Fat fish

[Lance]

Originally Posted by GreenSpottedPuffer

The tusk and most I have seen are big push overs. They don't really stand up for themselves much. Most people who buy them are quite surprised I think. They just look tough.

I totally agree with you. I was a little worried to get one because I thought it might be too aggressive, but he is just the opposite. He pretty much ignores the other fish and in fact, was getting bullied by my foxface.

[Pansy-Paws]

I'm also in the mega-feeding camp ... and agree that much of the aggression in our tanks is hunger driven. In the wild, the amount of territory that a fish controls defines how much food it will have ... and whether it can also support a mate . So, if the fish is "more" hungry, and sees a fish in near proximity that eats the same food items, it's game on.

The downside, of course, is water parameters. My nitrates usually run between 5 and 20 ppm, even with 10% weekly water changes. This nitrate level precludes a reef tank, and I happily maintain the tank as fish only.

For comparison purpose, my daily feeding regime consists of 1 1/3 sheets of nori (8" x 9" sheets) and 12-14 frozen Hikari cubes (included in this volume count is PE mysis as well). I'll occasionally add a piece of scallop or a clam for more variety.

Our widest fish are a 7" foxface and a 5" huma huma, each with a 2" girth.

Originally Posted by Delphinus

Going to play devil's advocate here. How can we emphatically believe that a wide fish is unhealthily obese? AFAIK I haven't seen a BMI chart posted for fish.

All I can say is that when I've seen the same fish that we keep in aquaria in the wild, they were fatter and wider than the fattest fish I ever saw in captivity. As in no comparison whatsoever. So I tend to believe that in general even if we think we're overfeeding, we're not, not really anyhow. Yes it is true that as long as they see food they will eat food, so we can't use a "they'll stop eating when they're full" sort of thing to figure out how to throttle back the amounts, but the flip side is although they'll never really be "less" hungry, they can be "more" hungry and that can sometimes lead to aggression. So it's a fine line or a balancing act, maybe with some experimentation and observation you'll find the balance that works for you..

[fishoholic]

Originally Posted by GreenSpottedPuffer

Were you told it was too much because of water parameters though? You can easily feed more than your tank can handle, leading to high phosphates and nitrates as I am sure you already know.

Our nitrates have been highish around 20 for awhile now. Thought it was from having Simon our puffer (who we rehomed) and feeding him clams and krill etc.
I used to feed some handfuls of pellets and a chunk of mysis every day and nori every now and then. Now we've been doing pellets one day and mysis the next and going back and forth between the two and I still do nori every now then. I always feel bad though on the day it's just pellets since I have a few fish that only eat the mysis. However I have a high pod and mysid shrimp population and all my fish are pretty fat so I'm sure they are ok.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by fishoholic

Our nitrates have been highish around 20 for awhile now. Thought it was from having Simon our puffer (who we rehomed) and feeding him clams and krill etc.
I used to feed some handfuls of pellets and a chunk of mysis every day and nori every now and then. Now we've been doing pellets one day and mysis the next and going back and forth between the two and I still do nori every now then. I always feel bad though on the day it's just pellets since I have a few fish that only eat the mysis. However I have a high pod and mysid shrimp population and all my fish are pretty fat so I'm sure they are ok.

Ya sounds like your fine then. I wouldn't worry too much as long as your fish keep their weight on. I find they loose weight fast if you are underfeeding.

[Funky_Fish14]

To think that its possible for a fish to gorge itself to death in captivity, even with the heaviest of feedings (which is simply a 2 minute all you can eat buffet 3 or 4 times a day), I think is ureasonable.

Fish spend almost their entire time in the wild foraging or seeking out food, eating. Nothing stops them from eating, and certainly many fish can find food in excess, so if they were going to blow, they probably would. Since they spend so much time doing so, and do so even in our tanks... I dont think that any amount of feeding or 'fatness' would really cause a fish's demise. The only exception I can think of, its feeding some sort of large mouthed fish (such as a lion or frogfish) something much too large and unreasonable... but this is far from an average scenario.

IMO - Cant feed a fish too much, only thing you can do is 'blow up your skimmer'. Lol.

Chris

[Leah]

Good to hear this! My yellow tang is super thin and I thought I fed alot. On the other
hand my hippo is just that a HIPPO. I would love to catch the yellow and put him in my
fish only tank, so he can eat till his heart is content. I feed frozen daily and nori daily
and flakes as well. But out of curiosity what pellets are you feeding? I think I have spoiled my fish as they do not seem to like any pellets. That is once they hit the ground,
maybe it is the wrong pellet food.
If only he would listen when I tell him he could have a home without the hippo tagging
along side him. My hippo has a strange bond with my yellow tang.
But I am pretty sure the yellow tang see's it totally differently.

[fishoholic]

Originally Posted by Leah

Good to hear this! My yellow tang is super thin and I thought I fed alot. On the other
hand my hippo is just that a HIPPO. I would love to catch the yellow and put him in my
fish only tank, so he can eat till his heart is content. I feed frozen daily and nori daily
and flakes as well. But out of curiosity what pellets are you feeding? I think I have spoiled my fish as they do not seem to like any pellets. That is once they hit the ground,
maybe it is the wrong pellet food.
If only he would listen when I tell him he could have a home without the hippo tagging
along side him. My hippo has a strange bond with my yellow tang.
But I am pretty sure the yellow tang see's it totally differently.

I feed "New Life Spectrum Marine Fish Formula" 1mm sinking pellets. With the exception of a few of my fish (cleaner wrasse, CBB, clown tang and sometimes my bursa trigger) they all seem to really like them.