Collard Greens or not?

[Aqua Man]

My local aquarium store told me I could feed my fish collard greens instead of the red or green algae/seaweed. Any thoughts? They love the collard greens, but does it have the nutrition they need? I also give then TetraMarine flakes and Formula one. All of them, go really go after. I have a Regal Tang, Sail Fin Tang, Clown Fish, Foxface and a small damsel.

Thanks !!!

[inwall75]

I've done it several times. Collard greens are MUCH more nutritious to use than iceberg lettuce. I would assume that would apply to fish as well. I can't help you with long term usage though.

[Ninong]

Collard greens, romaine lettuce, broccoli and green peas have all been used as fish food but marine algae is better. The cellular structure in these terrestrial plants is not easily digested and the fish do not get as much nutrition as they would from marine algae. Each species of fish is adapted to its natural diet and that's the diet it will do best with. Oftentimes the stomach bacteria are not capable of dealing with anything other than their natural food items. Even in cases where the fish does eat these substitute foods, it may or may not receive much benefit. Some fish actually die of malnutrition even though they are eating what the aquarist feeds them.

This is not to say that you should never feed any of these things to your fish, only that it should be an occasional food item and not their main diet. Broccoli is reported to be beneficial in curing head and lateral line erosion (HLLE).

[BubbaWPB]

I prefer to feed my fish with the natural diet sorta thing... I also know lots of people who feed lettuce and other terrestrial vegetables to their vegetarian and omnivore fish without any adverse incidents.

I also notice that many of the same people (many of them published) that say to avoid feeding lettuce because it's not a natural part of the fishes' diet, are some of the same ones who later say to feed your fish garlic. Go figure.

[CSeaSee]

I also notice that many of the same people (many of them published) that say to avoid feeding lettuce because it's not a natural part of the fishes' diet, are some of the same ones who later say to feed your fish garlic. Go figure.

That's a very good point! I never even thought about that before. Is there any definitive research about the effects of garlic, anyone?

[Ninong]

I prefer to feed my fish with the natural diet sorta thing... I also know lots of people who feed lettuce and other terrestrial vegetables to their vegetarian and omnivore fish without any adverse incidents.

The only "adverse" effect is that these foods are not as easily digested as marine algae. A lot of it just passes through and the fish don't get as much nutrition from the same mass of these foods as they would from marine algae.

I also notice that many of the same people (many of them published) that say to avoid feeding lettuce because it's not a natural part of the fishes' diet, are some of the same ones who later say to feed your fish garlic. Go figure.

Garlic is NEVER fed as a "food item" per se; it's used as a prophylactic against ectoparasites. Even when it is added in extract form to commercial flake foods, it's added because of it's reputation as a possible prophylactic, not for its nutritional properties.

[Ninong]

That's a very good point! I never even thought about that before. Is there any definitive research about the effects of garlic, anyone?

There is a lot of research on the effects of garlic. Unfortunately none of it is related to its effects on aquatic biota.

The idea of feeding garlic to fish infected with Cryptocaryon irritans has been around for the past few years. At least two articles, possibly more, have appeared on the reefkeeping bulletin boards that discussed this possibility in detail. The manufacturers of commercial fish foods have jumped on the bandwagon by adding garlic extract to their fish food. Ocean Nutrition's Formula Two flake food now boasts 2% garlic.

Whether the fish can actually consume enough of the active ingredient (allium) in garlic to have an effect on C. irritans is an open question. Current opinion is that the garlic must be fresh and that the fish must actually eat it in considerable quantities for it to have a systemic effect. Whether this is even possible is another open question.

However, there are other possibilities at work here. It is possible that adding fresh garlic to the tank has an effect on the parasites directly. It might cause them to become disoriented and unable to locate a host fish.

Perhaps eating garlic causes a fish to give off an "odor" that is unattractive to the parasite. Seriously! Maybe it has a discernable effect on the fish's mucous coating that repels the parasites???

I'm not claiming that garlic cures ich. What I am saying is that it has been reported by many hobbyists as having a beneficial effect. Some people have reported that their ich problem disappeared after feeding garlic to their fish for a few weeks. This has been true for me personally. About a year ago I purchased a Centropyge bispinosa and added it to my reef aquarium without a period in quarantine. I observed it carefully for at least 15 minutes in the LFS before buying it. I did not see any signs of ich or any other potential problems. Within a few days of adding this fish to my tank, I noticed that it and both of my fairy wrasses had several white specs on their bodies. It was definitely ich!

I began adding about 1/4 tsp of finely minced fresh garlic to my regular fish food. I simply chopped it up as fine as possible and added it to a 1/2 cup of tankwater with the fish's usual food -- frozen and flake. I allowed this to marinate for about 15 minutes before feeding all of it to the tank. The fish all seemed to eat the garlic just as they would any regular food. Within about a week to ten days, there were no more signs of ich anywhere. I continued feeding garlic for another week.

About a week after I stopped feeding garlic, I noticed a few spots of ich on one of my wrasses. I immediately resumed feeding freshly chopped garlic twice a day and continued this for a full five weeks. The ich has not returned and all of my fish survived without any problems. That was about a year ago.

Here are a few things I need to point out. In my case, I began the garlic remedy immediately. This is an important point to remember. It may not work if you wait until your fish are in dire straights and ich has been obvious for a week or more. Another thing I feel I should repeat is that I used freshly minced garlic. I chopped up a new garlic clove each time. Also, this is not a foolproof method. The only certain way to eliminate ich from an aquarium is to remove all fish from the tank and allow the tank to remain fallow (fishless) for four to six weeks. Obviously I stopped feeding garlic too soon the first time. The parasite was continuing its life cycle even though I didn't spot the theronts. It only takes one successful attachment to keep things going.

[Ninong]

Here is an interesting thread on Reef Central on this topic: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...ghlight=garlic

Pay particular attention to Henry's (hcs3) comments and Horge's comments. Both of them have written articles on this subject. In fact, Horge posted his article right here on Reefland in 2001 but I can't find it now because when I search his board name the dumb board tells me that the last time he was on the board was Dec. 31, 1969. http://www.reefland.com/forum/members/horge.html

In spite of the fact that Horge has 70 posts, including the garlic thread that he started himself, the board can't find any of his posts. I guess they were all lost in one of the early software "upgrades."

P.S. -- I'll ask Scott if he knows how to find those posts???