Confused about feeding...

I started my tank back in September and I realized in November I jumped into too quick, so I've slowed down and gotten on the research train. Also I had to move my tank (successfully!)

Anyway, I've been looking at the fish I want to add to my tank and done my research on feeding. I've read a lot of different theories on feeding: once a day, a couple of small meals everyday, every other day etc. My question is currently I feed a frozen cube every other day and I have this ON gel drop stuff that I drop in on the non cube days. I'm looking at a butterfly fish (mostly Pakistan Butteryfly) but it says they need to be fed several times a day?

Now what I'm thinking is won't that lead to overfeeding for the other fish? and leading to bristle worms and cynobacteria? Or is it one of those things where as long as the fish are happy and they're eating the food in there it's okay?

 

i feed a mash of different fish, cyclopeeze, shrimp, with vitamins a few times a day..if they are swimming around the top then i put just a little..like so little that nothing makes it to the bottom..

 

I don't know that particular fishes needs, but I have seen a couple of the fish that I have in my tank on online retailers...the info they give is to feed multiple meals a day. I feed every other day, and all my inhabitants are fat, happy and have great coloring. I'm not saying that the Butterfly you are researching will succeed the same way, however, Anthias and Dragonets are the ones I know of for a fact that need daily feedings.

 

How often you feed is going to be driven by the species that you keep. Because I have anthias, I feed the big tank 3 times a day. There are a lot of other species that require this. On the other hand, I only feed the predator tank every 3 days.

 

i believe that it is usually the herbivores that need the more frequent feedings........on a different subject, how does one know if a fish is "happy"? Do you ask them?

 

I regularly converse with my fish!

 

enough said.