One of the more common “healthy” pet issues we see in all of veterinary medicine is obesity, and fish are no exception. Feeding too much fish food is a common occurrence, especially for vigorous feeders, like goldfish and bettas. They may have better control than your golden retriever, but overfeeding your fish can have more severe consequences than just rounder fish.
Unfortunately, there is no absolute calculation to tell you how much to feed your fish. It depends on their species, temperature, water quality, other stressors, the type of food, formulation and current disease processes. For cats and dogs, it all depends on body size and life stage. If you take any bag of cat or dog food and look at the back, it will tell you what life stage the food is intended for and what amount to feed for body weight. (This assumes that your pet is the correct weight for the body type and structure.) But when was the last time you weighed your pet fish? Fish should be fed based on body size, but we know this is an impossible task for most owners. Thankfully, fish are pretty good at determining when they are full. A bigger problem is what happens when there is too much food in the tank.
So how do I make sure I’m not feeding too much fish food?
We recommend using the 5-Minute Method. It is very simple:
- Sprinkle a little bit of food into your tank. We recommend mixing it close to the filter return so all fish can get a fair share.
- When all the food is eaten, sprinkle a little bit more. If the food is not completely consumed, WAIT.
- Continue for 5 minutes or until the fish stop eating.
Why does this method work?
The biggest problem with overfeeding a fish tank is not just fat fish, but increased stress on your biological filtration. The breakdown of fish food, since it contains a lot of protein, causes an increase in the ammonia levels in your tank. Using this method makes sure that the food ends up in the fish, not the bottom of their tank. If you’re unfamiliar with ammonia and the nitrogen cycle, read this explanation.
For more information on fish food in general, watch our webinar.
Mistake #6 – Not Storing Fish Food Properly
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