I need a dry flake food (for ANTHIAS) that will work with eheim auto feeder

[CTaylor]

Hi,

I need a really tasty flake food like shrimp flakes by NutirDiet or even better that can be dispensed by the Eheim. The Eheim seems to be made to dispense pellet food (really really well).

Reason I need flake is my anthias like the flakes. I'm about to lose two b/c I was feeding only 2-3 x max a day. I knew they liked more times to eat, but now I know they absolutely need it. There's a small chance I can save these guys (females actually). So I'm trying to feed a lot.

If no flakes will work with this feeder, whats a good flake food auto feeder?
and of course best flakes anthias will go crazy over. I have bartletts btw, at least for now :-/ And I just got a trio of disbars. I got the disbars partially becauseI was hoping group behavior would help the bartletts to get better. Now I thnk that idea is just too late.

**I will also use pellet food if someone out there knows a really good pellet that again anthias (bartlett and disbar) will love.

TTYY

 

[ThRoewer]

Ocean nutrition has brine shrimp flakes (yellow lid) which all my fish like a lot. Though my Ventralis Anthias are not really picky and eat everything.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[ThRoewer]

BTW, Ocean Nutrition has most of their flavors as flakes and pellets.

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[CTaylor]

TY ThR
I'll get that. I think I can crush the flakes to be more uniform to dispense better thru the feeder.
Do you think if I feed a lot now that the anthias may recover? They just hardly eat now. Just fadint away. The more food I feed the tank the more they eat it (makes sense) but I havfe to feed a lot for tthem to get much.
Havfe you found that you MUST feed frequently for any success with them?

TTYY

 

[Anemone]

What type of anthias do you have? I feed my lyretails once a day and they're fine.

Kevin

 

[CTaylor]

Bartletts. I used to have this food holder/clip which i put frozen food in and it released slowly over about 30 mins. I did that twice a day and those batletts grew and did nice. Looking back, it was when I stopped using it that I can't keep them alive more than a few months anymore. But also it seems when I have less than three in the tank, they are more skiddish and more scared to go out for food.
So now Im' feeing them too much to get them to eat enough. Hopefully this will work to save them. As they do eat, but not greedily at all. I'm going to order several typs of ocean nutriition flake and small pellet for variety for them and see which they like best.

 

[MondoBongo]

i have the auto feeder that hooks up to the apex, i use it to dispense SeaChem flakes several times a day. it does well with flakes. it took some adjusting of the gate, and i have to crush flakes just a little if they're too large, but overall a good solution.

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/automatic-feeding-system-neptune-systems.html

i think an important thing to also note that i've seen this same design of drum on a few auto feeders. so any that look like this should operate relatively similarly i would think.

 

[CTaylor]

TY Mondo!
It looks similar to my eheim. So I'll crush up the flakes. It's funny how I can keep the OSFF (they eat like pigs) as you have but have a much harder time to get my bartletts to stay eating. Hopefully the food frequency will change that...

 

[MondoBongo]

TY Mondo!
It looks similar to my eheim. So I'll crush up the flakes. It's funny how I can keep the OSFF (they eat like pigs) as you have but have a much harder time to get my bartletts to stay eating. Hopefully the food frequency will change that...

:lmao:

no kidding man. i've had issues with so many other fish, and my OSFF are pretty low hassle.

fwiw i also fitted a funnel above a cut out in my screen for the feeder. i found the drop pattern could be a little erratic at times (this is probably exacerbated by how i have it mounted). so i removed the narrow part from a large funnel and have it situated directly below the feeder to make sure it gets all those pesky flakes.

 

[CTaylor]

Good idea on the funnel.
Do you have the feeder drop food into a food ring? I do, but still food gets away and floats around tank some.

 

[ThRoewer]

My Ventralis got by with one or two feedings a day, though the smallest female never grew and ultimately disappeared (possibly eaten by one of the Plesiops corallicola I have in that tank).

If you feel that your Anthias need more food, one solution could be to get a peristaltic pump like the DOS and feed them live food like brine shrimp nauplia throughout the day.

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[CTaylor]

My Ventralis got by with one or two feedings a day, though the smallest female never grew and ultimately disappeared (possibly eaten by one of the Plesiops corallicola I have in that tank).

If you feel that your Anthias need more food, one solution could be to get a peristaltic pump like the DOS and feed them live food like brine shrimp nauplia throughout the day.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

That's an idea to use the peri pump. But i'm not going to hatch brine shrimp and need a little tnank, container for it. I have no place to put it. And it will remind of the days I tried to rear sea horse fry. But maybe it can be used to dose other foods. hmmm

That Plesiops is a type of hog fish? A fish guru friend of mine said just do not ever get one unless I want other fish to disappear!

 

[ThRoewer]

...
That Plesiops is a type of hog fish? A fish guru friend of mine said just do not ever get one unless I want other fish to disappear!

No, Plesiops are close relatives of Marine Bettas (Calloplesiops) and Assessors, but quite different in behavior. They stay smaller than Marine Bettas but get larger than Assessors.
https://reefs.com/2011/07/06/pushin...e-mold-plesiops-corallicola-bluegill-longfin/

https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/5143#moreinfo

It's one of those fish you know you have in your tank but rarely see. I only see them at feeding time and then they just shoot out of nowhere, snap the food, and are gone before you realize what just happened...
My guys are spawning all the time and interestingly they don't create egg balls like Calloplesiops or Assessor, but rather stick their eggs on the cave roof like damselfish, dottybacks, blennies, and the like.

I'm not sure if they were responsible for the disappearance of my small Ventralis or if the other two bullied it to death. They normally eat only invertebrates like shrimp and other small Crustaceans. Interestingly my remaining 2 Ventralis behave not like normal Anthias but rather stand always close together like a pair of Clownfish would do. And they did that from the moment the largest female of the trio became a male. Before that, all 3 were keeping a distance from each other.

 

[CTaylor]

Interesting read ThR.
Did your two remaining anthias start to act oddly only after the male disappeared? Mine went into hiding after the third died.

Mine seem to be getting batter after feeding heavily. They are also associating with the three new ones just put in

 

[ThRoewer]

Interesting read ThR.
Did your two remaining anthias start to act oddly only after the male disappeared? Mine went into hiding after the third died.

Mine seem to be getting batter after feeding heavily. They are also associating with the three new ones just put in

They stand mostly in a cave, looking out. The male comes out to eat, the female prefers to wait until the food comes to her.
I probably try to get 3 more if I can find them (and have the money).

 

[MondoBongo]

Good idea on the funnel.
Do you have the feeder drop food into a food ring? I do, but still food gets away and floats around tank some.

yeah, i made my own food ring.

i was worried about my fish getting air in their stomachs, especially the OSFF because they would aggressively attack the surface when the flakes hit.

since i have a home made screen top, i cut a piece off an old RODI filter, and attached some screen to the bottom of it. the screen lets the food sit in the ring until it saturates and starts to sink.

 

[Timfish]

I've had good results using NLS micropellets mixed about 6-1 with Two Little Fishes ZoPlan. You may already have thought of this but have to better control of small amounts of food an Ehiem autofeeder dumps at a given time a piece of tape can be used to make the feeding aperature smaller. I also will sometimes cut a small notch in the sliding plastic piece for adjusting the food amount.

 

[moondoggy4]

Second that

Second that

Ocean nutrition has brine shrimp flakes (yellow lid) which all my fish like a lot. Though my Ventralis Anthias are not really picky and eat everything.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

The can is orange and the cap is yellow, I cannot find a store near me that carries it, I have to order it online, the price varies so check around, my Powder Blue tang loves this stuff. I used a feeder that looks exactly like the brand that Apex uses.