Do you "fast" your aquatic friends??

i was just wondering if anyone goes without feeding there fish for a day or 2.
what are your reasons for doing or not doing this?


i usually do it for a day to 2 days max for about every 2-3 weeks

i do this for 3 reasons . one is to let the fish naturally clean themselves out
and also it helps the fish "hunt" for any food that that is left in the tank that has
fallen in between rock crevices and such. plus it helps to get any food that might
be missed during water changes out to less foul up the water...

what are your thoughts?

I feed all my fish heavy once a day. The day before I do water changes I fast. No feeding. So one day out of the week I do not feed.

My fry that are about 1" and under I feed 2xs a day.

i feed same way as KMX and fasting that one day before my water changes... if i am able to schedule them and not do WC spur of the minute, lol

but, my fry i power feed my fry.... i feed four time a day and vacuum excess every evening ensuring all fry get fed good each and every day. but it helps to be home most of the day, LOL..

I feed mine a minimum of 2x's per day, sw and fw, but for a logical reason. I have a heavy stocked and high aggression prone tank mates, so I try to keep them fat and happy.

i feed my fry 1-2 sometimes 3 times a day when im at home but i do nto worry abotu going on vacation. i just started to cut my adults back and they are now getting fed every other day and only a little bit as i felt its cheaper, cut back on cleanings, and the fish were getting fat. when they get fat they get lazy and sometime stop breeding or have reduced loads.

I agree a heavy amount of feeding IMO slows breeding.

since i cut back my fish have gone crazy breeding. however this could be linked to the time of year as well lol. as i just recently cut back lol.

I actually fast mine once a week. Almost all of us have a tendency to over feed so the fasting just helps keep them healthy. Also try to use the 20 - 30 second rule when feeding, not 1 or 2 minutes. What you can feed a fish in 2 minutes is a lot more than they would get in the wild all day. Hey I'am getting hungry time for a snack!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I keep cichlids, peacocks mostly... IMHO you have to look closely at each fish... From top to bottom. I look for a flat clean line from front to back. Any bulging or concaving of the stomach means an adjustment. Some larger fish I feed regularly every other day, happy as clams, smaller/younger fish I feed everyday and cut back or skip a day if they have full semi bulging tummies. I don't have a set schedule, but try to observe and gauge feeding on the fish. My Kenyi always seem to eat mote than the peacocks I keep together and so the kenyis typically have a nice beer belly look, but they do seem less aggressive and less prolific... I only over feed growouts, keeping a full belly under 1" is must if you want the highest survival rate early on. Fasting can't hurt as long as no fish is ever starving. Bottom dwellers and least dominant fish will show the first signs of malnutrition on my experience. As noted above fasting to spawn does seem to work and always a good idea the day before a water change. I have also noticed adding 10% of cooler water at night can spark a spawn, but that may be a superstition. Doesn't always work, but the females have to be prepared regardless. Hope all this helps a little.

My "adult" tanks get light feedings every other day . My Fry and grow out tanks get 1 or 2 times a day feedings , depending on size of said fry and juvies.

every 7-10 days I fast for a day then blackout the tank for 1-2 days.

I feed several times daily. If out of town the fish do not eat!

why do you "blackout"? i have never heard of this unless introducing new fish?

flukekiller wrote:

why do you "blackout"? i have never heard of this unless introducing new fish?

I do it when I acclimate too, this all started with an experiment to see what kind of growth I could get, I noticed most of the growth occurs at night so I started letting the tank go black a day or two a couple of times a month and my coral growth especially my SPS is outstanding. basically they absorb the light"energy" during the day and spend the dark hours growing. I even stopped using moon lights a couple of months ago and I have seen the growth rate of all the corals explode. I think that in nature there's cloudy dark days so why would it be any different in my tank. it also helps deter nuisance algae growth.

I feed my fish about every two days. There are only two of them in there. I don't like to overfeed and cause algae growth.

Cindy...when you blackout are you talking just lights out or do you cover the glass?

wildbeanerz wrote:

I feed my fish about every two days. There are only two of them in there. I don't like to overfeed and cause algae growth.

Cindy...when you blackout are you talking just lights out or do you cover the glass?

just shut the lights off no MH, T5, Led or moon lights. I don't cover the tank because I still want good gas exchange.

I usually feed my fish 3 times a day, I fast them one day out of the weekend.

I fast them on days I end up out of town or days I don't make it back home from work.

I feed every other day. I used to feed daily, but since I cut back, my Nitrates have dropped significantly. I didn't think I was overfeeding, but I guess I was. I do fast my fish when the power goes out to lighten the bio load when the filters can't run.

I fast my mature fish and juvies get fed daily three times a day in very small amounts (growth). I do fast fish when having to move tanks or upgrading. every so often I do fast just watch the diffrence in activity. Cichlids go 3 weeks wuth out eating in the wild so fasting is a natural part of thier lives (not by choice).

Feed once a day. Will fast for 1-2 days twice a month. Sometimes I will fast for longer and then hit them with a high protein diet and a water change. This will usually spark breeding for me.

Wow I learn something new everyday. Question for those that have freshwater I have red zebras angels and jack dempseys right now do you recommend that I do that with my tanks. I feed them twice most days and once other days. I forbid anyone else from feeding any of them because they keep feeding to much. The small fry I feed 3 times a day.

Your fry need to be fed as much as possible but in tiny bits. If you feed them smaller amount more frequently they will be much happier. I have heard of people fasting mature fish and they claim the colors come out a whole lot more when feeding every other day. I have not tried this but I should.

Everyone gets fed most days 3 times fry more, when I'm swamped with stuff to do sometimes the adults only get fed twice a day.

Now they do get fasted on occassion when I've got fish to ship and they are in various tanks, feel bad feeding neighboring tanks so they all just get fasted for 18 hours or so exception the nursery tanks

tbarnwell, your answer is yes. Bigger fish especially I feel need that fast once and a while. It aids in digestion and gives them more of a natural feel. They weren't hand fed food in the wild everyday twice a day, so why do that forever? Give them a day or two break once and a while.