Feeding Fish

[snorvich]

I believe that feeding fish properly goes a LONG way towards prevention of disease incidence. So with that what do YOU feed? I feed: PE and Hikari mysis, Frozen clams in the shell, NLS pellets, spirulina flake, squid, various frozen food mixtures. I am considering black worms (live). I feed an absolute minimum of twice per day, usually up to four times per day. So with that what do YOU feed?

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Mine get mainly NLS Thera-A small pellets, but I supplement with thawed mysis, Formula One Flakes, Cyclop-eeze and Prime Reef.

I was just at Petco (GASP!) the other day and noticed that Instant Ocean has a new line of marine fish food out. http://www.instantocean.com/InstantOcean.home I may give some of that a try.

 

[tom obrecht]

When I was in the hobby I fed a variety of frozen. PE mysid, Hikari mysid. Daphnia, bloodworm, brine and nori sheets. Had alot of anthias, tangs, chromis, clowns and a few others. Fish did awesome on this mixture as well as the tank. Had all softies and they appreciated the daphnia as well as the anthias sp.

 

[MCCOOL]

I think this is a subject that doesn't get discussed nearly enough, it's such an integral part of our fishes health and longevity.

I have an autofeeder that feeds NLS pellets 3 times a day, I also feed a frozen course at least once a day. The frozen meal is switched between PE mysis, emerald entree, and a frozen mix I made myself (it basically consists of every frozen food my lfs had, combined with every type of seafood my local grocery store had)

On occasion I'll feed "two little fishies" algae flakes, hikari pellets, cyclopeeze granules, and newly hatched baby brine shrimp.

I want to try the live blackworms and nutramar ova as well, but haven't found either locally.

 

[SDguy]

We have similar menus, Steve

NLS pellets (regular and thera-A)
Red Sea pellets (even the butterflies really like these)
ON flakes (1, 2, and Prime Reef)
Spirulina Flakes
raw jumbo shrimp
raw scallop (both large "diver" and small "bay")
Hikari mysis
PE mysis
Live blackworms (almost daily)

I'd highly recommend the live blackworms, Steve, especially if you are keeping butterflies. Once I figured out how to keep them in the fridge, keeping them on hand was easy. I had a few fish spawn since I started feeding them LBW that never spawned before.

 

[snorvich]

We have similar menus, Steve

NLS pellets (regular and thera-A)
Red Sea pellets (even the butterflies really like these)
ON flakes (1, 2, and Prime Reef)
Spirulina Flakes
raw jumbo shrimp
raw scallop (both large "diver" and small "bay")
Hikari mysis
PE mysis
Live blackworms (almost daily)

I'd highly recommend the live blackworms, Steve, especially if you are keeping butterflies. Once I figured out how to keep them in the fridge, keeping them on hand was easy. I had a few fish spawn since I started feeding them LBW that never spawned before.

I don't know what Red Sea Pellets are. Where do you get them?

Do you think if I feed raw shrimp that my fish might develop a taste for cleaner shrimp (of which I have many)?

How do your fish like scallops?

I am about to build a black worm system with circulating water. (designed from PaulB) PaulB recommends NOT refrigerating them, but simply keep the water running. Any thoughts on that Peter? I too think this is one of the absolute best foods!

I am coming to believe that with adequate/ideal nutrition that parasites can be a thing of the past. I know this is a bit radical and contrary to what most people believe.

 

[SDguy]

I don't know what Red Sea Pellets are. Where do you get them?

They are called MarineGro by RedSea. I assume any store that caries their products can get them. They are quite hard...they need to be presoaked for a while prior to feeding, IME.


Do you think if I feed raw shrimp that my fish might develop a taste for cleaner shrimp (of which I have many)?

No, not at all. They recognize the white meat, not the shrimp.

How do your fish like scallops?

IME butterflies especially LOVE raw scallop. All my fish eat it though.

I am about to build a black worm system with circulating water. (designed from PaulB) PaulB recommends NOT refrigerating them, but simply keep the water running. Any thoughts on that Peter? I too think this is one of the absolute best foods!

Keeping them in the fridge just slows their metabolism. Unless you are feeding them (which I do not) I see no reason to not keep them in the fridge. I just keep a 1g jug of DI water next to them, and wash them every day. They last at least 2 weeks that way.

I am coming to believe that with adequate/ideal nutrition that parasites can be a thing of the past. I know this is a bit radical and contrary to what most people believe.

IME I have not found this to be entirely true. yes, I have had my PBT fight off HORRIBLE ich after my move, but I have also had my FO have horrible ich that I eventually needed to treat. I think multiple factors, not just nutrition, influence how well fish can fight off ich. And FWIW, "parasites" also includes velvet - that parasite kills, no matter what. Again, IME.

 

[bradleyj]

NLS baby pellets
Formula 2 pellets
Formula 2 flakes
PE mysis
Hikari mysis
Emerald Entree.
Spirulina enriched brine
Angel & B/F frozen
Nori

 

[twelvejewelz]

I believe that feeding fish properly goes a LONG way towards prevention of disease incidence. So with that what do YOU feed? I feed: PE and Hikari mysis, Frozen clams in the shell, NLS pellets, spirulina flake, squid, various frozen food mixtures. I am considering black worms (live). I feed an absolute minimum of twice per day, usually up to four times per day. So with that what do YOU feed?

I have pair of multibar angels, 1 Venustus Angelfish , a yellow watchman goby/pistol shrimp pair, a yellow tang, a kole tang , a cherub angel and 2 ventralis anthias. I feed:
San Francisco Bay Angel & butterfly formula(frozen)
Ocean Nutrition Pygmy Angel formula(frozen)
New life spectrum marine formulas pellets
Ocean Nutrition Formula one and formula 2 pellets
Argent Cyclop-eeze freeze dried wafer
Baby brine shrimp newly hatched
Adult brine shrimp a few times a week
Pure spirulina flake
Squid on occasion (fresh from the bait store)
Chopped up Silversides on occasion (from bait store to)
Mysis(freeze dried)
Brine shrimp(freeze dried)
Omega one Veggie Flakes
Kent zoomax
DT phyto once a week
DT oyster eggs
I put in 2 Reef nutrition Tigger pods into my fuge.
Marine Snow
Vitamin C every Day
Ocean Nutrition Seaweed Selects Red, Green, Brown daily all day every day
Picked up San Fransisco Bay frozen Seaweed Cubes today and i will never get them again. Its basically powdered seaweed and so small the fish cant even eat it.
H20 Life Frozen Mini Mysis(good for fish that dont want to eat)
clams on a half shell (also good for fish that just dont want to eat)
Nutramar Ogo -Gracilaria (The Angels and tangs Will murder this stuff in your tank!! atleast IME )
I put Guarlic guard on my food sometimes as well along with amino acids soaked

Just ordered That new Gel food from ocean nutrition i got cyclopeeze, krill, and seaweed blend Gel.( It is a good consistancy to spread on the rocks for the fish to pick at. Think about using it if you have fish that will not take prepared foods and only pick at the rocks ie:multibar angels lol . Im having an ich problem so i thought to mix the gel food with some powdered metronidazole and spread it on a rock for them to pick at so i can treat for ich in the display because i no longer have room for a quarantine)


I got a san francisco bay shimpery that is constantly pumping out baby brine. I would get one there only like 10$ and it kind of separates the shells from the baby brine or whatever you want to call it and really easy to use and the fish go crazy for them.

I feed my fish about 6 times a day usually.Its funny you mention the black worms because i just picked some up today for the first time. Im having a problem with one of my multibar angels and it dosnt really like to eat much, when i dropped in the black worms ive never seen it swim so fast to grab them i couldnt believe it. Mabe it was the way they were wiggling or something but the fish went nuts for them.I read an article after that about how to culture them. You can also gutload these worms in a culture so you know that they will be more nutritious. The people say to fill a container up about 2-3 inches of water, put either brown paper towels or a burlap sack on the bottom of the tank and then just throw in your starter culture. The paper towels will make a mess so a burlap sack is advised. Put an airstone in for water agitation and feed very little food now and then.Im going to start a culture now and gutload them with some good foods so i can be sure my multibar is getting the nutrition it needs!!

ps: ill be trying Reef Nutrition's "Fuzzy-Phytes" soon and im waiting for my LFS to get the Mussels on a half shell from H20 Life!

 

[Barracuda]

I feed a similar smorgasbord

1. ON F1/F2 mixed with Spectrum Thera-A & Marine - All are 1mm pellets
2. Sheets of Nori
3. P.E. Mysis
4. Hikari Bio-pure Mysis
5. O.S.I Spirulina Flakes
6. Frozen Cyclopeeze - from the 2-lb block
7. Frozen Daphina
8. Frozen Cyclops (Copepods & Rotifers)
9. Live Black Worms

My feeding regiment for my Wrasses, Angels, Anthias, etc includes:

Morning feed includes a 1" x 4" strip of nori, followed by about 20 to 25 pellets (small pinch). Occasionally, they will get an additional strip a couple of times a week.

For the most part, the tank receives numerous small pinches throughout the day, depending upon my work schedule.

Evening feed is either the frozen P.E. or Hikari Mysis with an occasional Cyclopeeze addition. Later in the evening I feed the Gorgonians/ Corals the frozen Cyclopeeze with or without Daphina/ Cyclops, and of course the fish benefit from this feeding.

Maybe twice to three times a week I feed some extra Mysis during the very late evening when all lights are off for the starfish and hermit crabs. Of course the corals benefit from this feeding.

I always rinse the frozen Mysis products in tap water before they are fed to the fish. Mysis are thawed in a strainer and rinsed in numerous water baths until the bath is clear.

I clean the Live Black Worms for the first couple of days before they are feed to the fishes. I gut load them with vitamins, Selcon, and powdered zooplankton/ phytoplankton or spirulina.

I keep mine in the refrigerator, which slows their metabolism (as mentioned earlier). Mine are kept in a glass container, which provides the best thermal conductivity. I rinse them with cold tap water after gut loading or every other day, and maintain them with about a 1/16 to 1/8th of an inch above them. Healthy LBW should be in a thick, dense ball, and will wiggle profusily when handled.

You can maintain them outside the refrigerator, but it requires more care. Like you mentioned, you will need to constantly bath them in a water rinse. The other problem is they come from a temperate environment, and elevated temperatures will result in rapid die-off.

Either way you maintain them - they are an excellent nutrition source

 

[iamwrasseman]

Hamburger and a shake each day !

naw steve ,i pretty much feed PE mysis with a couple of different soak mixes and all my fish are doing great . i try to simplify feeding so i dont have a hundred dollars worth of food in my freezer.
live brine of live mysis for my newbies and then switch them over to the PE .i have used the gel food that has been coming with the 5gal buckets of RC and my fish do love it . i also rinse and dry my PE before adding supplemental additives to reduce the po4 as there is a considerable decrease in doing so .
i would like to try the NLS pellets but no one sells it here .

 

[roktsintst]

Great thread Steve!

I feed multiple times per day as well. Nearly every time I walk by the tank. I would say I feed NLS Thera A+ small pellets 6-10 times per day if I had to guess. Then In the evening, I feed Hikari Mysis, Spirulina Brine, SF Bay Angel and Butterfly, Hikari Angel and BFLy, and mega marine algea by Hikari. I put the food in a plastic cup I use for the tank. I add a few drops of garlic, Selcon, Vitachem, and KZ ImmunoStabalizer. I then fillt he cup w/ tank water and let it sit 10 minutes or so. Then I take my trusty turkey baster and suck out as much water as possible and discard it. Then add some more tank water and give a little squirt to my frag tank, a little squirt to my QT tanks and then a big squirt ot my Display. This works very well for me and my fish.

Now w/ the QT tanks its a little different. I find what they like and feed that all day long to fatten them up. They can "deal" w/ disease much better when they are fat and well fed but i dont think it makes them immune to disease! For the fish I have in my 2 QT tanks now they all LOVE Hikari mysis. So i always have a little bit thawed and give them a squirt fo food every hour or two.

On a side note, I almost lost my Conspic to a bacterial infection because of this. I would put a bunch of food in an empty NLS pellets container and thaw it, then feed the conspic all day. Well, I figured out this wansnt working when I came home to see bloody streaks on his sides!!! So I only leave food out for an hour or two max so bacteria can't develop in the food dish!

 

[twelvejewelz]

Great thread Steve!

I feed multiple times per day as well. Nearly every time I walk by the tank. I would say I feed NLS Thera A+ small pellets 6-10 times per day if I had to guess. Then In the evening, I feed Hikari Mysis, Spirulina Brine, SF Bay Angel and Butterfly, Hikari Angel and BFLy, and mega marine algea by Hikari. I put the food in a plastic cup I use for the tank. I add a few drops of garlic, Selcon, Vitachem, and KZ ImmunoStabalizer. I then fillt he cup w/ tank water and let it sit 10 minutes or so. Then I take my trusty turkey baster and suck out as much water as possible and discard it. Then add some more tank water and give a little squirt to my frag tank, a little squirt to my QT tanks and then a big squirt ot my Display. This works very well for me and my fish.

Thats EXACTLY how i feed my fish , with the cup and turkey baster. Only i use an old coffee mug thats fish tank only use, and i microwave water and throw the frozen stuff in. Then i take water out add tank water and squirt away. Works amazing to make sure everything gets fed including corals. Glad ur angel is better i am in love with those things!

 

[iamwrasseman]

oops i forgot to mention i do use cyclopeeze a few times a week also .

 

[SDguy]

I clean the Live Black Worms for the first couple of days before they are feed to the fishes. I gut load them with vitamins, Selcon, and powdered zooplankton/ phytoplankton or spirulina.

I keep mine in the refrigerator, which slows their metabolism (as mentioned earlier). Mine are kept in a glass container, which provides the best thermal conductivity. I rinse them with cold tap water after gut loading or every other day, and maintain them with about a 1/16 to 1/8th of an inch above them. Healthy LBW should be in a thick, dense ball, and will wiggle profusely when handled.

You can maintain them outside the refrigerator, but it requires more care. Like you mentioned, you will need to constantly bath them in a water rinse. The other problem is they come from a temperate environment, and elevated temperatures will result in rapid die-off.

Either way you maintain them - they are an excellent nutrition source

Interesting. I've tried "gut loading" my LBW before... anything like Selcon that I throw in there just seems to kill any worms in direct contact. I did some research online, and the only place I found that feeds them suggested a thin, blanched slice of zucchini, which suggests to me they are vegetarians? I don't know.... will they eat fish food flakes that are basically animals based? Are you sure they are actually eating what you throw in there? Thanks for any info... I'd love to be able to make them even more nutritious for my fish!

 

[snorvich]

Thanks Peter for the information; I will add two new foods to my feeding regime. Apparently black worms eat paper towels (also brown paper bags, but they stick to them).

 

[jasonrp104]

Formula 2 pellets
Formula 1 flake
Marine Cuisine
Cyclops
Shredded Krill
Sea veggies


I mix a combo of at least 2 of the above and feed at least once a day. Nori is always on a clip for snacking. I have to change my water more, or it gets nasty quick, but my fish are fat and mean.

 

[Paul B]

I keep the worms in a home made worm keeper, I never find a dead worm. They are fed paper towels, they don't eat them but live on the products of decomposition. They even breed but not fast enough for my purposes. They are kept in shallow moving water and there is no ned to gut load. They are great the way they are. If you keep them in the fridge, they continousely degrade as they weaken and shrink. You can't feed them when they are cold.
I don't have to rinse them and they stay fat and healthy.

 

[snorvich]

Thanks Paul B, I was hoping you would chime in! You have definitely influenced the way I am thinking about fish nutrition.

 

[Robka]

I keep the worms in a home made worm keeper, I never find a dead worm. They are fed paper towels, they don't eat them but live on the products of decomposition. They even breed but not fast enough for my purposes. They are kept in shallow moving water and there is no ned to gut load. They are great the way they are. If you keep them in the fridge, they continousely degrade as they weaken and shrink. You can't feed them when they are cold.
I don't have to rinse them and they stay fat and healthy.

Paul great looking setup Do u have an instructional build on that contraption? I would really appreciate your help so I can build one of my own. Also, could I keep it in the basement for proper temperature control?

Thanks,

Robka