What too feed my fish????

[JoshsReef]

Well my 75 gallon is almost cycled and i plan on starting to introduce my first fish and inverts here in the next few weeks. Before i buy any fish I plan on having a diverse supply of food on hand so when i get fish i can mix up what i feed them.
What i was planning on buying was:

Ocean Nutrition Formula 1
Ocean Nutrition Formula 2
Spirulina Flakes
Brine Shrimp Flakes
Freeze dried bloodworms
Freeze dried cyclop eeze
green algae seaweed selects
vita chem

I plan on using formula 1 as the staple diet throwing a little formula 2 in with it once or twice a day. feeding with brine flakes every other day, spirulina every other day, bloodworms once or twice a week. and having seaweeds selects available every two or three days. I plan on using the cyclop eeze every few days for the crabs and other inverts. I was going to use the vita chem as a way to introduce vitamins into my tank by maybe puting a few drops on my flake food a couple times a week.

Does this sound about right. Should i mix my feeding up like and feed two to three times a day in small portions. I also plan on introducing frozen food as well and maybe live brine shrimp once or twice a month as well.
Any advice would greatly be appreciated.

Oh my anticipated stocking list is and was as follows: As far as the fish are concerned this is the order in which i will introduce them and obviously they will not all be introduced at once. Are any of the foods that i plan on buying only good for paticular fish or will all fish eat all foods.

Thanks guys

2 percula clowns
3 blue green chromis
5 bangii cardinals
1 blue hippo tang
1 yellow tang
1 sixline wrasse
numerous crabs, snails, other inverts

 

[TCTFish]

That's a nice menu. What I would do is mix a bit of all in there per feed so each can grab what they want. But careful not to over feed. Most of these fish graze all day long. Feeding schedules for most SW are best to apporach with five minutes worth of food per day, but divided into several feeds. Skip a day or two out of the week to let the critters and the fish eat left overs and they can find other food for those days along the rocks too.

Just to let you know, eventually a 75 gallon tank will become too small for the tangs.

 

[MT79]

That sounds pretty good. The only things I might suggest feeding wise are to offer nori/algae sheets daily for a tang, and adding Selcon to the diet. It's high in HUFA's and vitamin B and C.
Stocking wise I would highly suggest considering just a yellow tang. Believe it or not blue hippos are more sensitive, and will likely outgrow a 75 gal. Keeping two tangs, long term, in a 75 gal is just not feasible. The only tang most hobbiest would recommend for anything under 100 gal is a yellow tang (Zebrasoma flavescens). The general rule of thumb is approx. 1" of adult fish per 5 gal of water to avoid water quality issues(ie ammonia, nitrite, excessive nitrate, etc.). 5 Cardinals, w/ the other fish will be a bit much.

HTH

 

[ezy33]

While dry foods are a great staple, fresh food like shrimp and seaweed/lettuce will add variety and nutrition.

 

[TCTFish]

Ooo...purple seaweed!! It seems to provide proteins green seaweeds lack and in my observations, also seems to help prevent lateral line...a condition well known in tangs that is suspected to be nutrition related (or actually the lack of).

 

[chase33]

Based on the food purchased, the food suggested, and the fish he has, can anyone suggest a weekly regimen. Other than mixing it all together, what should he feed each day?

 

[TCTFish]

Based on the food purchased, the food suggested, and the fish he has, can anyone suggest a weekly regimen. Other than mixing it all together, what should he feed each day?

Already have Chase...

"Feeding schedules for most SW are best to apporach with five minutes worth of food per day, but divided into several feeds. Skip a day or two out of the week to let the critters and the fish eat left overs and they can find other food for those days along the rocks too."

 

[roka64]

You may want to skip the flakes (flake tends to have/produce lots of nitrAtes). I also like to soak my frozen in garlic guard, selcon and zoe for extra nutrition.

 

[MACATUA]

I like Fromula One and Two because it comes in HUGE flakes, and the fish seem to eat the whole flake and not leave a lot behind, thereby taking care of overfeeding and nitrate problems. That way you have a good easy flake food to feed.

My best experience with feeding is to keep a small tupperware, and 4-5 days a week put a bit of frozen, some flake, and whatever else you want and let the frozen melt together with the flake and put some Zoe or Selcon with it. Then just dump it in and let them go to town.

 

[Innovator]

I will go ahead and relay some thoughts even though Josh already knows of them. As some might have already mentioned, a variety of nutritional foods are highly important. It is just as important to feed the correct variety of foods available to marine fish and invertebrates. This reasoning allows organisms to pick and choose what they want to eat, binds food so they consume more than a single ingredient, and keeps the animals from getting bored of the same offerings day in and day out. Frozen foods do tend to have a higher nutritional value than that of dry foods, which the latter is often lost in processing.

In regards to your list I would omit the following: bloodworms and brine shrimp. Some freshwater foods, IMO/IME, do not retain the proper nutrients essential to keeping healthy marine stock. Brine shrimp are virtually void of nutritional value unless they are enriched with a vitamin supplement or they are freshly hatched nauplii. Since you will be adding a vitamin supplement to your foods there would be no point in feeding brine shrimp or bloodworms other than an occasional treat.

Formula 1 consists of more meatier fare than Formula 2. Even though you do have some tangs planned I would be more inclined to purchase Formula 1, which does contain some algae, because you plan on feeding Seaweed Selects or Nori and Spirulina as well. Spirulina is a wonderful food item, but I do prefer powders because foods tend to absorb it better than possibly losing it in the water column such as in a flake variety. Once again, frozen Cyclop-Eeze retains more nutritional value than that of freeze-dried. Others including myself have noticed annoyances in freeze-dried foods not sinking well either. I also prefer Selco over Vita-Chem, but that is personal preference.

Cost efficiency-wise, creating your own "food mix" from a fresh market or combination of and freezing would keep you well stocked in fish food for months. It can be messy, but worth its weight in high nutritional value and variety. Other retail foods I recommend are frozen AquaYums Clams, Squid, Krill and P.E. Mysis. If you would like to choose a dry food, pick a flake that is low in phosphorous; however, pelleted is nutrient dense and retains their nutrition longer in water compared to flake.

...just my thoughts.

 

[TCTFish]

IME, supermarket fish for human consumption carries risks of pathogens not associated with prepared fish food for aquarium fish. Reason being is, because fish for human consumption are not treated for pathogens like many aquarium fish foods are. Most human seafood gets cooked and pathogens die. Fresh raw seafood is the risk. If you take this route in feeding your fish, keep it minimal...maybe even cook it a little and definitely soak it in garlic. I personally avoid human seafood for aquarium fish. Yes...it's a wallet saver (I've done it myself), but the risk, if it were to happen can be much more costly.

roka64...do your cats know mine??? LOL...

 

[Innovator]

My apologies for not specifying that fresh market implies non-supermarket such as a fresh asian market where food is generally untainted, unspoiled, and nutrient preserved. There are many food grade companies also providing fresh and/or frozen orders in bulk.

 

[Balonie]

Innovator. I am curious as to what you mix for you fresh market combo. THX Baonie