Feeding Question

[tech1]

Howdy all. I have some clowns and a couple of tangs. I usually feed every other day. What are your normal feeding times? I want to make sure the tangs get enough to eat.

thanks

[kevinpo]

It really depends on the size and maturity of your tank. In a large tank with lots of micro and macro algae you never need to feed your tangs. Most home aquaria do not have this condition so tangs need to be fed. In nature they feed almost continually. In order to make them act as natural as possible you need to provide them with a constant supply of food. letting algae grow on the back of the tank can accomplish this as well as using a clip with seaweed such as Nori attached.

Tangs will often pace the glass if they do not have enough grazing area or food.

Clown fish also can be fed once a day if they can also find pods to eat. For the first 10-15 min after the lights come on there are usually tons of pods caught out in the open. Clowns will learn to wake up early/quickly to catch them. I never feed flake food and only add food fast enough so every piece is eaten. I do this twice a day because I have fish that require it (yours may not).

For clowns to breed and lay eggs regularlyand sucessfully they need to be well fed (look fat).

HTH,
Kevin

[tech1]

If seaweed is left in the aquarium for an extended time, should i worry about cloudiness?

[Bughead]

Fresh seaweed won't cause cloudiness, but may become slimy after several days if not eaten. If there's any dried seaweed left after 24 hours, remove it, same goes for the fresh. If feeding of anything causes cloudiness for more than a half hour, that's your clue that you've fed wwwaaaaaayyy to much. The addition of suppliments such as Selcon can cause a little haze for awhile, but it will clear up quickly.

[tech1]

if I use dried seaweed and leave it in the tank for an extended time, will the ammonia increase? thanks

[Bughead]

If your tank is cycled, as it very well should be by the time you start adding fish, any left over food will be biologically processed through the system. So, No, you will not get an ammonia spike. Usually what happens when there is an excess of nutrients from, say, overfeeding, is you get high nitrates, phosphates and a whole lots of unwanted hair algae. But no ammonia spikes.