My feeding style technique - good, bad or plain gross?

[Dr. Dai Phan]

Hello saltwater aquarists,

Everyday I feed my fish twice daily. After giving the fish with flakes, I give them seafood including cooked beef, pork, chicken and my fish love them! First I chew a piece of raw sushi or cooked meat then I spit into the tank. My good "choppers" (I am a dentist BTW) break the food down to small portions so they got dispersed all over the tank for the corals, the shrimps, the snails, the crabs to all have chance to get the food. I must say that I don't hogg it all up but split out only the chewed portion. I know it grossed one of my guests out but I think it is a very effective food delivery system. Any thoughts? DP

[asudavew]

I gotta go with gross on this one Doc.

[Kurt_Nelson]

First... I'm not quite sure how you can call beef, chicken, and pork "seafood". Guess my definition of seafood kinda involves it coming from the sea. I'm no fish nutritionist, but I'd guess that the best food for them would be the foods they naturally eat. And I've never seen a tropical fish take down a cow and gulp it down.

Regarding prechewing the food and spitting it out... kinda gross, but not much different than what the fish do at times. Only thing I'd be concerned about is introducing whatever bacteria, fungii, viruses, etc that you may be harboring in your mouth. While there's plenty of bacteria already in the tank and on the corals, the ones from your mouth would be pretty foreign in that environment. Personally, I try to keep my tank as clean as possible from outside contamination.

[Dr. Dai Phan]

For something I do not understand, my foxface loves spicy chicken wings! He ignores the teriyaki but loves the nuclear or atomic type. Thank goodness I love eating hot food or else I may need my dog to help me chew on that one. I know fish loves garlic so perhaps he is so drawn to it? Also he loves to eat lettuce and one huge leaf will be gone in a day! Maybe he needs help after eating the extra hot chicken wing huh? DP

[thincat]

Doc, in the long run you are killing your fish. the land animal proteins are much to complex for fish and corals to digest. It has to much of the wrong fatty acids and will damage their liver and kidneys. Why are you feeding them human food? The lettuce is great for the foxface but Terriyaki.....save that for your "HUMAN" guest!!!!!!

[Dr. Dai Phan]

Originally Posted by thincat

Doc, in the long run you are killing your fish. the land animal proteins are much to complex for fish and corals to digest. It has to much of the wrong fatty acids and will damage their liver and kidneys. Why are you feeding them human food? The lettuce is great for the foxface but Terriyaki.....save that for your "HUMAN" guest!!!!!!

When I give them I give in a very small portion. The purpose is to disperse the meaty food for the crabs and shrimps on the bottom. I only do it in very tiny bits. But you are right, it is not a good idea to give them something that is not encountered in the wild. Thanks for the suggestion. DP

[WhiskeyD]

You feed your fish chewed up hot wings? hahaha

[CaptainAhab]

I vote for a thread sticky. I can't tell you HOW many times I've had to read this same topic being asked/posted over and over again.

[Dr. Dai Phan]

Originally Posted by WhiskeyD

You feed your fish chewed up hot wings? hahaha

And more... hot dogs, ribeye steak, chicken McNuggets, french fries, bread, pizza, eggs, veal, pork chops, lamb, goat, quail and more. Remember that everything in moderation is good. DP

[Kurt_Nelson]

Wow. Just when you think you've heard it all...

They're fish, not a garbage disposal.

[CaptainAhab]

I have this vision I just can't get out of my head. I'll never sleep tonight, maybe never.

[Dr. Dai Phan]

Oh BTW, if you want to congregate all your fish, snails, crabs, shrimps out of their nooks and cranies into one place, you know what works best for me? Beef ribs. Just make sure you have some meat on the bone and they will hover together like a swamp of bees over honeycomb. DP

[Kurt_Nelson]

Uhuh.

Mental note to self: remember this thread when original poster asks why water quality is bad and corals seems to be withering.

[thincat]

Well, It might be a late april fools joke

[ElwoodPDowd]

That's so weird! I chew my fish and serve them to guests! We should swap notes.

[Innovator]

To take a more serious approach, I doubt the stomach acids are able to break down the various food contents thus causing more stress on their internal organs. If you would like to take notes, my personal method of feeding fish involves target training where an animal is confined to a given feeding station. Once the animal is restrained in a holding container it is grasped and held to my lips where I begin to regurgitate a past meal, passing the broken down nutrients to the fish. This is a far superior aspect of feeding encouraging a properly varied diet that can be gently processed and maintain healthy internal organ functioning. My only warning is to be wary of pufferfish since over-regurgitation can cause a slight influx of proteins where the body begins to "puff up."

[mtnhomedude]

I'll have some of what the Good Doc is having!!!

[divedeep1689]

ah ah ah huh lol and i thought i was crazy when i started slicing up shrimp from the grocery store lol well at least that is seafood :P huh it never ends to hear odd things on this site lol i bet those fish think they found the buffet lol

[WhiskeyD]

Dr - I would love to see a video of you feeding your fish these "exotic" foods. It would be very interesting!

[Kurt_Nelson]

Originally Posted by Innovator

...My only warning is to be wary of pufferfish since over-regurgitation can cause a slight influx of proteins where the body begins to "puff up."

Is that regurgitating chewed up pufferfish, or regurgitating TO a pufferfish. I'm kinda confused. And if my lips begin to tingle while chewing the pufferfish the first time, should I be concerned that "Fred", the sushi chef, said that this was the first time he tried to prepare fugu?