Most of us are familiar with recommendations like “feed your fish only a couple times per week to minimize organic waste in a reef tank”. These recommendations also stem from the fact that most beginning hobbyists simply overfeed so we combat it by giving them a more restrictive feeding schedule. However, many of us are also familiar with the notion that feeding small amounts more frequently is better than large, once a day meals. With such a wide range in recommendations, what’s really the right thing to do? In the last month since my first son was born I’ve learned the hard way what really matters when it comes to fish and feedings. Allow me to elaborate.
在我儿子出生之前，我的喂养政权每天几次喂食冷冻食品。冷冻食品浸入了Super Selcon，以进一步富集。我补充了这些饲料，通常是各种颗粒食品的两种喂养。然后我们的儿子早5周出生。我和妻子和儿子一起在医院里度过了一个星期，也许每天回来一次，扔掉一轮颗粒和一轮冷冻食物。这本身并不是那么糟糕，因为每当我们度假时，这都是鱼通常希望的最好的。但是，当我们的儿子回家时，它逐渐发展到我每天通常只喂食颗粒食品，很少两次，有时我错过了一天，而冷冻食物变得很少见。
我的水族馆鱼的变化是戏剧性的，只有六个星期。小丑鱼巢变小，它们的质量遭受了极大的影响。现在，有很大一部分的不育卵。我尚未尝试饲养任何东西（因为我也忽略了这种混乱中的rotifer培养物），但是我敢打赌，幼虫的质量较低。发生这种经历的最糟糕的事情是最难接受的事情，是我最近的女性产卵黑色Ocellaris的损失。她的腹部充满了鸡蛋，产卵剂延伸，但未能产卵（换句话说，鸡蛋绑定）。她的巢质量极大地遭受了巨大的痛苦，最终，我可能将鸡蛋绑定归功于她的饮食，这可能归功于不理想的饮食。
Aggression in my fish has increased dramatically. My formerly agreeable pair of Starki Damselfish,Chrysiptera Starki，has been reduced to a single. I found the female simply ravaged, not a fin left, still alive, trying to escape the male. There’s no doubt in my mind that a hungry, dominant male would lose his tolerance of the smaller female and attempt to drive her from his food-producing territory. So too, the male Mandarin in this tank turned aggressive towards the female…I found her in random “inaccessible spots” a couple times, each time she looking thinner, and now, I simply cannot find her anymore. My other pair of Mandarins, which has always fed better on pellets, hasn’t had the same violent shift in mood…they continue get along.
Then, there are the losses that are truly starvation. I maintain a few Cleaner Wrasses and they normally do well. While the larger ones are able to nibble on the smaller pellet foods, it is clearly not enough even once they’re trained to eat it. This was actually one of my first starvation losses..it happened weeks ago. My daily trips home from the hospital, I watched my smallest Cleaner Wrasse get more and more skinny, and then one day, there just wasn’t a wrasse around.
But starvation issues reached beyond the Clearer Wrasses. One Harlequin Filefish certainly starved to death, unable to keep on weight on what amounted to a typically once a day feeding regime. I fully admit I wasn’t paying sufficient attention…my days have been run by the tank, drop food in, and move on. By the time I noticed it, he was too far gone. I could attribute this to some disease or fluke occurrence, but on closer inspection, even my spawning female is now emaciated, and the formerly amicable male was chasing her constantly (again, losing mate tolerance when hungry).
Thankfully, there is a fix for all of these problems, and it is to make the necessary time in my day to do the frequent feedings that keep my fish in tip top shape. I need to return to feeding the richer, more varied diet as well. It will take time, but realizing that this is my fault gives me the opportunity to make the fixes.
It is clear that when given feedings somewhat more in line with general entry-level suggestion (aka. sparse and infrequent), the most sensitive fish, those “expert only” species, took the biggest hit, while even the more robust species we often don’t think about truly showed negative effects from the reduction and change in feeding.
If there was any doubt in my mind, it’s gone. Whether trying to breed fish, or just keeping a reef tank with robust, healthy fish, the technique is clear. With the exception of fish that clearly feed infrequently (generally large carnivores), several frequent smaller feedings per day are 100% the best way to go for almost all of the marine fish we routinely keep in our tanks, as it mimics the natural constant small grazing that these fish are accustomed to in the wild. Do not underestimate the impact that this positive practice has on your fish – it is beyond “crystal” just how important it is to provide several small and frequent feedings per day. Just because a fish can survive on one or two feedings per day, does not mean it is thriving. The lesson is clear, I knew it but I still had to learn it the hard way, so now I’m sharing it here so you don’t have to.
And for those of you who are worried about the Lightning Maroon, rest assured he/she/it is doing just fine…it’s a non-breeding clown so it’s not expending energy and is doing OK on the pellet foods. Still…it’d do BETTER with a higher level of care, no doubt!
