Am i underfeeding?

[eddiedellz]

I have 2 colwns 2 damsils 2 shimp and a coral beauty i feed them half a cube of frozen food evey other day they are in a 65 gal tank they seem to not really get any bigger ive had them for around a year is there someting im doing wrong or is it normal? i dont really care if they get bigger im just concernd helth wise i was thinking about feeding them flake on the days that i dont feed them frozen what do you guys think?

 

[tecwzrd]

I have about the same fish/invert load and feed about one cube every other day but cut it up into 3 pieces and feed in the morning, when I come home, and before lights out. I also let them soak in selcon & Kent’s Garlic Xtreme which I would also recommend if you are concerned for their health.

Since you have been doing this for a year they obviously are getting enough to survive. All the fish you mentioned do grow fairly slowly though and only reach around 2”-4” max length so with an average lifespan of 5+ years each fish should only grow about ¼” to ½” a year which would be barely noticeable anyways.

Keep in mind that flake is higher in protein than frozen so use smaller amounts to avoid fouling your tank. I use Ocean Nutrition Formula One Flake Food in addition to frozen personally.

 

[melosu58]

I would not feed every day. Many of the algea problems that people have on this site are due to overfeeding. I dont see where it would hurt to give whole cube every other day. I know the fish act very hungry but they will be OK. Been feeding every other day in my tank for over eightyears in my tank with no problems so you will be OK

 

[Drzy]

I hate to just echo a topic when it sounds like you've already covered it, but now I'm pretty concerned. I've been feeding two cubes and a tiny smattering of flakes each day to this:

1 yellow tang
1 blue koran angel (he's temporary)
1 clownfish
1 bicolor angel
1 sixline wrasse
1 cleaner shrimp, 1 hermit crab, 2 margarita snails

Am I feeding waaay too much? What should I feed instead? I've had the tank about a month and a half, so I'm definitely still a newb. I've been very lucky to avoid any problems.

 

[tecwzrd]

Am I feeding waaay too much?

It’s all relative to the size of your 5 fish and how quickly they consume the food. If your fish eat everything within 2-4 minutes and very little is wasted or just sits on the bottom then its fine.

If you notice that after a couple of minutes they lack interest and it just blows around till the filter sucks it up or sits on the bottom then it’s probably too much food. With only 1 cleaner shrimp and 1 hermit they aren’t likely to get all the leftovers so it could just build up on the bottom or in your filter and break down leading to higher nh3/no2/no3 readings. I would try to feed every other day for a couple of weeks and see how they do. An undernourished fish is not that hard to spot. If you see them thinning out then feed a little more.

Do you dissolve the frozen before adding in some aquarium water or just drop the whole cube in? What your feeding sounds ok but I would also provide nori daily (seaweed) on a clip to your tang as well. About a 2X2 sheet depending on size.

 

[Drzy]

The feed disappears pretty well, largely thanks to Fonzie (the tang) who was apparently cross-bred with a Hoover. I have a lot of live rock the food gets caught on, maybe I'll pick up another shrimp on the way home today.

I do dissolve the cube before putting it in. This is the first I've heard of nori daily seaweed, I'll definitely look into that. Thanks!

 

[tecwzrd]

My yellow tang also loves the frozen but in the wild they are mostly Herbivores. Fish in captivity are limited to only what we feed them or what they can graze off of the lr. I’m sure your tang will still go after the frozen but will eventually just eat the nori mostly. Just make sure to remove it after a couple of hours if not fully eaten to keep from fouling up the tank. Also try to keep the size fairly small, if you put longer/larger pieces the tang usually just rips them off the clip to sink to the bottom.

You can buy it from an Asian food store locally. (the kind that’s used to wrap sushi) Your lfs might have it. Or you can order online.