Feeding Pellets??

[yetiman]

I just recently started feeding pellets (NLS) and have a few questions? 1) The pellets sink pretty fast, if my fish do not get them while in the water column will they find them later? Is there a trick to get them to stay in the water column longer? 2) I have a medium size Yellow Tang, small Pearl Scale Butterfly and a large Hippo in my 125. The NLS pellets seem pretty small, should I have bought the large fish pellets?

Thanks

 

[sdietz2469]

they do make some that float, but this is the reason i dont feed pellets... so i feed flake and frozen...
shane

 

[Mr James]

I feed pellets every once in a while for my crabs, not the fish. If the crabs don't eat, they begin to hunt and kill my snails. But then again, they do that anyways. On occasion I feed pellets.

Yes, they do sell slow sinking pellets. But if I were you, I would stick to fresh foods if possible. Nori and spirulina for the yellow tang and blends of other foods for the other fish.

 

[yetiman]

Thanks for the responses but Im sure a lot more people feed pellets. What are your experiences. Thanks

 

[rockworm]

I also feed the small pellets. My fish recognize them and will hunt around the rocks for any after I feed. My cleaners also come out looking for them. I would not worry about it. If they eat them when they are still in the water column, they will probably hunt them down.

One thing I did find is that if you drop them on the water column, some will float for a while. My clowns take advantage of these ones and just pick them off the surface. Unfortunately, a few do go down the overflow.

 

[Untamed12]

I was feeding the small pellets and have recently introduced some medium pellets because the fish are now larger.

Some of the small pellets reach the ground and it is my experience that there are so many critters there that most of them get eaten. I have seen the fish locate and eat the pellets off the sand bed.

Generally, I try to toss small amounts in. That way, most of it gets eaten before it gets to the bottom. Don't feed all in one large toss.

This is only a small portion of my fish diet. They also get fresh, frozen shrimp, clam, mussel, squid and octopus, plus Nori everyday.

 

[Rysam]

i use the NLS small sinking pellets and my fish dont miss a pellet, if they do the worms and sand critters are happy to give a hand. i rarely feed anything else and everyone is fat and happy and have been for quite a while. i feed in 2 small/medium pinches once a day directly in the flow of a PH so they get spread out and keep suspended for a minute.

 

[ChuckLawson]

My experience with the NLS pellets is the same -- I feed once/twice a day, and no pellet goes to waste -- once everything in the water column is gone, my foxface hoovers up anything left off the sand...

 

[billdogg]

I do the same as well - i put them in right above a ph - it all gets eaten. even my spotted mandarin loves them.

 

[Henryreef]

I use Formula 1 and 2 mixed together and my pellets don't even hit the ground, they are taken out by my fish extremely quickly, also if they did they would be picked of the sand by my fish.

 

[yetiman]

Thanks the replys, my tank is BB and the fish seem to be finding any stray pellets on the bottom.

 

[Ehgemus]

don't give them the chance to get to the bottom. feed a few at a time and let the fish eat them and then feed more, this is what I do and very few ever get to the button.

 

[stugray]

My mandarins Both eat the pellets that reach the bottom.

I feed extra just to make sure enough settle on the sand.

Stu

 

[DiverD]

I want your mandarin!

I feed strictly rinsed frozen. I don't like what processed foods are bonded with.......just my .02

 

[yetiman]

DiverD how do you rinse and store your food. How long do you keep it after it is rinsed?

 

[DiverD]

Yeti,

I may be a bit crazy in my war against PO4. I have found an enormous amount of phosphate in free form contained in the freeze water of every frozen I ever tested and used. Processed foods were even higher - all well past .8 on the spectrometer.

I thaw using tank water and then pour it through a dip net or BS net letting waist water fall into the sink. I rinse the contents of the net in a little more clean tank water and dump that back to a feeding cup I then refill with clean tank water. There you go - clean(ish) food. I go around pouring a bit into the tanks without cringing over the algae food present in most of the stuff off the shelf and freezer.

I have also resorted to using a lot more fresh veggies (even to supplement meat eaters) clipped to live rock.

 

[wartskin]

I was told ( not sure if it factual ) that when feeding flakes that a fish will ingest much more water than food because there isn't to much to a flake and they tend to fall apart <a href="http://s83.photobucket.com/albums/j320/burntflea/?action=view&current=goldfish-flake.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j320/burntflea/goldfish-flake.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a> vs a pellet that is much more solid and holds up better so the fish is actually getting more food.<a href="http://s83.photobucket.com/albums/j320/burntflea/?action=view&current=nls-koiActualSize.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j320/burntflea/nls-koiActualSize.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

My personal experience has been that my fish seem much healthier and colorful when feeding pellets. Seems that not all the frozen food gets eaten and left to break down.

On a side note all three of my mandarin's have come around to eating pellets.

 

[ivgonmad]

IME I have noticed that it takes much longer for the pellets to break down than the frozen or flakes, which means that the fish can find it and eat it before it fouls the water.

I have a BB tank so my fish find every single pellet

 

[ILuvTropicalFis]

I have always used pellets. There are many good suggestions here on feeding slowly so they all are eaten. I too want some to hit the bottom because my Scooter Blenny even eats them. Nothing goes to waist except what slips into the overflow box.

 

[Felixc]

I use a feeding station that floats in the corner of the tank and it prevents pellets/flakes from drifting into the overflow. I made mine out of 1/4" tubing and it works like a charm. Now I don't lose any food to the overflow anymore.

Off topic, NLS claims that you can feed exclusively on their food and would not have to supplement any other types of food. Has anyone tried just that? Things are pretty hectic these day so I use NLS pellets in an automatic feeder that dispenses 3 times a day. On my days off, which is twice a week, I feed other frozen food and nori.