Feeding Techniques

[Ximat]

I currently only have two fish in my tank, a Sleeper Goby and a Firefish. I am only feeding them Frozen Brine Shrimp at the moment. My question is, should I be thawing out the chunks or no?

 

[electrikat]

You should but they will eat it anyway. You should be thawing it in a cup of water and straining it to get rid of the water. It can cause problems with your water quality.

 

[RMPD109]

I have heard brine shrimp described as fish junk food. It has little benefits to the fish and should be used as a treat not as a regular diet.

You can thaw frozen foods in a small cup of tank water and like Kat said drain off excess liquids before adding to the tank.

 

[Ximat]

RMPD, can you point me in the direction of a nice healthy diet? As I said previously I have a firefish and sleeper goby, next will probably be two perculas.

TIA

 

[RMPD109]

mysid shrimp will give a better meal and a good flake would be fine for the firefish.

 

[Joemama16341]

don't just throw the frozen food block into the tank it can damage the fishes gills. I put mine into a cup and let it melt in water then pour it into the tank. I also feed tropical flacks and pellets in small amounts

 

[jaiden]

variety is good. brine is not bad, it just shouldn't be the only thing. Mysis is better. My clown loves mysis.

 

[midiman]

I put mine into a cup and let it melt in water then pour it into the tank.

Be advised that ,many have reported that the liquid in some frozen foods is LOADED with phosphates, and you're better of NOT adding the liquid from the FF to your tank water.

 

[malkore]

1. fill small cup/dish with tank water
2. drop frozen cube in
3. thaw
4. pour it through brine shrimp net to remove all liquid
5. rinse once in tap water
6. feed individual pinches of food to tank
7. discard leftovers, or feed to another tank

That's how I feed frozen mysis and krill. if its frozen Formula food, I don't rinse it after thawing.

For the record, my 4 fish, 40gallon breeder tank doesn't even consume a whole cube of mysis shrimp...so if you only have 2 fish, don't be feeding a whole cube.

 

[Ximat]

I've only been doing half of the cube.. Just enough that my firefish gets his share, and the rest falls to the bottom and the goby scoops it up. Rarely any left, and i turn down the filters so they don't suck it up.

I will go to the LFS and get some Mysis and flake today.

 

[bluejam]

Do you shut down the powrheads also? I find the food just flys all around the place. BTW, I am very new at this.

 

[revhtree]

I dont shut down the PH's. To me it keeps the food in flying through the water and off the bottom. It gives the fish time to eat it.

PS. We were all very new at this a one time.

 

[Phyl]

I feed my tank Formula 1 (meat version) and Formula 2 (veggie version), Mysis, Cyclopeze, and some pellets that mostly sink to the bottom for the crabs and shrimp. For my tang I hang Nori every other day. I only feed 1/2 a cube of either the 1 or the 2, a tiny corner of the mysis and a pinch of everything else. I put the Formula 1 or 2 in one third at a time into my tank. I generally feed them every other day.

 

[bluejam]

Other than my new clowns, I have 10 small hermits. They have taken care of all algae. What do I feed them? Pellets?

 

[revhtree]

The hermits will eat what is left over and the fish poo!!

 

[Phyl]

I always turn off the filter. I have a wet dry and I don't need any more food than absolutely necessary ending up in my filter media to create nitrates!

 

[lando]

Variety and supplments are the key. I would ditch the brine and switch to krill and mysis. soaking your food in a high quality suppliment like Selcon and Vita-Chem is very important. You might also want to try puting in a little GarlicGualrd or similar product. Along with the meat, feed a good algea bsed food like OSI's Spirulina flakes. You might also want to consider Something with Cyclop-Eeze like MarinePlankton by Liquid Life. Balanced diet+variety=happy and healthy fish with great color. Hopefully Steve S will chime in here, I learned a lot from him about feeding...Lando

 

[BDAWG]

I've been feeding spirulina enriched Brine shrimp and I let it soak in Zoe marine supplement. I feed them flakes every now and then too, is that a good diet for them.

(Except for the Grouper, I feed him Silver Sides soaked in Zoe)

 

[BDAWG]

Bump...

I also have another question. What should you wash Brine shrimp with so they don't contaminate the water, RO/DI water?

 

[lando]

RO/DI is great. If you do not have that, tap will work or distilled.