2-3 day feeding fish???

[mattsilvester]

Hi all,

Apologies for my extended absence from the forum...... the reason for same is directly related to thread topic.

I'm looking for fish that are hardy and only require feeding every few days rather than twice daily. Due to my new work situation, I am away from home 3-4 nights a week. My wife, who is busy balancing work and motherhood, and coping with me being away allot, then feeding the fish is at the bottom of her list of priorities, and when I'm home mid week, I must confess to forgetting to feed them myself........ long story short, its not fair on the fish (angel, tangs, and anthias) and so I am thinking of changing to something like lionfish that don't require daily feeding.

So, I am putting together a short list of other fish that will go with the lionfish, eat simple food like chunks of fish and shrimp, and only require feeding every couple of days or so, such that my wife no longer needs to worry about sheets of nori every day etc....... in fact she woundn't have to do anything at all..........

Any suggestions???

(Note. for those of you that know my system, I will be dealing with the bioload / filtration as a secondary issue - discussion will follow once we have a list together).

Thanks,

Matt

 

[DamnPepShrimp]

Do your fish eat pellets? You could get auto feeders to feed every few hours or twice daily. That is what I am doing. I should be getting mine soon since I make trips to the beach etc and sometimes work has me gone the whole day and I cant come home and feed.

But if you insist on changing your stock list up. I would go with a lionfish, grouper and an eel.

 

[sanchoy]

I feed my predator tank (lion fish, eel, grouper) every 2-3 days. All fish appear to being doing fine.

 

[mattsilvester]

My wife would leave me if I got an eel.... although I'd love one

Groupers - whats the most outgoing? Miniata? I've lots of experience with lots of fish..... but groupers aren't one of them

DPS - I've tried pellets and autofeeders etc. in the past, and generally have not been happy with them to be eonst..... the fish eat pellets alright, but it always seems like the sink and get washed straight into the crevices in the LR...... and if they float they go straight over the overflow!!! To be honest I am not in a hurry to swap out my fish but at the same time if the feeding regime continues it will be detrimental to the health and growth of my fish. I would generally be quite "attached" to my fish and would not be one for regularly changing stock lists, but I wouldn't mind changing the stock list, for something different.....

This plan is in its early stages, and I am just toying with the idea for the time being....... I'd feel extremely guilty about getting rid of the emporer angel especially...... but needs are as needs must!

 

[reefman8471]

Infrequent feedings

Infrequent feedings

What I would do would be this:

Lionfish

Groupers: The V-tail and spotted grouper tend to be fairly outgoing. They both are on the small side at about 9-10 inches. Miniatas are cool but will take a while to get comfortable. They are larger than the other two species I mentioned. The Polleni is a beautiful fish as well but is expensive.

If not an eel maybe some species of scorpionfish. They don't move around much but are fascinating fish. A frogfish could work as long as the other fish are large enough not to be eaten and aren't too large to eat the frogfish. An ocellated frogfish would be awesome or a sargassum fish.

James

 

[mattsilvester]

James,

Thanks for your input. Do you have a scientific name for the v-tail and spotted groupers, respectively? I know very little about groupers, but what I do know is that each species has lots of common names, and the common names are somewhat interchangeable between similar species!!!

Many thanks,

Matt

 

[saltyguy51]

I had a Miniatus and it was spectacular and grew i would say fairly fast but was not out all the time but would be a good choice for you. Miniatus is pretty easy to identify just by its name and great colors, red with nice blue dots

 

[unleashed13]

your best bet is an auto feeder if you and your wife don't have time for daily feedings.. any fish you keep really should be fed daily.switching over to aggressive fish to lower the amount of foods being fed also limits your tank mates drastically as when these fish get hungry they will depend on other tank mates as a food source .. example I forgot to feed my porc one night as he gets fed in the morning and in the evening.. I woke the next day to a full porky ..he ate my purple psudochromis and my midus blenny

 

[anbosu]

All groupers are pretty much shy initially, but with time they will be out and about more. You could also get a group of lions as long as they were the same size, I've seen some cool tanks set up that way. You could probably feed a harlequin tusk or something like that every few days as well.

 

[namxas]

we have 15 scorps (incl. 4 lions) that get fed M-W-F and are fine. i used to have a volitans and fed it to satiation twice a week (had it over 10 years).

as mentioned, most preds usually only need feeding 2-3x a week.

 

[mattsilvester]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I am heading off on holidays in a couple of weeks, so I won't rock the boat before I go.

You could probably feed a harlequin tusk or something like that every few days as well.

This is an exciting proposition - to be honest, as a wrasse species, I thought they would need daily feedings too...... anyone kept them on an "every second day" feed regime?

This would be a nice set up...... a few volitans lions (I'd splash out and pay the money for the ones with the black stripes), a harlequin tusk, and a grouper......

Looking around at online articles etc. it has been suggested that puffers too can benefit from less frequent, large feedings. If this is the case, would the same apply to trigger? I am more of the little but often school of thought to be honest, but if it is a tried and tested fact then.........

THanks,

Matt

 

[anbosu]

I kept a lunare and fed every few days for years with no issues. Puffers definitely can be fed every few days, and I would imagine triggers are similar - however, neither are especially compatible with a lionfish.

 

[AquaKnight]

The frequency a fish would have be fed, really IMO, depends on it's level of activity. Any way you slice it, I just don't see how a large wrasse, which spends most of the day zooming from end-to-end of the tank, looking for food, would do well for extend periods of time, being fed only every third day.

Lions, other scorpionfish, and frogfish obviously come to mind as candidates. Groupers and other 'trashy' fish come to mind too. By 'trashy' I mean fish that might gorge themselves because they don't know when the next meal is. Grunts/Porkfish/etc I believe would be great fish and are compatible.

 

[mattsilvester]

anbosu - thanks for your input..... if I were to include anything that might get "aggressive" it would be instead of lions, not in addition to them

aquaknight - that is what my gut tells me..... porcupine puffers are "trashy" fish though, aren't they?