Feeding and Foods

[sean_w_mcgrath]

What are some good foods for Carnivores? It seems like there are so many to chose from......it can be a bit overwhelming for beginners! What does everyone recommend? It seems like some popular choices (that are available to me) are:

Brine Shrimp
Mysid Shrimp
Formula One
Formula Two
Cyclop-eeze

Then there is the whole frozen, live, pellet, flake thing.....

There must be some good resources on the different types of foods and advantages of each, and information on shelf life. If anyone can point me in the direction of any of these resources, it would be greatly appreciated.

I don't have a problem buying the 5 different types above assuming they will last long enough and not go bad. Would having those 5 things be a good start?

Thanks.

 

[reefgeek84]

It depends on what you are trying to feed... For fish, I would go with Brine shrimp plus, it has a very wide variety of things in it, to make your fish strong and healthy...it has all the things they need, and my fish love it. You might also think about adding garlic and selcon to your food before you feed. Also alot of people, including me, rinse their food in RO/DI water before feeding, this is said to help phosphates from entering the tank, I do not know if it works, but it is something that is simple to do and better safe then sorry.

I hope this helps.

 

[buldog]

Foods

Foods

Formula II for veggies, Angel Formula for angel fish, Trigger Formula for Triggers. New Life Spectrum Pellets if you want to feed dried foods. They are much easier to feed than frozen, plus the guy that came up New Life Spectrum pellets feeds his 300 plus fish this everyday execusively for the past 7 years and they look great. Dried algae for veggies also. They will really eat anything put into the tank. Should feed 2-3 times daily with light feedings.

 

[reefgeek84]

Re: Foods

Re: Foods

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7053222#post7053222 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by buldog
Formula II for veggies, Angel Formula for angel fish, Trigger Formula for Triggers. New Life Spectrum Pellets if you want to feed dried foods. They are much easier to feed than frozen, plus the guy that came up New Life Spectrum pellets feeds his 300 plus fish this everyday execusively for the past 7 years and they look great. Dried algae for veggies also. They will really eat anything put into the tank. Should feed 2-3 times daily with light feedings.

2-3 times a day that seems very excessive. unless it is for specific fish. I feed every other day, I got this method from most people on here.

 

[NexDog]

Most people have a mix of fish - carnivores, herbivores and omnivores so you have to feed accordingly. I like to spoil my fish but then again I have a great skimmer to assist in the cleanup. I feed every day at 12pm and then again about 8.30pm (PC lights go out at 9.30pm). I feed:

Frozen Mysid
Frozen Brine
Frozen Baby Brine
Formula 1 and 2 Pellet
Plus 4 other types of flake/pellet/granule

I melt/soak the frozen food in Selcon in one cup and soak the other stuff in Selcon in another cup. After 15 minutes I pour the melted frozen food in the other cup, dip it in tank water and give it a good stir. Then I pour 2/3 in the main tank and 1/3 in the QT.

My fish:

1 Yellow Tang
1 Powder Blue
1 Emperor (juv)
1 Coral Beauty
1 Flame Angel
2 Clarkii Clowns
2 Gobies
6 Lyretail Anthias

And I also clip in some nori 2-3 times a week. I just ordered a brine hatchery and looking forward to do doing that too soon.

 

[Steven Pro]

What do you mean by carnivores? Do you have a lionfish or a puffer? A grouper or an eel? Different fish have different diets.

 

[sean_w_mcgrath]

i guess i shouldn't have used the term "carnivores" since some of the fish i am interested in are omnivores and carnivores. The fish I am interested in are: Ocellaris Clowns, Firefish, Longspine/Glass Cardinals.

I would aso be interested in what people are feeding their Lionfish and Snowflake Eels.

 

[Steven Pro]

For the Ocellaris Clowns, Firefish, and Longspine/Glass Cardinals I would use a quality pellet food like New Life Spectrum along with frozen mysid, Pacifica plankton, bloodworms, SweetWater zooplankton, and Cyclop-Eeze.

Lionfish should get a variety. I have used krill, silversides, squid, and even cubes of mixed formula food. Snowflake moray eels get much the same.

 

[NexDog]

Steven, is New Life Spectrum considered excellent quality pellet?

 

[Steven Pro]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7067484#post7067484 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NexDog
Steven, is New Life Spectrum considered excellent quality pellet?

It is my preferred brand now. Did you have a question about it?

 

[NexDog]

I'm a big fan of quality dried foods and always on the lookout for new stuff. My fish like the Formula 1 and 2 pellet but not as much as this Omega One flake I have which I think contains Spirulina. I'll check out the New Life Spectrum for sure.

By the way, I see alot of people use the "Prime Reef" flake from Ocean Nurition - do you rate it? Also on the lookout for any other decent Spirulina based flake.

 

[CrazyLionfish]

Although a majority of people on here use Ocean Nutrition, I personally advise agaisnt it. It might just have been my experience or misuse of the product, but they're almost impossible to thaw (formula 2), if I thaw it, it turns into a blob of sticky mush that none of my fish will eat, and if I just throw it in, they'll bite it for a while and then it ends up floating into an unreachable spot. My fish really like the Ocean Nutrition pellets, but they have Ash and Phosphate in them.

So... my personal preference for food is Hikari mysis shrimp, Hikari Marine Plankton, Hikari Mega Marine Algae. cyclopeeze, ocassional krill or squid, New Life Spectrum large fish formula, and algae sheets. My fish have learned to eat almost anything, but those are my favorites. I like Hikari's stuff the best because it is usually the actual shrimp, so when you thaw it, it is a whole bunch of little shrimp. I don't like brands that just grind it up into a solid brown cube.