Feeding questions

[Tyler438]

Hey guys, I'm fairly new but so far have been successful with my 1st saltwater tank. My question is how much should I feed. I have a 49 gal FOWLR tank. also, do you guys shut down your filters and powerheads for feeding? feeding flake food, brine shrimp, and silversides

valentini puffer 1.5"
2 Ocellaris clowns.5"
coral beauty angel 2.5"
lawnmower Blenny 1.5"
chocolate chip starfish 3"
1 LG Turbo snail
4 small nerite snails
1 Condy Anenome
1 sebae anemone

 

[mcgyvr]

The ocean doesn't shut down so I don't shut down anything for feeding unless its apparent that its causing a massive issue with food distribution throughout the tank.. aka is it pulling all the food into a filter and the fish can't get any of it this causing your filter to just become clogged with a large amount of food..
I use a floating feeding ring that my autofeeder drops into just so that the floating food has time to get saturated and drop into the water vs just floating right over the overflow..

As to how much.. You shouldn't need much food at all.. For those fish I wouldn't feed more than maybe 1/2 tablespoon every other day (if I was feeding pellet)... Thats maybe 1/8 tablespoon of flake I guess.

Many say just feed what they can eat in 5 minutes..

 

[nereefpat]

I have never shut any pumps off either.

I think the advice about feeding what the fish eat in a few minutes is sound.

I don't see any fish on the list that are big enough to eat silversides. I would swap that out for frozen Mysis.

 

[Tyler438]

I have never shut any pumps off either.

I think the advice about feeding what the fish eat in a few minutes is sound.

I don't see any fish on the list that are big enough to eat silversides. I would swap that out for frozen Mysis.

I cut them down, I was told to feed the Condy silversides. Is this not correct?

 

[Tripod1404]

I dont turn of any pumps or filters. Pumps and water flow actually entice many planktivore fish(such as anthias) to eat.

 

[homer1475]

I shut my pumps off, but only because I have trained my fish that when the pumps are off, its food time(I start training them during TTM). It's a Pavlovian response, and aids in stopping the food from going over the overflow.



Silversides are horrible food for a nem. Can cause gut rot, and they typically end up spitting them back out anyways.



For all of your fish/nems/corals, mysis is fine. I would supplement with NLS 1mm pellets, and maybe mix in some NLS algaemax pellets. I have also found most finicky eaters like Seachem's flake food. LRS is also an excellent all around frozen diet for everything in your tank.

 

[Tyler438]

I shut my pumps off, but only because I have trained my fish that when the pumps are off, its food time(I start training them during TTM). It's a Pavlovian response, and aids in stopping the food from going over the overflow.



Silversides are horrible food for a nem. Can cause gut rot, and they typically end up spitting them back out anyways.



For all of your fish/nems/corals, mysis is fine. I would supplement with NLS 1mm pellets, and maybe mix in some NLS algaemax pellets. I have also found most finicky eaters like Seachem's flake food. LRS is also an excellent all around frozen diet for everything in your tank.

Wow ok, I will stop the silversides than. He ate one the 1st week I got him. Next 2 feeding he spits them out. Thanks

 

[Rover88]

I shut down the return pump only for the reasons mentioned above, it helps keep the food from getting sucked down into the pump.

I sometimes depending on what mode my powerheads were in put them into the 'feeding' mode, which slows them down but doesn't stop them. As with what homer said, the fish have learned that if the return pump is turned off its feeding time.

 

[uclamatthew]

I like shutting down the pumps for a few minutes to not waste food going into the overflow/filters. If you're feeding location is far from the intake and/or sinks fast this might be a non-issue though.

 

[tjm9331]

the only reason I shut down the pumps when feeding is because I have a marine beta and he is a very slow mover. If I don't shut down the pumps he has a very hard time getting any food before all the other inhabitants devour it.

I actually have to feed him separately from the rest of the group. I'll drop some food in to distract the others and then he'll be waiting for me in a corner to drop some shrimp, squid or fish, he'll grab it while it sinks then run off and eat.

 

[Dmorty217]

I never shut any pumps off when feeding. As far as how much, I feed a lot of food several times per day but I have a lot of veratious eaters that would literally eat constantly all day long. My unicorn tang and false personifer never stop eating