Probably one of the most common mistakes in the hobby is feeding fish in the right way to keep them healthy and strong. Overfeeding is probably the number one issue with beginner fish-keepers.
Its most widely accepted that to feed your fish once a day is not a bad thing, but in this article, I’m going to explain how feeding them every other day seems to work better for me.
The general rule-of-thumb from most sources is:
Once a day, and only feed enough that your fish can consume within 2-3 minutes.
When I first started in the hobby, I followed this rule as closely as possible. Waiting 15-20 minutes so all my fish were awake and ready to eat with the lights on, then feeding them in the morning, once a day. I always struggled with how much to give them, and I started having some problems. Despite my best efforts, I was overfeeding them. Many of my fish were developing waste trails and my parameters were not stable. I tried feeding them less, at different times, different food, nothing seemed to work.
My Solution
What worked for me is I started feeding them on a “every other day” schedule adhering to the “2-3 minutes” rule, and also varying their diet with high quality flakes, frozen brine shrimp, blood worms, and other treats on occasion.
The fish are always eager to eat, they consume a good amount, and appear to be very colorful, healthy, full of life, and NO WASTE TRAILS. My water parameters were more stable too with less spikes which was of course contributing to their happiness also.
In their natural environment, many species are not able to find and consume food every day, and I’ve found that the species I’ve kept thrive better with this alternate method. I’ll occasionally give them a treat like brine shrimp or something on their off day, but for the most part I stick to an “every other day” schedule.
An important exception: If you have very young fry or juvenile fish, this may not be enough food for them. This method is meant for your mature, adult fish in an established aquarium tank. Young fish will need to be fed more often, but be very careful not to overfeed.
