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Re: Not feeding fish while you're away



At the risk of sounding cruel to my fish, I'll admit that I only feed my
fish a couple of times a week (and then only small amounts), and regularly
leave them longer if I go away (admittedly I don't have any 'fragile' fish
such as Discus), but my Cherry Barbs breed like mad in the tank and my dwarf
corydoras have just bred for the first time too...Not difficult fish to
breed I know, but the feeding regime can't be doing them much harm.

    Slightly off topic, but my tree frogs and fire-bellied toads get fed
even less often...once or twice a month. However, all are in fine health,
the Fire-Bellied toads are 19 years old and the tree-frogs 15 years old.
When most people discover how often I feed them the immediately think I'm
cruel, but they gradually change their minds when they discover the
longevity such a regime has resulted in.

    I do feed my cat 3 times a day, so I'm not that mean!

Al.


> Date: Sat, 5 Jan 2002 16:35:12 EST
> From: Piabinha at aol_com
> Subject: Not feeding fish while you are away
> 
> In a message dated 1/5/2002 4:02:10 PM Eastern Standard Time, AJohn Stark <
> starkj at pacbell_net> writes:
> 
> 
>> I am a great believer in not feeding your fish every day.  I typically 4 or
>> 5 days consecutively and then stop feeding for a day or two.  I have left
>> my
>> fish (including Discus) without food for 4 or 5 days without even a hint of
>> problems.  In fact, I find that they eat better when it is irregular and
>> they have to hunt down every scrap.
> 
> 4 to 5 days?  you pamper your fish.  :-)  although some food labels will tell
> people to feed fish 2-3 times a day, i feed mine 3-4 times a week, sometimes
> less.  people forget that in nature some fish don't eat all the time, e.g.,
> large s. american catfish (there was some recent book documenting this); like
> snakes, they don't get prey all the time but usually eat one big meal and
> then go without eating for days (or longer).  that's why your fish are so
> eager to eat when there's food, they never know when the next meal is coming.
> 
>