Overfeeding?

[Banana Man]

I have been feeding my 2 Clowns, 1 Flame Angel and 3 Shrimp twice a day. Once with a bit of frozen which is gone in about 3 mins and then Pellets at night. They always seem to eat everything i put in so i just assumed this was ok. Recently though a Diatom Bloom appeared and my Nitrates have gone up to about 20 so im now thinking i have been overfeeding. Can anyone advise me on feeding i.e. how much to feed and how many times per day?

Thanks!

 

[MikeG]

Wow there's gonna be a lot of different opinions on this one as everybody's tank and fishes needs are different. I feed twice a day, frozen only (soaked in vitamins and/or garlic extract) and each tank gets only as much as they will finish in about 2 minutes.

 

[yote]

With the fish you have,I'd only be feeding at the most once a day.

When I had my tank up and running,my fish were lucky if the got fed once every couple of months.But that's how the tank was set up.My fish were chosen to fit into a certain neich in the tank.So I didn't have to worry about feeding them.

 

[little_fish]

Also a 20 gal is pretty small for a flame angel.

 

[Banana Man]

I see what you mean. They said it would be ok as your one large fish in the shop but just reading about it now online and people suggest 50 Gallons minimum!! We'll it is small at the moment, a bit less than 2 inches and i plan on upscaling my tank later in the year. If not i'll have to give him up :(

 

[wontonflip]

+1 everyone More feeding = more poop = higher nitrates

But i think it's ok to feed twice a day, if it means you're splitting up a single feeding. I, personally, am too lazy to feed twice a day LOL I feed once a day.

 

[Banana Man]

Will fish eat if food is available or do they only eat when hungry? I see them eating what i put in and then think, oh well they must have been hungry.

 

[little_fish]

they will eat if food is available because in the wild they have no idea when there next meal will be

 

[Bifferwine]

They will always act hungry no matter how much you feed them! They are like dogs. :)

I would cut back to feeding once a day.