[haihee]

hi
i am new to marine aquarium. how often should i feed the fish. the range i read ranges from 3 times a day to 10 - 14 days fish can last without food???
who is right.
bestregards

[Samper]

I have four fish, a flame hawk, a neon goby and a pair of spotted cardinals.

In the morning I feed a very small amount of flake food, In the evenings I alternate with brine shrimp, and a brine/formula one mush that I make. Whatever you do don't feed more than your fish will consume in 5 minutes. And no you don't have to feed every day. The only reason I do is because it keeps my flame hawk from being such a bully.

[Ninong]

Hi haihee, welcome to Reefland!

I like to feed my fish at least three times a day.

[Samper]

Ninong,
Is there a specific reason for the 3 feedings a day? I don't think feeding my 20 3 times a day is something I should do would you agree? Just for the sake of knowing, what food are you feeding, what fish are you feeding and how much food at at time?

[Sueet]

Originally Posted by Samper

Ninong,
Is there a specific reason for the 3 feedings a day? I don't think feeding my 20 3 times a day is something I should do would you agree? Just for the sake of knowing, what food are you feeding, what fish are you feeding and how much food at at time?

Just like before, when you split your daily amount in half, same thing, just split it 3 ways... In all actuality, you will probably end up with less waste if you feed more often..... Think of it like this..... Could YOU eat your whole days food in just one 5 minute sitting? No, you would eat til you're full, and then be hungry til the next day came around... multiple feedings for fish basically works out the same way..... They are less 'starved', but will eat more over the course of the whole day than they could in one sitting... as for how much, a little at a time, let their appetites' tell you how much.

[Samper]

sweet sueet.

[Reefland]

Also keep in mind Samper that some fish graze all day. A lot of the time our captive systems don't provide the food for these fish to graze all day so multiple feedings throughout the day is better for them.

[Ninong]

I have five fish in a 120-gal tank: Two Cirrhilabrus scottorum, one C. lineatus, one Pseudochromis fridmani and one Siganus vulpinus. The S. vulpinus is a herbivore that grazes all day long, the three fairy wrasses are planktivores used to feeding on zooplankton all day long and the dottyback is used to feeding all day on microcrustaceans, polycheates & zooplankton in the wild. IMO, feeding smaller amounts several times a day is better for your fish if you can manage it.

[Samper]

Does your Cirrhilabrus lineatus make the cocoon ever?

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by Samper

Does your Cirrhilabrus lineatus make the cocoon ever?

The only time I saw any remnants of a cocoon was in the shipping bag when I first received them. The dominant Scott's sleeps in a foxhole in the sandbed under the rocks at the far left side of the tank and the subordinate Scott's (both are males) sleeps in a foxhole under the rocks at the far right side of the tank. This is not a problem because the rocks are resting on acrylic supports. The Lineatus sleeps somewhere in the right rear of the tank out of sight. I can see both of the Scott's every night but I cannot see the Lineatus. I just know which part of the tank she/he comes out of hiding from. The Lineatus was originally female but she is trying very hard to become a male, which really annoys the dominant Scott's enormously.

All three of the fairy wrasses might be putting up some amount of mucus cocoon at night but I haven't seen any signs of it. Don't read too much into that because there are a lot of things that I don't see in my tank, especially at night.

[Ninong]

I forgot to say what I am feeding. I feed Formula Two flake three times a day because of my Foxface Rabbitfish. The Fairy Wrasses love it, too, and even my Orchid Dottyback likes the new recipe -- the one that contains garlic. He didn't used to eat it before. I feed one cube of frozen every day around 11 a.m. I have so many different varieties it would take forever to list them all. I particularly like the 4-way multi-pack because it has a nice variety: mysis, squid, and two other things. I feed bloodworms (mosquito larvae) maybe once a week for the dottyback. I usually feed freeze dried Cyclop-Eeze in the evening after the metal halides go off but while the PC actinics are still on probably three times a week. I feed D.T.'s phytoplankton two or three times a week in the early afternoon -- for the five Tridacna clams and for the copepods in the live rocks. My gorgonian may be eating that, too, but I'm not sure.

Sometimes I make my own frozen goop but right now I'm out of it. That's because I have so much commercial stuff that I have to use up. Whenever I feel like making homemade food, I just raid the freezer of whatever's in there -- usually shrimp & fish. I cut it into pieces and put the pieces into a little glass bowl. I squirt about a tsp. of Selcon over them and stick them in the refrigerator to marinate for a few hours. If I have any limes, I will squeeze a little lime juice in there too for the vitamin C. Later on I throw that into the blender with maybe a few Tbsp. of R.O./D.I. water and blend it for a few seconds. Then I usually add some freeze dried Cyclop-Eeze and a few large pinches of flake food -- Omega, Formula One, Formula Two, etc. I add enough water to make it soupy and pour it into small zip-lock baggies so that it makes a layer about 1/4" thick when the baggies are lying on their sides. I stick them in the freezer. When I am ready to use it, I just break off whatever amount I want and thaw it out in a cup of tankwater for a couple of minutes before pouring it in the tank.

Most people would say that I overfeed my tank but I really don't. I doubt if any of us really overfeed our tanks. It's just that some tanks can't handle normal feeding and their owners think they must be overfeeding. I have never had any problems like that, no hair algae for instance, because I have this very deep, DSB -- 5.5"-7" (6" average). I have a decent skimmer for the size of my tank but it's nothing spectacular. I would caution anyone setting up a smallish (<200-gal) tank with a fine particle DSB to understand that even though it has many nice benefits, it does restrict the amount of flow you can get away with without turning your tank into a snow globe.

[Sueet]

Originally Posted by Ninong

I feed bloodworms (mosquito larvae)

Hmm..... Do you grow your own or buy them? For instance, if I get busy, and don't refresh the water in my birdbaths for a few days, I inevitably find them seething with mosquito larvae... could I just net the buggers out and make 'em fish food? Would I need to treat them in any way before use, or just rinse? (not talking about selcon, etc...... I mean anything needed to make it safe) ..... How much nutritional value do these have, or are they just 'treats'?

On the snowglobe thing..... well, you're a bit late on that one, lol... My 90 is cycling with a 6ish-7 1/2ish sandbed in it! It's ok though... the truth is, I decided to do a dsb in that particular tank because of its depth... My arms just aren't long enough to reach anywhere near the bottom..... so I brought the bottom up to me It will be kewl anyway, cuz I like watching the critters as much as corals and fish.

[Ninong]

I buy frozen bloodworms. I'm not sure what their nutritional value is for reef fish; they are probably more appropriate for freshwater fish.