Feeding frozen formula 1 or 2

[Chris11]

Any one use frozen formula 1 or 2 to feed their clown fish. I have tried both in the last week. They wont even touch it. If you do, how are you feeding it to them? What I have been doing is placing the cube in the tank and allowing it to settle to the bottom.

 

[rogart]

I feed both. I buy a pack open it let it thaw a bit and cut it to bite size peices and store in a small rubbermaid container, do it every few months. If you drop a whole cube in you either need a lot of fish or a few large fish. You also need to soak it a bit before feeding, its too hard frozen. My clowns eat 5-8 peices. 1 cube cuts to about 20-35 peices.

 

[Anemone]

I've always fed frozen ocean nutrition foods, and my fish and anemones seem to love them. I take a cube of food and place it in a small bowl of tank water (often with selcon or another type of food mixed in, like cyclopeeze or PE Mysid), then I wait for the food to thaw and break it up into smaller chunks. Then the whole mess goes into the tank.

FWIW,
Kevin

 

[Chris11]

I will try thawing it better before feeding to see if this has some effect. They will come up for the food, take one or two bits then swim away leaving it to settle on the bottom. This is very frustrating if I feed frozen brine shrimp and they go crazy. I will try letting them go hungry, if they snub there noses at a fine food like formula 1. Maybe that will jump start them on this food. The whole reason for doing this is to see if they will take gelatin based foods. I would like to start making my own DIY food.

Thanks Chris

 

[rogart]

The only fish I have found that won't eat anything (i.e. flake to brine) are those who only accept live foods. But, once adapted they will eat almost anything. I had a mandarin who ate flake (until he found his way into a powerhead).

Stay away from brine, besides being not real nutritious, fish love it, its like heroin. You might even try soaking the food in brine for flavor if they are really stuborn.

Try mysis. And like I said bite size they probably didn't try it becasue it was too much work (you could try a garlic press). If you overfeed (fat fish after feeding), they are likley to be more selective. Starving should work, just watch the smallest or weakest fish. Shouldn't require more than a day or two.

 

[cvrle1]

I am using formula 1 frozen (with gelatin) and my clowns love it, then again they will eat anything.

I take a piece of cube, thaw it and then use one of those garlic compressor thing (where you put a whole clove of garlic, and you press down on it and it comes out finely chopped)and that way food is broken down into really fine chunks (some bigger some smaller)

Wash it out 2 times in RO/DI water and in the tank it goes.

 

[rogart]

Just a note, but some gelatin based foods can contain a lot of silica which can increase red slime - cyno...

 

[phender]

Wow, you guys are pretty high tech. I just hold in the tank and rub it between my fingers until its all gone. That way it gets released gradually instead of all at once. Yeah, I know your are not supposed to put your hands in the tank, but I've never paid much attention to that rule.

 

[rogart]

My hands go in the tank, never saw much to that unless you are an exteminator. I just am not fond of my hands smelling like seafood.

 

[Rewd]

My clowns eat this and just about everything else. They eat the ocean nutrition frozen formula 1, the formula 2 pellet, their reef flakes, mysis, brine, bloodworms, etc etc.

I'd be amazed if there were something my clowns DIDN'T eat.