To Scoop or Not to Scoop…

[D_Frag]

…that is the question.

Let me know if there’s anything wrong with this.

Lately, I’ve been turning off all circulation in my FO tank for the 3 to 5 minutes that they eat. They seem to like it better. The food floats a lot longer, and consequently, almost none of it sinks to the bottom, unnoticed by the fish. Another benefit of turning off the circulation is that on the occasions where they don’t eat everything, I can take a brine shrimp net and scoop the uneaten (still floating) food out of the tank. This helps keep the water in good shape, but my concern is for the stress levels of the fish. The net scares them, and I do this twice a day (sometimes 3 times). One of my false percula clowns seems to be getting used to this, but I’m not sure. I’ve continued with this practice with the thinking of: “If they see the net in the water twice per day, every day, and it does them no harm, they will get used to it”. If they don’t get used to it, is the 20 seconds of stress twice a day worth the better water conditions?

 

[Salt4Us]

Do you have any crabs, like hermit crabs in your tank? If so they will eat what falls on the bottom.

 

[d9hp]

If they don’t get used to it, is the 20 seconds of stress twice a day worth the better water conditions?

I doubt it will hurt the fish, because they are actually pretty stressed at a lot of little things you do. If you feel that not doing it will make the water less clean, then I would continue with it

 

[D_Frag]

No, no crabs yet. I'm planning on it, but this is a new tank, and I'm trying to add slowly. They will be my next purchase. I'm not expert at judging how much they will eat yet, so about every other time I feed them, I end up giving them too much. (Placing some blame on the fish who aren't here to defend themselves ) 2 of my 3 fish are new to the tank, so they don't really have an eating routine yet. They seem to eat a vastly different amount at each feeding.

 

[Gauge]

Salt4Us has the right idea, I think. I overfeed my tank all the time knowing that my arrow crab and cleaner shrimp will always have the leftovers within about 5 minutes. I used to watch until every piece was eaten, and it never took long. Finally I was convinced that there was no need to watch, and there was NO satiating(sp?) the appetite of my arrow crab.

 

[d9hp]

:? Forgot about crabs, get them and dont worry about it!

 

[fishfreek]

IMO your feeding to much. Cut down to once a day and things will be fine. Fish will get the food off the substrate anyway if it does sink.