What's the norm on # of feedings?

[jesster2]

Hey everybody. Just talking with a coworker today who has a goldfish and we got to talking about how many times a day we feed ours. He feeds his once a day in the mornings before work and that's it. I feed mine before work and in the evenings. I fed my fry four times a day dropping it down as they get larger. So is there a golden rule about the number of times you feed per day? I am keeping some of my fry and am wondering how long I should be feeding them three meals a day. They are in a 30 gallon tank right now. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Jesse

[Virginia ranchu]

I would say four times a day sounds like enough. I feed frozen blood worm twice daily, and it takes the fish a couple hours to finish it all, so it depends on how much you are feeding. I recommend monitoring the growth rate and condition of the fish, and if you are feeding more often, you must also be able to change water more often.

[George Washington]

In March the breeding adults are brought in from the ponds and after warming up a little I offer small amounts of food. This increases as the weather improves (my fish shed is governed by solar gain and has no powered heating for the adults). The feed consists of pre-soaked high protein koi pellets & chopped worms fresh from the compost bins.

After spawning, which is usually the first 2 weeks in April, the adults are returned to the ponds. Throughout the summer they are fed morning and evening on either pellets or my home made beef heart & spinach mix. Additionally there is always pond weed available, which I throw in from the fry tanks.

If there is a show coming up for the adults I stop feeding for a full week before hand.

For the first month the fry are fed up to 8 times per day while they are on brine shrimp; sieved daphnia and adult daphnia
As they grow they are fed 4 times daily and each feed is different
• Early Morning is Bloodworm
• Late morning is pre-soaked high protein koi pellets
• Late afternoon is chopped worms fresh from the compost bins
• Early evening is a home made beef heart & spinach food

About September I slow down all the feeding and eventually stop totally during October.

None of my fish are fed from October through until March.

My ponds and fry tanks are set up for large quantity water changes and I would not advocate this regime in a house tank. I personally do not think that indoor aquarium filters cope very well with goldfish which are generally pigs with fins.

I think that most goldfish die due to overfeeding in setups that cannot cope. If your fish are healthy and thriving with your regime don’t change it. What is right for someone else probably won’t work for you.