how to keep anthias well fed

[Canarygirl]

How dow other anthias owners manage this?

I know that you're supposed to feed anthias multiple times per day. I have just added 3 barletts to my reef.

The problem is that I want to feed the tank in the morning before I leave for work, then when I get home from work, and then a few hours later (when actinics come on for night-time lighting).

In the morning the tank is dark and all the other fish in my tank come out and gobble the food down...all except the anthias. So in effect, the anthias are going all day long without food until I get home from work.

As for using an auto-feeder, I hear that they tend to overfeed a tank, plus they disperse the pellets/flake on the surface of the water and I think that my same fish (not the anthias) would be the ones to get this food.

Suggestions? I guess I could change my lighting schedule so that the actinics come on very early in the morning, but then they will need to remain on for a few hours before the next wave of lighting, and the total lights-on period would increase to 14 hrs.

 

[SDguy]

Give them some time...my anthias will eat in almost total darkness (I go to work at 6am). Once they smell the food hit the water, they are out looking. I do have a single 1 watt moonlight on the tank.

BTW, I rarely feed them in the morning. My fish go without food all day until about 3:30 or 4pm. Then they get fed multiple times for the next few hours. That's it.

 

[Canarygirl]

thanks, Peter, that's reassuring

 

[Opus123]

I only feed mine once a day and sometimes I even forget to do that. I let mine go a week without being fed a few months ago while I was on vacation. They still look fat and healthy to me and I've had them over 6 months.