can you feed your fish too much?

[MarvinsReef]

Well, a tiny back story to explain more.
I had a 50g w/ 15g sump running for over a year & when hurricane sandy hit I was in the process of upgrading to a 75g w/ 40g sump.
I run gfo & carbon w/ reef octopus nwb200 (Rated 250gallons brs rated 160gallons)/cheato in sump.. but only started to run it at the normal dose BRS recommends because I didn't want to shock anything.

ONE: I have phosphates is because of my harlequin shrimp. Depending on the size chocolate star I feed them either once or twice a month. I feed the WHOLE thing, so I know that is bad.

TWO: I had a barnacle blenny(which i've had for months) go missing. & recently a new purchased randel's goby has gone missing. 100% sure the blenny is dead. 98% sure the goby is dead.

Three: I purchased a mated pair of sleepy sand sifting gobies & longnose hawkfish last week(hawkfish because my wife has been eying it for few months now)

Four: I run radions. The light cycle is probably on wayyy too long. It's most intense white from 12pm to 5pm. It runs it's course from 9am-9pm(the inbetween is just blue's until ramps to 12pm

Fish list:
Melenarus wrasse
ora black and white clown
extreme snowflake clown
midas blenny
barnacle blenny
tankbred neon dottyback
(2) sleeper gobies
longnose hawkfish
ora spotted mandarin (eats pellets/mysis)
(2) harelquins
(1) scarlet shrimp
(1) emerald crab
tons of snails etc.
2 bta's/few rock nems/ + other corals.

ah... I see. did you move everything on the 75g now? how is the RO skimmer performing since it's rated for 250g? pretty consistent on skimming?

 

[kevinf]

ah... I see. did you move everything on the 75g now? how is the RO skimmer performing since it's rated for 250g? pretty consistent on skimming?

yep, everything has been moved over. Since the move basically all the fish are new besides the wrasse, clowns, & barncle blenny. The skimmer IMO is working very well. It's pulling some real dark skimmate. I also have a felt sock that I change out once/twice a week. Just got 5 scarlet hermit's to do some work also.

 

[Squishie89]

I only feed my 2 clown fish once a day, because the auto feeder dumps WAY too much food for 2 little clowns to eat. I feed a cube of frozen (I alternate between mysis and marine cuisine) and some pellets (the male seems to prefer pellets). I never see any fat bellies, but I already feed them for about 5 minutes (they do not eat all of the frozen cube nor all of the pellets I put in, the CUC quickly devours the leftovers). Haven't been able to figure out if these clowns just like to watch their waistline or maybe they are just picky eaters. Is this okay?

 

[MarvinsReef]

yep, everything has been moved over. Since the move basically all the fish are new besides the wrasse, clowns, & barncle blenny. The skimmer IMO is working very well. It's pulling some real dark skimmate. I also have a felt sock that I change out once/twice a week. Just got 5 scarlet hermit's to do some work also.

sounds good. keep us posted.

I only feed my 2 clown fish once a day, because the auto feeder dumps WAY too much food for 2 little clowns to eat. I feed a cube of frozen (I alternate between mysis and marine cuisine) and some pellets (the male seems to prefer pellets). I never see any fat bellies, but I already feed them for about 5 minutes (they do not eat all of the frozen cube nor all of the pellets I put in, the CUC quickly devours the leftovers). Haven't been able to figure out if these clowns just like to watch their waistline or maybe they are just picky eaters. Is this okay?

:hammer:

I really think that feeding small amounts is the key. maybe ration out the 1 frozen cube into 2 or 3 feedings instead of one time. clowns can only have so much at one time IMHO. for my clowns, there's enough to finish one cube and some. haha.. on my son's tank, we have 3 fishes.. one clown, an Azure damsel, and Carpenter's flasher. I feed them about 6-8 NLS pellets at a time. I watch them finish all of it before dumping another batch. if they don't finish the first batch, I don't give them anymore. I wait another 2-3 hours, then same routine. when I'm home after work, our fishes gets small amount feedings during photoperiod.

 

[Pkunk35]

My opinion is to figure out what you think you should be feeding, and double it.

I feed my tank 1/8 teaspoon of NLS Small fish formula as many times per day as I remember to, maybe 3-5 times, sometimes I'll swap it for some of the NLS Finicky Fish formula, but those are larger pellets and mostly for the LPS in the tank. Also, the tank gets, daily (if I remember), 1/8 teaspoon of Reef Cleaners Filter Feeder food, 1/16 teaspoon of 5 micron Golden Pearls, 1/8 teaspoon of 300 micron Golden Pearls, 1/16 teaspoon of Coral Frenzy, .25mL of Selcon, 1mL of aquavitro Fuel, and 1 full cube of either Cyclop-eeze or mysis.

Nice grocery list, i also like a variety when feeding fish/corals/inverts. I really need to get my hands on some Golden Pearls.

ONE: I have phosphates is because of my harlequin shrimp. Depending on the size chocolate star I feed them either once or twice a month. I feed the WHOLE thing, so I know that is bad.

Hey Kevin, I don't think the whole choc is causing phosphate issues. From what i have observed my harlequin is a very clean eater with very little waste. I also feed a whole choc chip to a single harlequin in a 20 gal, takes him about 1 week to eat it and the starfish is alive the entire time.

Maybe try bacteria dosing to help process the extra nutes/bring bacterial balance? Either that or I would just keep up with WC and keep siphoning the cyano. Or use Chemi clean.

I also have read that rinsing mysis is prob pointless practice. There is a lot more phosphate within the shrimp itself as compared to the holding water.

 

[MarvinsReef]

I also have read that rinsing mysis is prob pointless practice. There is a lot more phosphate within the shrimp itself as compared to the holding water.

there's a certain brand of mysis out there that I bought from a LFS that has so much nasties that I have to rinse it before adding to the tank or my skimmer goes bonkers. after rinsing, I've never had an issue since. but yeah, when I use the Hikari brand, I don't rinse.

 

[kevinf]

Came home tonight and noticed 90% off the diatoms/cyano(whatever is it) gone. I also have my fuge light off in this time period also. The fuge is looking quite good too! I'm turning the lights on for an hour just so my fish can lurk around. My wrasse is still sleeping.. thinks its night time still, lol. Sleeper gobies are sifting away

here is a video of them doing work!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubO3midp_3w

anyway, I just took this picture of my skimmer

 

[CrazyKonen05]

I'm definitely guilty of underfeeding right now. Trying to adjust to my new schedule; and my fish are too. I've always been a little conservative because initially I followed the belief of "more in, more out." Reading how much y'all feed does make me more confident in making their bellies full though.

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[Aquaph8]

I think most of these fish are used to eating all day long, but small amounts throughout the day. In our little tanks I think its great to feed 4 or 5 times a day as long as your maintenance routine can keep up with it. A fat fish is always a happy fish IME.

 

[kevinf]

My one BTA is moving around, lol. Doesn't know what to do. It looks like all of the cyano/diatoms are gone. Lights are still going to be off until later tonight & have a water change to do. Making sure to feed my longnose hawk before he thinks my scarlet is a snack!

 

[vamaro]

From what I heard fish will stop eating when they are full. Saltwater only

I have a sohal tang and a queen trigger that are always begging for food. My other fish seem to self regulate.

 

[MarvinsReef]

Came home tonight and noticed 90% off the diatoms/cyano(whatever is it) gone. I also have my fuge light off in this time period also. The fuge is looking quite good too! I'm turning the lights on for an hour just so my fish can lurk around. My wrasse is still sleeping.. thinks its night time still, lol. Sleeper gobies are sifting away

Good deal! Glad the sleeper gobies are doing a good job.



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[MarvinsReef]

I think most of these fish are used to eating all day long, but small amounts throughout the day. In our little tanks I think its great to feed 4 or 5 times a day as long as your maintenance routine can keep up with it. A fat fish is always a happy fish IME.

Agreed!


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[kevinf]

update: turned my lights on at 530pm tonight. Sand was all clear.. but 20mins in it started to come back. Did a 15gallon water change.. feel a little defeated!

 

[MarvinsReef]

update: turned my lights on at 530pm tonight. Sand was all clear.. but 20mins in it started to come back. Did a 15gallon water change.. feel a little defeated!

Don't worry man. I'm still getting some cyano also after light outs period. I have to change my GFO, keep feeding less than I used to, and don't turn on my lights early on my days off. The cyano is much less and that's good news. For me though, I really think that my tank just need to recover from stirring up too much sand at one time. I'll just keep doing what I'm doing since it's working slowly but surely. Another lesson of patience I guess.


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[kevinf]

Don't worry man. I'm still getting some cyano also after light outs period. I have to change my GFO, keep feeding less than I used to, and don't turn on my lights early on my days off. The cyano is much less and that's good news. For me though, I really think that my tank just need to recover from stirring up too much sand at one time. I'll just keep doing what I'm doing since it's working slowly but surely. Another lesson of patience I guess.


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Thanks! One of my nems moved & is still moving because of the lights out.. my one clown cant find them so hes hosting my gold torch right now, LOL.

 

[MarvinsReef]

Thanks! One of my nems moved & is still moving because of the lights out.. my one clown cant find them so hes hosting my gold torch right now, LOL.

LoL. He'll find it sooner or later.


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[kevinf]

Update: lots of algae today! I just removed my filter sock & found a ton of amphipods & a snail. I'm going to try to run sockless.

(I put my acans on the rockwork after these pictures were taken)

 

[jedimasterben]

Just be careful - detritus can build up if you have areas of low flow in your sump. Put a good, strong powerhead in it to keep everything moving. Mechanical filter-less system are not for everyone, but personally, I'll never run it again.

 

[Justunsmegareef]

i feed mine so much its unreal lol, but thats ok, my achilles loves it lol