How much to feed? Fish not eating food on sand.

[Goatonfly]

I have a bi-color blenny and two clownfish that love eating the pellets falling and on the surface. They won't eat the food once it has fallen to the sand bed though, is this common? I feel like they are still hungry waiting for more food, but I don't want to overload the tank with food. Any ideas?

40b tank, 3 margarita snails (can only find one though), 2 nassarius snails, fire shrimp and a cleaner shrimp. The nassarius do a fairly good job of picking up stuff but not everything. The others don't do anything really...haha

 

[billdogg]

Just like kids and cereal, once it gets soggy they don't want it. At least not the fish you currently have. A serpent star, sand sifting goby, your shrimp, etc will gobble it up.

My general rule of thumb is - if it's not eaten in 2 minutes, it was too much food.

hth

 

[Goatonfly]

Now if the shrimp would actually eat the food on the sand. haha. My fire shrimp never moves, just sits under a rock.

 

[Ztous]

Nassarius snails. They will seek out food on the sand bed like graboids.

 

[dana_ag]

mmm.. have you tried feeding like Mysis shrimp? It's more lightweight in the water and the current will carry it through the water so it mimics how they are in the ocean. My blenny will just pick at the lr for algae and eat the Mysis too.

 

[CStrickland]

What kind of flow do you have in the tank?

Food shouldn't be landing on the sand much at all. The fish will poop enough to keep the nassarius busy. I'm not sure, but I think I read that it's bad for clownfish to eat too much from the surface. Something about them getting sick from gulping air, I think, but I don't have a clown so I didn't pay attention. You might want to google that.

 

[Reef Frog]

^ What Dana said. But I would ditch the sinking pellets in any case. Maybe neutrally buoyant pellets if you have to feed dry.

 

[Goatonfly]

The pellets are slow sinking. I'll try mysis though. My nassarius snails move around a little but I don't see them picking up poop really. They get all excited when food is added though, they come right out of the sand.

 

[Sk8r]

There are bottom feeders and midwater feeders, and not all will go to the surface. Observe what they need and buy food accordingly.