Feeding

[carnophage]

I have a 210, stars & stripes puffer, 2 bluejaw triggers, emperor angel, and a blue tang. I was just wondering what people are feeding their FOWLR tanks, and want would be the best combo for this group. Right now i do mysis, freeze dried shrimp, seaweed sheets. Thanks

 

[Stuart60611]

You should really diversify and add some items to this list. I would add clam, raw table shrimp, krill, squid, silversides (in moderation), scallops, and crab meat to this list. Your triggers and puffer really need larger and more meaty foods than you are currently offering. Also, for you angel, frozen angelfish preparation is from what I have read important b/c large angels need some sponge in their diet. Finally, a staple that really helps to balance out the nutritional needs for fish is New Life Spectrum Pellets which is, perhaps, the most nutritous dry food available and fish seem to love it. You also should soak your food periodically (although I do daily) in a vitamin supplement, such as vitachem or selecon.

What I do is I feed a two course meal each day. First course is a mixture of NLS pellets (1mm and 3mm). Several hours later, I feed a mixture of the above frozen meaty foods and nori soaked in vitachem and selecon. IMO, this is about as good a diet as you can feed to your larger fish.

 

[carnophage]

all the seafood you mentioned, what do you do, chop it up and throw it in, where do you get it, same as people, like publix sea food?

 

[Stuart60611]

Most of this seafood can be bought at your local grocery store, fish, or meat market. What I do is chop it up into small pieces (make sure not too finely choped up so as to accomodate the bigger fish). Tear up some nori. Soak the mixture in a combination of vitachem and selecon. You can make a large amount of food and freeze it in a 1 inch or so thin layer. You can then break off pieces of the frozen combination, thaw and feed as required.

 

[carnophage]

Also which NLS do you use, the marine, and the large fish formula?

 

[Stuart60611]

You can use Thera A or Marine. Thera A has some garlic and that is what i am using now. If you have fish 1-3 inches, use the 1mm pellets. Fish 3 or so inches or greater use the 3mm pellets. Probably best to use a combination of both 1mm and 3mm pellets and see what and which fish prefer what size.

 

[carnophage]

Thanks so much, one last thing, for the seafood, i am guessing that i should be looking for uncooked?

 

[Stuart60611]

My pleasure. Yes, raw seafood only b/c there are not too many underwater grills in the ocean.:spin2:

 

[carnophage]

lol, thanks!

 

[Stuart60611]

I should add that you can pretty much add any meaty food to this list as long as it is from the ocean. However, I would stay away from some of the fattier seafood, such as salmon. Also, a good idea to stick with ocean inverts when possible because they often have the best nutritional profile for the fish we keep. Octopus is another good one to add to the list. Finally, you will likely not be able to find either silversides or krill at your local market and only at your LFS.