How Often do you Feed your Community Tank?

[O13SC3N3]

HOW OFTEN DO YOU FEED?

Curious, there is so much conflicting information on this, whether it be species, specific regiments, or just as simple when they remember...

Some say early morning then mid day, while some go as far as saying once a week or longer. "A healthy fish is a hungry fish" etc, etc..

Please tell me Why, When, and what foods you prefer. I'd like to get anyone's and everyone input on this, and their reasoning behind it.

My current Community Tank is a 75 gallon planted(some still adjusting) that homes 30 Ember Tetras, 25 Pygmy Corydoras, 75+(100+) breeding Red Cherry Shrimp, 5 Amano, 2 Otocinclus, 3 Borneo Sucker Loach, 3 Blue Neon Gobies, 12 Forktail blue eyed Rainbows, 5 Black Bar Endlers(Moving to a breeding tank) 8 breeding Mystery Snails (Purple, Gold, Blue) Few Nerites, and 5 or so Ninja Thai Micro Crabs.

[Dawn T]

I feed mine once a day - first thing in the morning when I turn lights on. First, I don't have any fry, so I don't need to feed more often. Second, I feed the fish to also feed the plants.

[Colu]

I feed my fish Frist thing in the morning and just before turning lights off in evening  I feed hikari vibra bites micro pellets and micro wafers hikari algae wafers Sera tropical flake Sera wood chip frozen blood worms and Cyclops and brine shrimp repashy super gold cucumber blanched spinach and lettuce I think it good to feed a variety of food so you get good quality nutrition in to you fish

Edited January 17, 2021 by Colu

[Lemon]

vibra bites in the morning frozen daphnia at night and I'm currently waiting for extreme krill flakes and sinking wafers to get here

[Colu]

Great looking tank

[Maggie]

I feed mine twice a day, around 7am and 6pm. In one tank I have danio erythromicron and yellow shrimp (so far) and in the other, harlequin rasboras, otocats, and blue bolt shrimp. I rotate between flake, Hikari micropellets, live BBS, dry brine shrimp and dry blood worms; and Hikari algae wafers for the shrimp and otocats. 

My opinion on fasting, at least for small community fish (except otocats and any other fish designed to feed constantly), is it's probably fine for the fish, just like it's fine if a person fasts occasionally, even for several days, as long as the fish is otherwise well fed. But I don't think it's necessarily healthier than a balanced, regular diet as long as we don't overfeed our fish, which is probably more dangerous for the fish than occasional fasting.

[O13SC3N3]

Thank You all so far for the replies, be nice to get as many people as possible to post.

[Streetwise]

Twice a day for me: tank dawn, then bedtime, sometimes sinking stuff for bottom-feeders during a siesta.

[FrozenFins]

I feed once a day I just feed a little more during the feeding. I would suggest once or twice a day.

I like the NewLife Spectrum Pellets and the Xtreme Flakes are great too. 

For my betta I feed northfin betta pellets and hikari betta bio gold.

[NBrucker]

More info than you probably want.... 😃

Tank 1) A (slightly overstocked) planted 100 g long with angels, Bolivian rams, sterbai cories, black neons, rummy nose tetras, cherry barbs. My main interaction with the tank is in the evenings, so lights go on from 3p-11p. I feed every day, once a day, around 8 pm so that I can watch and enjoy. I feed enough but don't overfeed (much less than what I see people putting in during videos - knowing that's also for the video...). I watch my nitrates for my plants but sometimes hard to get nitrates up over 10ppm (add Easy Green for plants to help). I vary the "overall feeding" food each day: frozen brine shrimp, Xtreme Krill Flakes, Repashy community, Omega veggie pellets, Bug Bites. Each day I also put in large algae wafer or 2 for the cories and a few small Hikari sinking wafers (the rams and angels play keep-away and it's hilarious and entertaining). Fish all fat and sassy. Only 1-2 losses in a year (new tank for 2020 quarantine). 

Tank 2) Guppyville with tons of fry and some julii cories. I use dollar store salt and pepper shakers to sprinkle a little twice a day (sometimes more often). One shaker has crushed Xtreme Krill flakes and the other has a mix of powdered bug bites and daphnia. Occasional frozen baby brine. A few Hikari wafers for the cories once a day (which the guppies attack as well). 

3 more tanks - more of the same, less intricate (like the betta tank and the teenager's tanks 😉 )

Beautiful tank, BTW!!! ❤️

Edited January 18, 2021 by NBrucker

[Sharon- fishandfloral]

I used to feed once a day but have switched to smaller amounts twice a day since working at home. They get an alternating variety of vibra bites, xtreme krill flakes, cichlid pellets, north fin kelp wafers, shrimp wafers, veggie rounds, fresh veggies, frozen blood worms and brine shrimp. I think feeding a variety of foods ensures they are getting the proper nutrients. 

[FishyJames]

I feed my fry 2x per day with flake and the full tank 1x day.  Some days are heavy and other days are light.  I also feed at night after lights off for my pleco and kuhli loaches.  

[Fonske]

My community tanks are fed twice a day. The first feeding is after the tank lights turn on at 11 a.m., with dry foods (rotating flakes, algae tabs, and sinking pellets). The second feeding is around 6 p.m., with live BBS and/or frozen food (bloodworms, daphnia, cyclops, brine shrimp). Couple of times a week I toss in a piece of blanched carrot or zucchini, at night, for snails and shrimp. 

[Kirsten]

2x a day for my livebearer tank, once in the morning, once at dinner. One of the meals is usually a squirp of Aq Co-op Fish & Fry food which they love, and the other is usually a tiny scoop of instant bbs, which they also love. I might throw in a mini algae wafer or three around lunch if they're good. I might be overfeeding them but there are tons of babies to feed and I have a bamboo shrimp who's still going hungry, so it's a tough balancing act. And they're so good at begging for food!