Night Feeding

[MattE]

I was wondering if anyone feeds juvies at night (lights out). My fish like to graze while the lights are off. Is it ok to feed them around the clock? Will it optimize their growth or just create more poop?

[Orange Crush]

Food=poop no matter when you feed it.

[Brent1972]

I'm going to get a auto-feeder so I can do the same, I think it will help with growth.

[MattE]

Food=poop no matter when you feed it.

I kind of assumed that based on my own personal experience. Just wondering if night food= night poop=night growth

[Skip]

andrew soh recommending feeding 4-5 times per day.. starting 6-7am.. last one at 10 pm..

its the intervals between the feeding that is important..

feeding between at night with lights off or moonlight on.. probably unnecessary.. just keep up regular feedings and water changes.. and hope your fish have good genetics

[DiscusDrew]

I agree with skip, unnecessary to feed in the evening as the fish should be resting, possibly growing but not actively searching for food. I've tried it to see the response and it takes a while for the food to disappear because essentially your waking them all up to eat it seems. JME, I think if your feeding 5 times a day and a varied diet you should be getting plenty of growth.

[MattE]

Soh would know, thanks for the tip . Not going to create extra work for myself if I dont have to.

[Skip]

Soh would know, thanks for the tip . Not going to create extra work for myself if I dont have to.

he did experiment on intervals.. with fish from same spawn and same foods..

but time intervals were different..

the 10pm feeding seemed to have made the difference..

[MattE]

he did experiment on intervals.. with fish from same spawn and same foods..

but time intervals were different..

the 10pm feeding seemed to have made the difference..

going to have to get his books, I know IGO sells them

[Orange Crush]

I kind of assumed that based on my own personal experience. Just wondering if night food= night poop=night growth

Not sure about fish but with humans eating to close to bedtime results in food being directly converted to fat rather than metabiloized for nutrients.
People associate food with growth but another important part to growth and health is getting enough sleep/rest. This is when the body repairs itself. Studies are now showing that you are more likely to die younger, have a heart attack and even get diabetes if you do not get enough uninterupted sleep each night. You also cannot "catch up" on sleep (i.e. you need 8 hours each night not 6 hours one night and then try and make up for it by getting 10 hours the next night. You missed out on 2 hours of healing the first night, you cannot get that back).
Fish may be different but since they were designed to get sleep/rest there must be a good reason for it. So I would not inturrupt it for another feeding.

[Eddie]

Not sure about fish but with humans eating to close to bedtime results in food being directly converted to fat rather than metabiloized for nutrients.
People associate food with growth but another important part to growth and health is getting enough sleep/rest. This is when the body repairs itself. Studies are now showing that you are more likely to die younger, have a heart attack and even get diabetes if you do not get enough uninterupted sleep each night. You also cannot "catch up" on sleep (i.e. you need 8 hours each night not 6 hours one night and then try and make up for it by getting 10 hours the next night. You missed out on 2 hours of healing the first night, you cannot get that back).
Fish may be different but since they were designed to get sleep/rest there must be a good reason for it. So I would not inturrupt it for another feeding.

Totally off topic from discus but you should read up on Intermittent fasting. It's a method of eating that bodybuilder's use that actually involves ONLY eating at night, doesn't matter what you eat as long as your don't exceed your BMR.

[Orange Crush]

Totally off topic from discus but you should read up on Intermittent fasting. It's a method of eating that bodybuilder's use that actually involves ONLY eating at night, doesn't matter what you eat as long as your don't exceed your BMR.

From a journal article I have from school....although all restricted diets decrease body weight, intermittent feeding did not decrease intra-abdominal adiposity. Short-term calorie restriction and intermittent feeding presented similar results relative to glucose tolerance. Surprisingly, long-term intermittent feeding promoted glucose intolerance, without a loss in insulin receptor phosphorylation. Intermittent feeding substantially increased insulin receptor nitration in both intra-abdominal adipose tissue and muscle, a modification associated with receptor inactivation. All restricted diets enhanced nitric oxide synthase levels in the insulin-responsive adipose tissue and skeletal muscle. However, whereas calorie restriction improved tissue redox state, food restriction and intermittent feedings did not. In fact, long-term intermittent feeding resulted in largely enhanced tissue release of oxidants. Overall, our results show that restricted diets are significantly different in their effects on glucose tolerance and redox state when adopted long-term. Furthermore, we show that intermittent feeding can lead to oxidative insulin receptor inactivation and glucose intolerance.

Sorry for getting off topic I was trying to relate how I though there was a possibility that feeding fish at night was a bad idea based on what I understood of human nutrition. Lets get back to the subject at hand. Sorry MattE