Longest you have gone without feeding fish

D

DaveG99

I have gone 3 days without feeding my fish while I was out of town. I have a yellow tang, sixline wrasse, and a clown. The wrasse and the tang can find stuff to eat on their own but I dont think the clown has that ability (not sure). I plan on leaving for a 5 day mini vacation and was wondering if my fish would be OK without me feeding them for 5 days. I'll be feeding on a friday morning and wont be back until that tuesday at around noon. So technically 4.5 days.
 
They should be fine without eating for 5 days. However, I would find someone knowledgable to come by at least once just to check on things, and drop a little food in the tank. That way, if something is going wrong on day 2, you don't come back to a total disaster.
Always keep in mind, whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.
Just my .02
 
I've gone 2 weeks without feeding my old 55 gallon freshwater tank...

they find food somewhere... i generally only feed that tank once every 3-4 days.
 
[We people would not go several days without eating so why should our fish? In nature fish eat all day and in our tanks many feed at least once a day and some several times a day. I believe this will make for healthier fish overall.

It would be the equivalent of us eating a nice
44FF54DF0005B381000066FA21602813020.jpg
alt=""> dinner once a week and
jiffypop.jpg
alt=""> the rest of the time. This is just my opinion anyway.]
 
I feed smaller amounts twice per day.

That being said, two or three times in the last year the fish have taken a "fast" where the tank was kept dark and covered for 2 days (followed by a really big water change, fresh carbon, GFO, and wet skimming). They sleep through it, so they burn little energy and produce little waste. The fish and corals come out fine, the algae not so much.
 
I feed my flasher wrasses 4x a day... the other tanks w/fish 3x a day. If I were needing to go out of town I would invest in an automatic feeder and leave clips of Nori sheets and/or have someone I knew really well & trusted to feed them at least once a day.
 
I would have to say that I have not fed my fish in months, I can not remember the last time. They are extremely health and full of color. If the fish are in a well establish reef tank then they will eat as they do in the wild, from the reef. But of course if the reef is not well established or if its more of a fish tank then I would recommend not going more than a couple days.
 
@reefpets.com wrote:
I would have to say that I have not fed my fish in months said:
I would say that depends on what type of fish you have and the maturity of the tank. Mandarins and Wrasses and several other fish will eat critters if the tank is mature. Tangs any many other fish will eat algae if you have enough. But fish like Anthias need to eat at least once a day or several times a day.


@DaveG99 wrote:
in the wild tangs have miles of reef to graze on. In our tanks they have several feet. said:
Great point.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
I would constantly go for a week at a time without feeding my fish :shock: . I know there are a lot of peolple here don't like to here that but it is a just the way I do things. I had several Barlett Anthias in the tank and contrary to what everyone told me they managed just fine (IMHO). I did think they were going to die once.........but it was because Marc came over and wouldn't stop feeding them :evil: :twisted: . :lol: They didn't die from the shock of being overfed :shock: ....... much to my suprise.


I didn't have tangs..........and will never have them..........I hope.

150 gallon fish stock:

1 pair of tomato clowns
1 pair of percula clowns
1 pair of black saddle back clowns
5 Bartlett anthias
1 yellow coris wrasse
1 six line wrasse
6 blue/green chromis
1 pair of tiger striped gobies (may absolute favorite fish....I wish I never sold them)

I did have a baby blue tang for a short period. It was only because someone never picked him up from a group buy. I managed to get him placed quickly though..........lucky for him.
 
I have tried to get rid of couple of damsels (only occupants) in my tank without taking it apart and have not fed them for months. They look fat and healthy still. I ended up taking the tank apart to get them out.
 
I would bet in the wild there's nobody feeding them nor there's miles of food like it's been mentioned a few times. Fish get bullied around from place to place, larger schools of fish clean out what's left to graze upon, i'm sure many fish go for days without food just like any other animal in the wild, if we start equating the fish diet to ours, then I can already see my tangs collapsing from heart attacks. Longest my fish went without eating is a week, no big deal.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top