Feeding Question

[Fmellish]

I am new to this so I don't know. How often to feed?

I have a new tank. 120 gallon with 200 pounds of live rock and live sand.

Livestock:
3 fish (6-line wrasse, purple fire fish, sailfin tang)
2 stars (Brittle, sand sifting)
4 hermits (cortez)
11 snails (1 turbo, 10 margarita)
1 yellow gorgonian
1 small frag of anchor coral

I feed 1/2 cube mysis shrimp in the morning and then at night, so a total of one full cube a day. And I feed 1 oz DTs plankton every other evening. And 1 small sheet of Nori every other day for the tang.

Is this enough or too much feeding? I don't know if I'm under feeding or over feeding. There is generally lots of food left over on the sand or floating around, but I figure the hermits and stars can take care of it.

Thanks
Josh

 

[Sindjin]

Too much.

I feed my 3 fish once every 2 or 3 days. I feed an amount in which they will consume in about 2 or 3 minutes....but in small intervals so it soesnt blow all around the tank.
In addition, I feed Marine Snow for the corals once a week.

 

[techigirl78]

I'd agree, too much. There shouldn't be food visible after a few minutes. The hermits and stuff get everything you don't see.

Give the tang nori every day unless there's a bunch of algae that it can munch on in the tank. Cut way back on the mysis. Also, what type of yellow gorgonian do you have in your tank? Photosynthetic or non-photosynthetic? I never really measured it, but I think I use about a 1/4 oz DTs every other day and I have feather dusters, multiple leathers, mushrooms, xenia, GSP, zoas, hammer, bubble, etc. . .

 

[bertoni]

With 200 lbs of live rock, you shouldn't have problems, but that is probably more food than the animals need at this time. You could try feeding some DT's Phytoplankton or a similar product to help keep the live rock going, if that's interesting.

 

[PatMayo]

Re: Feeding Question

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6548061#post6548061 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Fmellish
I
I don't know if I'm under feeding or over feeding. There is generally lots of food left over on the sand or floating around, but I figure the hermits and stars can take care of it.

Thanks
Josh

You are feeding too much Josh. There should be virtually no food left over after 2 to 4 minutes after feeding. If there is it's too much. Remember most tank problems and high bio load problems are due to overfeeding. I would venture to say 70 to 80 % of tank pollution problems are caused from this.

The hermits and stars will in most instances find food to eat. If they are real hungry they will make a bee line to the food once it hits bottom. I would feed every other day and then make sure all food is gone in the above mentioned time frame.

I think you will have much better success long term. Just watch your guys and learn there habits.

I feed mine every other day. One day some pellet food. The next feeding flake. The next feeding frozen. Sometimes I even mix them up. But I always make sure the food is gone within 4 minutes after feeding. If it isn't I use a net to get it out.

Nitrates zero and I have a crushed coral sandbed to boot.


Anyway, that has been my experience.

I would however make the nori available to the tang everyday.

Regards,

Pat

 

[Fmellish]

My fish book says my tang should be fed 3 times a day. And I think it says that for my other fish too.

How do I balance that advice with the advice I get here?

I think it would be safer to adjust portion size than frequency.

Josh

 

[bertoni]

I agree. It's the total quantity that counts. Multiple feedings are fine, IMO. I think for a tang, a piece of seaweed on a clip might be worth trying.

 

[Fmellish]

I do seaweed on a clip.

The tang will eat some, but prefers to peck at my rocks.

My purple fire fish has remained hidden since my tang entered the tank, and according to my fish book, the purple fire fish will hide until he starves to death.

Yikes!

 

[bertoni]

Sigh. You could try putting some food in his hiding place. Might help. I've never had to deal with a shy fish like that, though.

 

[techigirl78]

How long has the firefish been in your tank? Did you QT it? Is there a cover on your tank?

 

[Fmellish]

I did QT the firefish. He has been in my tank a couple of weeks I think before I got the tang. The tang is really nice, but he swims all over. There is no place in the tank he won't go.

My tank is not covered, however there is a canopy that rests on it, so if he jumped, he'd be on the top acrylic somewhere, which he isn't.

I'm sure he's just doing what I've read he'll do. hiding until he starves to death. Fish are stupid.

Josh

 

[techigirl78]

Mine stayed hidden for about 2 wks and I didn't have any other fish with it at the time.