So what is your feeding schedule?

[system]

I am still trying to get this down. I now have 5 fishes (as baby girl likes to say). I want to get a good schedule. I looked online but this seems to be the most ambiguous part of the hobby. I am so concerned that I might be feeding them wrong and too much.

I try to feed them homemade frozen food 3 to 4 times a week. I would say about a little less than a quarter size or so. 4 or 5 times a weeks Omega One marine flakes and a I mix in sometimes some brine shrimp for pleasure. I only feed once time a day during the week and maybe twice on the weekend.

I am sure everybody does things differently.

[system]

This part of the hobby, like many others, you simply figure out with experience.

It seems to me like you have the most important part of feeding figured out, variety! I wont attempt to give you a schedule because it would be pointless, but i give you a few pointers.

When in doubt, feed green. Spirulina and other algea are great foods not just for tangs but all of your reef fish. The only non-frozen i feed is the ocean nutrtion green flake(i forget which formula). The also make frozen brine and other foods with spirulina and algea. You can never feed to much green IMO.

Mix it up. Always have mutiple foods available for your fish to give them a variety. Even if though a particular food may not be as nutrituous as the next, it may offer something that the others dont. I typically have about 5 or 6 different kinds of frozen food. I feed clams, blood worms, the hikari algae, brine, mysis, and a couple of other mixed foods. I try to feed a different mix every day.

Vitamins. Its never a bad idea to soak your foods in a good vitamin mix. I honestly dont do it regularly, but i probably do it at least once every week or two. There are several good ones out there, i use selcon. These mixes are a good source of HUFA.

Schedule schmedule. A lot of new reefers feel that they have to have a feeding schedule. Nope. Dont worry if you miss a day. Dont worry if you dont feed the same time. It wont hurt a thing. Corals, on the other hand, are probably best fed right after lights out, but again, its probably not as important as people think.

As far as amount and frequency, its going to be different for every system. I would suggest feeding less until you understand the impact of feeding on your system. Makeup the lack of quantity with quality by providing a variety of nutritous foods. Test your nitrates regularly as you figure out your feeding schedule. If your nitrates are stable and then start to rise as you feed more then you know your overfeeding. I think the old rule of thumb still applies. Feed only an amount that the fish can eat in several minutes. If they dont eat every last single piece then feed them less. I think feeding a small amount of food once a day is a good starting point just be sure to pay attention to make sure that there is no food remaining in your tank after a feeding.

[Cdangel0]

I agree with everything above. Variety is the spice of life.

The first and most important rule of fish feeding - DON’T feed them because they swim up to the glass and look hungry.

Fish are not stupid animals - just ask the damsels I’ve been trying to catch for a month - they realize that when you walk up to the tank at least 50% of the time they get fed. After a week in your system they learn that if they’re near the top they get the most food. So every time you come near, they swim to the top front and center.

[bz350]

on the week days i usually feed omega one and marine grow pellet food right after i get home. then i take some form of frozen food (mysis,reef plankton, cyclopizee, or a mix of foods blended into 1)
the mix is norie, krill, cyclopize, silver sides, plankyon and pro forgot something)
it usually thaws by 4 sometimes earlyer then i take out some more frozen food and it usually thaws befor 5:30 then the tank goes out a little after 6.
if my tang is really hungry ill throw some food in for him anywhere between 2-6.

on the week end i try to give them flake and pellets as soon as i get up.(usually 8:30- 9.) then threw the rest of the day i swap out frozen foods. i will really olny stop feeding when my naso starts slowing down.
usually when food hits the water he know its going to happen 10 min in advance. he trys to eat it all lOl.

on the weekends i try to do 3-5 smaller meals. on the week days i try to do 3 or 4 smaller meals.

when ever i remember i try to feed my candy canes, brains, and leathers cyclopize or reef plankton. i will try to give the candy canes and brain something a little meater because they love to suck in mysis withe there tenticals

unfortunatly my tang has not even attempted to eat any norie so i will have to soak it in some extream garilc. that stuff STINKS!!! how many drops should i use. ive put some in there twice and it dosent seem to get his attention. he might go after smaller pieces but i think the might think it flake.

[system]

on the weekends i try to do 3-5 smaller meals. on the week days i try to do 3 or 4 smaller meals

Holy crap! What are your nitrates like?

unfortunatly my tang has not even attempted to eat any norie so i will have to soak it in some extream garilc. that stuff STINKS!!! how many drops should i use. ive put some in there twice and it dosent seem to get his attention. he might go after smaller pieces but i think the might think it flake.

i might take a little heat for this, but ive never fed my tangs nori. Everytime i did, no matter the method(clip, band/rock, etc) more of this stuff would end up rotting away than eaten. IMO, as long as your tangs are getting fed daily with a mixture of green food they will be fine. Ive kept tangs relatively long term(i had my yellow for almost 3 years) and it was a posterchild for perfect health. In no way am i saying dont feed nori, but i wouldnt try to forcefeed your tang nori if it takes other forms of green food.

[Jocephus]

Not to hijack, but my tangs like the nori more if it is on a rock then on the glass. Just FYI>>>> PPBBJJ

[IanH]

I pretty much keep a schedule for my sake. I’m absent minded and very busy if I don’t schedule it, it probably won’t happen. Feed everyday around 8 o clock ish.

Usually frozen mysis because everyone loves it, a few “slow sinking” pellets, a few flakes some freeze dried krill, some freeze dried mysis, some freeze dried blood worms.

I have one of those ‘fish feeders’. Its a little blue thing that floats around, I usually put pellets and non frozen stuff in there and the fish can pick at it when they want. I like it because if I over feed it will just sit there and they will eventually eat it all.

I use an eye dropper to shoot the mysis at my zoas, sometimes my brittle star, and sometimes my strawberry pseduo, but that is just because I don’t like him.

My nitrates seem to stay pretty low, its been 2 weeks since a water change and they are below my test kits ability (not that its that great of a kit).

PS if you leave frozen mysis in water in a cup overnite they REALLY stink the next night.

[system]

I use an eye dropper to shoot the mysis at my zoas, sometimes my brittle star, and sometimes my strawberry pseduo, but that is just because I don't like him.

:-)lol LMAO

PS if you leave frozen mysis in water in a cup overnite they REALLY stink the next night

. Been there, done that!

[bz350]

i havent really been feeding that much lOl. but i more or less give a droper or 1.25 full of frozen each meal. i say i will actually feed 2 sometimes 3 the more that i think about it, but still about 4 times on the weekends.
i never really have a problem with nitrate, nitrite, or amonia. but then again i dont test. now if i notice a coral is looking not so good thats when ill check everthing out. i always check salt but other then that sometimes ph. ill have to start again soon.

i should really mention that this scedual is not very strictly inforced. i could go to the track and they could olny get fed 2 that day. but i could stay home and they could get fed 4 times. it really depends on me and if im feeling up to it.

my frag will get fed about once a day but the tank does get fed alot and theres olny 2 engineers in there. and there FAT! there is also a small problem with cano so i did cut back feeding and shortened lights for 9 to 8 hours.

i always have a bucket of salt water next to my 25 so i do water changes when ever but there pro like .5-1.5 gallons

have u guys noticed the film on to of the water. my tanks always got something goin on. usually if i do a water change it pretty much goes away. it might also go away when i change carbon but i cant remember.

[IanH]

[quote=“logans_daddy, post:8, topic:878”]

PS if you leave frozen mysis in water in a cup overnite they REALLY stink the next night

. Been there, done that![/quote]

Omg, I thought something was dead or dying in my tank, I was cleaning filters and checking water parameters…then I saw the defrost bucket with some shrimp floating around. Hmm let me smell that…Uggghh

I should get some Selcon and try that out, the only vitamins my fish(es) get is from whatever is in the premade stuff.

[system]

[quote=“IanH, post:10, topic:878”]

[quote=“logans_daddy, post:8, topic:878”]

PS if you leave frozen mysis in water in a cup overnite they REALLY stink the next night

. Been there, done that![/quote]

Omg, I thought something was dead or dying in my tank, I was cleaning filters and checking water parameters…then I saw the defrost bucket with some shrimp floating around. Hmm let me smell that…Uggghh

I should get some Selcon and try that out, the only vitamins my fish(es) get is from whatever is in the premade stuff.[/quote]

Yeah I was the same way. I was looking to see if a fish died or something.

But you know what really had me going was when I added garlic to my homemade frozen food. The skimmate was the worst smell. I couldn’t understand what it was then I remembered.

[quote=“logans_daddy, post:2, topic:878”]
Vitamins. Its never a bad idea to soak your foods in a good vitamin mix. I honestly dont do it regularly, but i probably do it at least once every week or two. There are several good ones out there, i use selcon. These mixes are a good source of HUFA.[/quote]

I actually added this to my frozen food. This way I didnt have to worry about it. It is great.

[bz350]

im pro going to get some vitamins what good? i know alot of people like the seclon anything else? how much$$

[system]

I like selcon but ive heard a lot of good things about vitachem as well. With the amount of high quality foods so readily available these days i dont think vitamins are absolutely necessary but they are certainly good to have around when acclimating new fish and it wouldnt be a bad idea to add to homemade food as you make it. If your going to add it to your food as you feed, i would probably only do it 1-3X per week. I always liked to soak my silversides in it for about 10-15min before i fed my BTA.

[bz350]

so take a container with about a cup of water and drop like 5 drops and let it sit for like 15 min. i figure i have enough stuff but i figured it couldnt and wouldnt hurt

[Gordonious]

“This part of the hobby, like many others, you simply figure out with experience.” Sorry, but I really have to disagree with this. Many people never learn and just figure there fish died of old age or just grow up to look…. I can not tell you how many deformed tangs I have seen turned into LFS after years of starving and malnutrition. It’s a good idea to find out from a reliable source, what you should feed the different fish in you’re tank.

Luckily many of the fish in our tanks will eat the same sort of things and are not too fussy. A really good source for this is Scott Michael. He has written books and sharks, butterflies, angelfish and probably the most useful in this instance “A PocketExpert Guide Marine Fishes”. In the book he mentions a variety of foods which should be fed and recommends how often to feed them.

I could tell you what I feed my fish, but what you’re fish require could be different. I will say that I try to feed high quality dry food 2-3 times a day and enriched frozen every 2-3 days soaked in vitamins, amino acids, and tons of other good stuff.(sometimes use selcon, recently been using vitachem)

What fish do you currently have?

Ian:” have one of those ‘fish feeders’. Its a little blue thing that floats around, I usually put pellets and non frozen stuff in there and the fish can pick at it when they want. I like it because if I over feed it will just sit there and they will eventually eat it all.”
Depending on you’re set up this may be a good sign that you don’t have high enough flow.(possibly, in my opinion probably) Most thriving reef tanks have a lot of wave action at the surface.

I don’t think we can really tell if bz if feeding too much based on how often he says he is feeding. Small quantities fed frequently is the healthiest for the fish.

“have u guys noticed the film on to of the water. my tanks always got something goin on. usually if i do a water change it pretty much goes away. It” Probably mostly proteins building at the surface. With larger “reef ready” tanks most of this gets pulled through the overflow and goes right through filtration. On most of my tanks I use a little cup to pull off the surface scum every other day and also pull out a small quantity of water while siphoning out a neat little pile of snail poop in the middle of the tank.(circular flow, bare bottom) Then at the end of the week I add some SW.

Tip: I’ve tried eye droppers, syringes, many types of turkey basters, and the expensive sea squirt and none of them come close to the new coral feeder I found a couple of months ago.(forget the name of the company that makes it, I’ll post when I remember) Problem with turkey basters is that the opening is too wide and the foods I feed are usually too liquidy and seep right back out. I left several carpet stains at the apartment I just moved out of. Love the “Coral feeder” though.

Tip 2: If you are feeding frozen mysis it may be a good idea to rinse the mysis thoroughly before feeding. Though some corals and other filter feeding animals may absorb some of the small particulate matter a lot of this smelly juice will just become waist in most reef tanks.

[icy1155]

Well here is my 2 cents:

I feed every other day or so. I feed a mix of frozen foods, including enriched brine, mysis, reef plankton, baby brine, and rods food.

I also mix in some quality flake foods every couple feedings, generally when I dont have much time.

I also add in a sheet of nori every other day or so for my tang/dwarf angel/everyone.

To feed the frozen foods, I have found that nothing works better than a simple pipette from a science lab with the tiny tip cut off. It can suck up almost anything, other than the large chunks of clam in rods food. Everything else it works great for and is actually really great for target feeding corals.

[icy1155]

[quote=“rawdawg05, post:1, topic:878”]
I now have 5 fishes (as baby girl likes to say).[/quote]

Actually, if they are different species then she is right when she calls them “Fishes”. Fish is the plural when talking about one species, where as fishes is used when talking about more than one species.

Ok now that I added in some useless trivia, It seems to me like there are a few ways to go about it and I’m not sure if any one way is right or wrong. There are people that:

Feed multiple times a day but small feedings.
Feed once every day or every other day.

I know that I am in the 2nd category, and I also know that I tend to overfeed a little. My problem is that I need to make sure I turn the power heads off when I feed, otherwise it gets blown EVERYWHERE before the fish can get it.

[Gordonious]

Do you want to turn the power heads off or the return pump for a little while? If the flow is high enough the food will mostly be kept in suspension until some animal catches it. I’ve always wanted to program in a macros with my X10 to get the return pump on my display to shut off for 15 minutes after I drop food in after I hit a button, but never ended up playing around with it enough to figure it out.

[system]

hello all, new to the site and plan on comming to meeting to join next monday. Here are some pics of my 46 gallon bowfront. Many different inhabitants including couple tangs, clowns, wrasse, and some others. Recently got started in corals with some different zoas, candy kane, trees, and some mushrooms and ricordea. Enjoy and feel free to comment. thanks

---

[Gordonious]

Hey and welcome. Looks like you’ve got a tank full of life.

How long has the tank been running and how long since you started adding the corals?

Is that a Mimic tang? What is behind the tail of the wrass in the second image?

Can’t wait to hear more about your tank. Once again, welcome.
Jon