Feeding time problem

[dingusplease]

Hi all,

I have a problem with feeding my clown goby (and my shrimp.) Whenever I try to use a turkey baster to feed my fish (Julius, as I named him), the shrimp (Pierre) goes berserk. He will literally climb halfway inside the turkey baster and pick every last bit of food out (how does he eat all that!?) How can I feed my fish without Pierre getting in the way? Pierre should have enough food just with the hair algae that was introduced on the new coral frags, the aiptasia, and any detritus hat falls off.

Thanks for any advice!

 

[bribo12]

Shrimp don't eat algae or aiptasia or detritus. They need food like your fish do. I'd shoot some into a corner then when he goes after that feed your other fish.

 

[dingusplease]

Oh, that's cool. Didn't know that, but I'm glad to know why he goes crazy during feeding! He's a peppermint shrimp, so is it a possibility that he eats the remaining aiptasia? I know that it couldn't be his main diet, but I've read that these guys will sometimes help with small aiptasia problems.

 

[bribo12]

Oh sorry yes peppermints are hit or miss for aiptasia. I thought you had a cleaner shrimp lol. My bad. He may eat it but if he is getting food from you I doubt he will.

 

[dingusplease]

Thanks for the help, my peppermint ate all my aiptasia yesterday or at least I think he did... the aiptasia is gone.

 

[dingusplease]

He still gets lots of food from me, but maybe he decided the aiptasia looked yummy.

 

[Mebbid]

Try giving him a large piece of food that will take him a while to eat. Either a bottom feeder wafer or a piece of shrimp. That will generally keep them occupied long enough to feed everything else.