Can a fish get fat?

[nyy fan]

I know this is a wierd question, but here goes...can you overfeed a fish and make him fat? I have a medium sized clown and he eats once per day. I have only had him for one week, but he actually came out of another's tank (good owner, treated him very well). I have only fed him frozen brine so far (looking to vary his diet tomorrow), but he eats about 15-20 shrimps. Nothing even touches the floor...I actually have to feed my shrimps and lobster separately.
Is my fish going to be fat? Should I cut back? Do I need to get him on some kind of excersise regiment?

 

[nyy fan]

So basically noone on this board has any idea of the correct things, ways, or amounts to feed fish? That is amazing considering I posted this into the Fish Discussion area...

 

[trigahappynigerog]

there is a possibility of fish getting fat. once a day wont get them fat.

 

[carrie]

Hi-I'm rather new to the board and only can give you advice from my personal experience. I have 2 percula clowns, 1 male and 1 female. I started feeding them flake food. Currently I feed them spectrum A+A this helps keeps their immune system healthy.
Brine shrimp is like chocolate desserts to us humans. It's not really that healthy for them. I know you mentioned changing their food/diet. I would highly recommend changing to a flake food instead. If you keep feeding them the brine shrimp they'll probably get plump.
I can tell you my female clown is about 4 times larger than the male(really she is pretty big). Not from the food but that's just how the clowns grow. The larger of the clowns is the female.
I hope this helps.

 

[molly]

Uh-oh.
Why is brine shrimp not really good for the clowns? I started giving them flake food and then nori but then decided to get a cardinal fish which I need to feed brine shrimp (meaty foods). He is in the quarantine tank now but when I put him in with the clowns I was planning on two small meals of shrimp and one small meal of flake per day.
Are you just saying too much of a good thing?

 

[striker]

That should be fine Molly. I think it's best just to feed them a variety of foods. I've heard both arguments so I feed them both foods. A little bit of garlic soaked or algae flakes would help too. I love feeding my tank frozen brine. Everything in the tank comes out of their hiding places and get really active. With flakes only my fish seem interested.

 

[nyy fan]

Is there a certain brand or type of flake food that is best? Also, I have heard of Krill...what is it and is it good food?

 

[brooklyn johnny]

I have always fed a quality dried food in the morning, and in the evening I give a few feedings of a frozen or fresh food, supplementing greens throughout. From my experience, there is a much greater risk of overfeeding the tank than the fish. If feish eat too much I believe they will be fine, however they will create more wastes which in turn affects the tank. I generally only use brine shrimp to get fish feeding initially, and after that supplement it rarely. Variety is the key and I have always added different things to my fishes' diets picking out different things at the supermarket fish section. The bottom line is that we don't fully understand and will never be able to duplicate a fishes' natural diet, so variety is the key. One thing I should point out is that I never feed fatty fish to my fish, and always nuke the fresh seafood for a little to minimize the risk of introduction of bacteria and things.

 

[brooklyn johnny]

By the way krill is a type of small planktonic coldwater shrimp. This is a good food as a supplement and good also for carniverous fish.

 

[carrie]

Sorry Molly-I didn't mean to alarm anyone. I think I mis-spoke. If you feed in addition to the brine shrimp (some fish obviously only eat meat) you really should continue feeding flakes. Some fish (ie. copperbands) don't eat flakes only meat. I used to feed him brine shrimp. My LFS said brine shrimp is not really good source of nutrition (ie will never be since they are in our fishtanks and NOT in the ocean).
Currently I feed my fish the brine shrimp -only as a treat. I feed mysis shrip and pellet food by spectrum A+A daily. Spectrum is an anti-parasitic food, similar to those using a garlic extract.
Brine is ok but mysis is better
Flakes are ok, but pellets are better.

 

[molly]

Thanks for all of the info Carrie!
I am very new at this and so easily alarmed!
I am trying to vary the omnivores' diets as much as possible. I plan on looking into the other things you've mentioned as well.
Molly

 

[jakob4001]

actually could sustain feed brine live/frozen brine shrimp, but you would have to soak in some type of vitamin enrichment like ZOIE seems to be most prevalent one used; but variety is always a good idea;some mfg's actually instill vitamins/additonal items like other seafoods or algae or seaweed of some type in their premaid frozen foods but usually are costly & not in bulk enough in the long run; you can find some great ideas for home made cheaper/fresher fish foods by doing a search for home made fish foods on this BB

 

[karlas]

in the morning i feed my fish flake, or spectrum (small) pellet. at night they get fed brine soaked in vitachem vitamins and, every 2 weeks garlic soaked. also for the meat eaters i add some clam or squid every couple of days. and the alge eaters wardly alge pellets or dried nori every couple days also. ive had some of these fish for about a year now and no probelms with disease and they are always very active