Sponge-based food for large angels

[quokjs]

Hi Guys,

I'm researching to get myself prepared to add a juv Queen Angel in my 90G FOWLR (yes, will upgrade tank once I have 6 - 12 mths success with the juv ).

Appears that diet is a very important factor for long term success with large angels - specifically, Queens need a diet rich in sponge matter. Short of providing live sponge, is there any commercially prepared food out there that is sponge-based or targeted at large angels?

I live in Singapore so I would also appreciate feedback on where I can purchase these online to be shipped to Singapore, please.

Thanks!
JS

PS: have searched the forums but didn't turn up anything useful

 

[jmaneyapanda]

juveniles are much more omnivorous, so a diet rich in plant matter and zooplankt would be better for a youngster. Ocean nutririon makes an Angel diet, which supposedly has a lot of sponge in it.

 

[Triggerfish]

what size tank you looking to upgrade to? this fish have the potential to get pretty massive.
i agree with the above regarding diet.

Hikari makes a food that has more sponge content based on ingredient listing that i like to use better.
mega-marine angel
sold by foster&Smith
outside US call 1-800-562-7169

 

[quokjs]

jmaneyapanda, Triggerfish

Thanks for helping. Unfortunately, the two recommended angel food are both frozen so it will not be possible to have them shipped halfway across the world (or perhaps they won't go bad after a few days transit before refreezing?). Very costly as well! But as you said, perhaps I can get away with a herbivore preparation initially.

On the upgrade, hoping to go from the current 90G to 180G (1st choice) or a 150G.

 

[jmaneyapanda]

The hikari mentioned is not frozen, its a dry food, so you shouldnt have trouble with that.

 

[Triggerfish]

the Hikari is frozen.
i'm not aware of a dry food that contains sponge.

if you cannot obtain the food,,then i'm going to presume that in order to keep that fish healthy, you will need to find a local source for live sponge.
there are other large angels whos diet does not contain such large quantities of sponge.. i believe the queen is like 98%.
perhaps you would be better of searching for a different species.

 

[jmaneyapanda]

My bad- I was thinking of Hikari Marine-A. They claim this is for large angels also, so I dont know if it has sponge in it or not. I agree with trigger, though, if you cant get the diet, definitely reconsider.

 

[Triggerfish]

doesnt look like it:
Ingredients: fish meal, krill meal, alpha starch, DHA, wheat flour, spirulina, dried seaweed meal, claim extract, brewer's dried yeast, enzyme, canthaxanthin, astaxanthin, DL-methionine, L-lysine, vitamins and minerals including stabilized vitamin C

 

[quokjs]

Have checked with Fosters & Smith - they don't ship frozen stuff international. I'll check with the manufacturer whether the food will go bad if left unfrozen for a few days. If not, I'll ask a friend living in the West Coast to help ship them to me.

I'd thought about my options but would still stick to the Queen - its my favourite and is also one of the hardier large angels too (so I've read). If it thrives, I'll be happy to supplement its diet with live sponge once or twice a week.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions!

 

[rambone]

There was another guy from singapore on this forum with a really high speed tank, he might know of an LFS in your area that might have what you need.

 

[Chasmodes]

I think that you might be OK with a Queen angel especially if you give it some live sponge once in a while. If it had been a rock beauty then I'd have some concern. Queen's adapt well to other foods. Keep a varied diet for them with lots of veggies and they should be OK.

 

[quokjs]

rambone,

There's just a handful of LFS here - unfortunately, none carry anything targeted at large angels.

Hypsoblennius,

Great feedback - puts me closer to getting one .....

Cheers!

 

[rmougey]

Qoukjs,

When I was in Singapore last year, there was a marine dealer that carried AquaMedic products. They had a nice salt water selection, including Hikari foods. If you can't find the frozen stuff, you shouldn't have any problems getting Live Sponge from the fish markets or marine fish stores in order to keep your Queen healthy. As I recall... there were many, many dealers in the live fish market. I'm sure you could find something that would work for you.

-Rob

 

[DrBegalke]

You might try some new life spectrum (NLS) foods. I know it doesn't have sponge as an ingredient, but lots of people have had success with it.

Here's a link to pics of Pablo's (owner of NLS) tank which he feeds only NLS products, there are some angels in there:
http://www.cichlid-food-canada.com/gallery.html