What's considered overfeeding?

I feed 3 to 4 times daily, mix of 4 types of pellets, flakes and frozen. The fishes finish everything i feed so there is no leftovers, i want to keep them healthy, is this considered overfeeding? my nitrates are rather high, at 15ppm, but that's because my source water has 10ppm nitrates in it, ( gotta fix that soon ) :-/

 

well that extra 5 could be from feeding.. i feed my fish only once a day. ( and sometimes i think is overfeeding)

i think the rule of thumb is feed and see what they can eat for 3 minutes and remove the rest of the food. IMO you are overfeeding big time..

what i dont understand is how is it that you even have 15ppm? i thought after the cycle you were supposed to have 0 anyway. Top offs shouldt have caused that much of a problem since the beneficial bacteria after the cycle should be able to remove it? ( dont quote me on this one, im not 100% positive)

 

erm, each session of feeding last less than a minute! i throw in a few pellets at a time, when they finish i'll keep throwing, until they start to spit and i'll stop.

 

I have been feeding once a day in the evening (That is excessive in my opinion) As soon as my tank gets a little older I will cut back to feeding once every other day. Before I changed tanks I fed every 2-3 days max.

 

Its not just what they are eating its also what they are putting out LOL

 

Does the fishes eat that little in the wild? wouldn't that be cruel to the animals to starve them? :-[

 

IMO you aren't overfeeding. I feed small amounts 2-4 times a day pellets, flake and frozen alsorted shrimp. They only get a very small amount at a time and each feeding is spaced over at least a couple of hours; I feed before I go to work 08:00 then again when I get home 17:30 then again at 19:30 and again at around 09:30.
If I have a day off then I will feed them at around lunch time also 13:00.

All my fish are looking healthy, they are constantly spawning every 2-3 weeks. I also have a very efficient clean up crew which is vital.

 

When your tank is established it will grow food for them to eat. My fish are always pecking and eating things growing on the rocks/glass. Thats why you dont need to feed everyday in an established tank as long as you dont overstock

 

Feeding fish every 2-3 days IMO and IME is cruel, and extremely unnatural. You might get away with it in a very established tank but it still isn't ideal for your fish.

 

true true, my tank is rather new one and half months, i'll cut back feeding when it reaches the 3 month mark ;D