How much nori is enough?

R

Recliner

New member
I have four 4" Tangs (tomni, powder brown, sailfin, regal blue) a 5" fox face, 2" flame angel, and a 5" sailfin blenny.
How much nori is enough (without being too much) The powder brown and blue are new in the last week so I've been feeding as much as possible to help fatten them up. The fox face is a pig and messy eater though. I've been putting between 6-10 strips in that are about 6 square inches. Plus mysis and enriched brine.
I have added 200 assorted snails from reef cleaners about 2 weeks ago.
My nitrates are up, about 20-25 now measured on both API and elos.

Does everyone just try to keep up so there is always nori hanging? My fox face might make that difficult cause when he's full he still rips at it and just let's big chunks go floating.
 
I have three fish that eat Nori, a Starry Blenny, Tomini Tang and Flame Angel. I give them a piece that's about two square inches daily. They finish it off in five minutes or so. I fold that piece in half and cut it into strips, leaving just enough uncut at the bottom to hold it in a clip.
 
EllieSuz said:
I have three fish that eat Nori, a Starry Blenny, Tomini Tang and Flame Angel. I give them a piece that's about two square inches daily. They finish it off in five minutes or so. I fold that piece in half and cut it into strips, leaving just enough uncut at the bottom to hold it in a clip.
Click to expand...

One 2 square inch piece! I'm feeding at least 20 times as much. My fox face is always first to the strip and eats 2-3 square inches before any other fish shows up. He does that 3-4 times a day by himself
 
How much of the other foods are you feeding, and how often?

My fish primarily eat my pellet mix and frozen food. My Achilles does put away a full sheet of seaweed (8"x8") every afternoon by himself though. I try not to put much more than that per day in any of my tanks. In my experience the seaweed should be a part of their captive diet, not their entire diet.

Considering the excessive amounts you're putting in, if it's all disappearing a lot of it is probably getting lodged in your rockwork, stuck to your powerheads, and going down your overflows.
 
It's really hard to say how much nori is enough in my opinion. I feed about 3 square inches once a day to my atlantic blue tang, starry blenny, leopard wrasse, black cap basslet, and whoever can scoop the remaining out of the water column.
 
How big is your tank ?
I've got 72 gl with 12 fish ( most small) but there is a hippo tang, yellow tang, fox face, and star blennie who like the nori. ( no tang police please )
I put 1 strip 1" X 3 " twice day. I also hand feed my emerald crabs a 1 "sq when I see them . Other wise they've got to hunt.
I use a suction clip to hang the nori. they've usually got it ripped up within 20 minutes

The tank also gets a few pinches of flake food twice a day. Every third day I fill the water column with mysis, bits of shrimp, scallops, muscles and let them pig out.

I've got a pretty good filter system, with sock, skimmer, algae turf scrubber and cheato.

Nitrates are below 5.
That being said, I think your giving too much Nori . Then again, if you've got 200 snails, either you have a VERY large tank or your nitrates are up because there are dead snails all over.
Not trying to criticize... just my humble opinion ....
 
I have a fox face, mimic tang, and naso that eat the seaweed (i use the brown, green and purple from my LFS). I feed 2 clipped sheets that total about 3 x 2 in the am which is gone in about 2 min.

2nd feeding of 1 1/2 cubes frozen (ie: rods, mr. G's). I have 8 other smaller fish (chromis, wrasses, clowns, goby).

Good question as I wonder if I am feeding enough but all fish seem happy.
 
I don't know that there is a set amount. I feed 1-2 full size sheets daily when I remember. It's rare that they aren't completely decimated. I put a sheet in the tank before I leave for work and then another sheet in the afternoon when lights first turn on if my wife is home and remembers.

they also get pellets via an auto feeder 4 times a day plus 4-5 cubes in the evening over 2-3 feedings. Not a whole lot hits the ground.

I do have a heavy load with a moorish idol, 4 larger angels, 5 smaller/dwarf angels, 8 tangs and a a few assorted other fish who will take a taste of the nori.
 
roni said:
I don't know that there is a set amount. I feed 1-2 full size sheets daily when I remember. It's rare that they aren't completely decimated. I put a sheet in the tank before I leave for work and then another sheet in the afternoon when lights first turn on if my wife is home and remembers.

they also get pellets via an auto feeder 4 times a day plus 4-5 cubes in the evening over 2-3 feedings. Not a whole lot hits the ground.

I do have a heavy load with a moorish idol, 4 larger angels, 5 smaller/dwarf angels, 8 tangs and a a few assorted other fish who will take a taste of the nori.
Click to expand...

What size are full size sheets? Curious if I am not feeding enough even though a lighter load. Everything is eaten within 2 min. in my tank so I am thinking of increasing a bit.
 
I have a Scopas, 2 Yellows, and a Hippo. I feed half of a sushi sheet once a week. Its probably not enough as my hippo is getting pretty large.

I also feed New Era Mini Grazer disks 2-3 times a week (1 at a time).

This is in addition to my daily feeding of a pellet, crushed flake, and cyclopeese mix. I alternate this with frozen blend mixes.

The problem I have is that the Nori is ripped off the clip in less than 5 seconds and floats all over my tank getting stuck. So I now wrap it around a piece of pvc pipe with a rubber band. the pipe has a hole with fishing twine so I can retrieve it.

I'd like to build something better cause the fishing line can get stuck on corals in the flow, ect and can be a pain.

Anyone have a really cool nori feeding rig I can rip off? I'm thinking of some kind of pvc contraption that sits on the top of my tank with a rod that submerges into the tank that has the nori attached.
 
I think the answer to this question is straight forward. Observe your fish. Are they skinny, healthily thick, or excessively fat. Regulate all foodstuffs until your fish appear full bodied and healthy. The amount of food added can be adjusted accordingly when demand changes. For example, adding a fish or fish growing over time.

If you see nori in the water column, it doesn't always mean the fish were done eating. It could be an issue with the fish losing interest due to the difficulty to feed on nori floating within the tank. If the sheets aren't secured, it becomes difficult for the fish to tear at the algae. If the piece of algae within the water column is too large for the fish to take entirely into their mouth, I have experienced they will give up rather quickly on trying to eat it as it requires too much effort. My best suggestion is to fold the desired sheet size in halves until the algae is no bigger than an 1-1/2" square. Then secure it to the aquarium wall with an algae magnet. This should prevent the sheet from tearing too easily.
 
Enough is a very none descriptive word, enough could be a two inch square or it could be the entire pack of nori a day. If your fish are fat, active and healthy I would keep doing what you are doing. You could always feed the green,red,brown, and purple algae everyday but just in equal smaller amounts
 
wmilas said:
I have a Scopas, 2 Yellows, and a Hippo. I feed half of a sushi sheet once a week. Its probably not enough as my hippo is getting pretty large.

I also feed New Era Mini Grazer disks 2-3 times a week (1 at a time).

This is in addition to my daily feeding of a pellet, crushed flake, and cyclopeese mix. I alternate this with frozen blend mixes.

The problem I have is that the Nori is ripped off the clip in less than 5 seconds and floats all over my tank getting stuck. So I now wrap it around a piece of pvc pipe with a rubber band. the pipe has a hole with fishing twine so I can retrieve it.

I'd like to build something better cause the fishing line can get stuck on corals in the flow, ect and can be a pain.

Anyone have a really cool nori feeding rig I can rip off? I'm thinking of some kind of pvc contraption that sits on the top of my tank with a rod that submerges into the tank that has the nori attached.
Click to expand...

When feeding the algae sheets I take a strip about an inch or so wide and rip them towards the end so its like a sheet of paper people post (like when in college) where they are trying to sell something and people rip off a ticket with the listed phone number. I make very thin strips and my fish easily rip them off and the pieces get eaten w/o floating around the tank. If I use a longer piece I just fold it so it fits neatly in the magnet clip. I have 2 clips that I put in the tank at once this way and seems to work great with no left waste.

Hope this helps.
 
Here's a little video of my fish eating their veggies. I posted it so you could see how efficient cutting the Nori into strips is. If they do tear off a whole strip, it's still thin enough for one of them, usually the Tang, to slurp it up. I don't get any waste.

<embed width="600" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullscreen="true" allowNetworking="all" wmode="transparent" src="http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf" flashvars="file=http%3A%2F%2Fvid280.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fkk179%2FEllieSuz%2FHome%2520Aquarium%2Fvideo-2013-02-28-15-12-33_zpsb452a13d.mp4">
 
gsiegel said:
What size are full size sheets? Curious if I am not feeding enough even though a lighter load. Everything is eaten within 2 min. in my tank so I am thinking of increasing a bit.
Click to expand...

Not sure. I buy it from the asian market in packs of 100 full size sheets. Probably about the size of a piece of printer paper?

I can measure when I'm home again. I definitely am on the upper limits of feeding. My fish are borderline obese but it does limit the coral nipping and the fish have stayed healthy. I will echo the suggestions to tear strips or do something to decrease wastage. My fish lose all interest if the nori is free floating, unless I personally tear the pieces up. I do feed some of the preshredded nori flakes as well, as some of the smaller fish are able to get some without being bullied.
 
My new fish are thin, the fox face is fat. The problem is the fox face is the first to dinner and the last to leave and takes the biggest bites. Lol
I too cut it in strips so they tear and they get a good bite
 
I just posted this drivel on a similar question, too lazy to do it over:


Turnip greens, softened in the freezer, secured to a piece of rock with a rubberband. Old fashioned, I know. But it doesn't fall apart, is very nutritious, and fish love it. Before the "its not from saltwater" comments start: fresh produce was (and still is) used for years before the nori products were on the scene. My tangs love cucumber and broccoli. Probably the most common ingredient in SW herbivore foods is spirulina, and most comes from FW . PE mysis, possibly the most popular frozen food comes from FW as well. Spirulina pellets are great too. As long as its all eaten, I don't think you can overfeed greens to herbivores, there just isn't the calories or nutrition that carnivore foods have; which would explain why tangs spend all day eating on the reef
 
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