterinarian and she recommends feeding twice daily (and cautioned about over feeding as a health concern).

I’d like to start feeding twice but on weekdays I get up at 5:30am and am pretty rushed to get out the door. I’d hate to turn the lights on that early… is it ok to feed in the dark? Will they still eat or should I try to break up my lighting schedule? What’s everyone’s opinion?
 

Thanks guys!

It depens on the fish! Some of mine eat in the dark and some are mostly inactive when the lights are off. Some fish like plecos would prefer the dark!

[lefty o]

i feed lightly twice a day, but whether once or twice, the key is to not over feed.  feed them, and if they eat everything in a minute or two, give them a little more. if they dont eat it all in 5 minutes or so, reduce how much you are feeding.

[Rita]

On 1/14/2023 at 7:21 PM, Pepere said:

Alternatively you could buy an auto feeder and schedule it to fedd them once a day in the morning when the lights are on.

I would consider this however I have lids on all my tanks and I have 7 tanks plus a quarantine tank.... not sure I can justify spending money on 8 auto feeders!

[nabokovfan87]

On 1/14/2023 at 6:12 PM, Rita said:

I’d like to start feeding twice but on weekdays I get up at 5:30am and am pretty rushed to get out the door. I’d hate to turn the lights on that early… is it ok to feed in the dark? Will they still eat or should I try to break up my lighting schedule? What’s everyone’s opinion?

some will, but some fish will be sleeping and ignore it.  repashy, shrimp food, bottom feeders, are things I tend to push towards a late (just after lights out) or late night feeding.

[Lennie]

I used to feed twice a day until all my fish are out of their juvinile phase. Now I feed the tank only once a day.

I have an autofeeder sitting around for holidays and I can easily set it for the mornings but I still prefer only one time feeding. Ideally feeding more than once but in smaller amounts sounds to be a better option for sure. But when I do that, my rummy noses are active and much faster compared to my L199 and corys, they end up attacking the bottom dwellers' wafers even if I feed them beforehand. Light feeding twice a day means bottom dwellers not getting any food for me. And dropping a wafer in the night means an MTS population bloom, as plecos kinda eat messily.

I agree with the friends explanations above. I personally see my sterbais, L199 and MTS to be active in the night, meanwhile pygmy corys, honey gourami and rummy noses sleeping and inactive.

I would say based on your fish, you gotta observe how everything is going during feeding time and how active/inactive they are during the night.

Hope it helps 🙂

Edited January 15, 2023 by Lennie

[Guppysnail]

Feeding in the dark is pointless for most fish as they don’t see it. Interrupting their sleep is not great. 
You can feed twice lightly. As soon as you get home then later in the evening. 
I prefer twice daily but smaller amounts. I think smaller fish in the wild are not used to sitting down at s larger buffet all at once. More like snacking on found goodies throughout the day. So my mind says smaller feeds are more natural to their digestive system.

My lights are out at 3-4 pm but I have overhead plant lights and room lights on. So the fish are still active and see just fine. Their second feeding for me is during this time. The actual tank lights don’t need to be on but it’s also not during their dark time. 
Hope that helps. 

[Flumpweesel]

I feed once per day unless I have fry and only after lights on .

I am currently feeding my hospital tank a little more because that has no alage or anything established for the fish to find so they get two light feeds. I'm also trying to build them up a bit so they can fight there ailments better.

It's important to remember that with an established tank there is a lot more for fish to eat than what we add .

[Rita]

On 1/15/2023 at 2:08 AM, Flumpweesel said:

 

It's important to remember that with an established tank there is a lot more for fish to eat than what we add .

Yes this is a good point! I remember now a video or live stream once of Cory mentioning that fish are always eating. Be it detritus worms, scuds, algae or whatever… but good point about the quarantine tanks… they don’t have much in the way of little snacks lol.