Chalice feeding techniques

[BillyC]

For the past 2 months I have been target feeding my chalices mysis shrimp with a turkey baster and growth had never been better. It has been really difficult thought because of food thieves such as hermit crabs and a pair of cleaner shrimp. It has come down to my having to guard the chalices for a half hour or more to avoid the shrimp digging into the chalice mouths for food. I am seriously contemplating giving the shrimp the boot. What techniques does everyone use for feeding and how do they avoid food being stolen?

 

[Salty Dog]

been there done that, becuase of that reason I added a frag tank onto my system free of any live stock except for corals, shrimp,fish,crabs will scavage, you can try feeding then cover the piece with a plastic cup, I did that, a PIA but it works

 

[DrTerro]

Good old fashioned 1 or 2 liter open bottom trick. lol. Cutting the bottom of a plastic bottle and placing it over the coral and feeding it through the top. Or taking them out and placing them in a container and feeding them. Personally I would only do that if they really really need to be fed, because sometimes that is very frustrating. Take care

 

[dnov99]

I understand what your saying, its very frustrating. Its basically the reason I added a frag tank. After lights out, turn the pump off, take about 5 minutes to feed all the chalices and the pump goes back on in 30 min when its all eaten. I gave up trying to feed anything in my DT.

 

[BillyC]

Those are really good ideas. I've been wanting to setup a frag tank plumbed into my display for a while now so I think it might be time. Until I can get all the equipment I'm going to try the cup and plastic bottle method.

Drterro how do you help control food from missing the chalice under the bottle and adding more nutrient to the tank?

 

[butts182]

the bottle trick works, but for the shrimp, if you just feed them a larger piece first, it should occupy them long enough for your chalices to eat.

 

[spsaddict]

I got a friend that has the same problem with his shrimp during his feedings. He takes a small container with some tank water and puts his chalices in it to feed. Seems like it works well for him. I guess this will only work if your chalices are not encrusted onto live rock and are still on frag discs. If it were me I would remove the shrimp because the shrimp stealing the food would drive me nuts!

 

[BillyC]

I would definitely try moving the chalices to a tray of water but that would take me forever. I think I'm just going to get rid of the dang shrimp pair. They only seem to come out when they want to steal food anyways. So I've been using a turkey baster to sprinkle the mysis on the chalices. Does anyone want to share another way of doing it? The turkey baster method seems to be pretty hit or miss and almost half of the food floats away in the tank.

 

[butts182]

it's tedious, but sometimes it use tweezers and feed each poylp individually...i usually do this when i feed tabel shrimp though

 

[CJO]

I use one of these:
Aquarium Fish Feeding & Feeders: Kent Marine SeaSquirt Feeder

The tip is really too small, so I cut it off and used a torch to melt it to the diameter I wanted. It now works great.

CJ

 

[BillyC]

I use one of these:
Aquarium Fish Feeding & Feeders: Kent Marine SeaSquirt Feeder

The tip is really too small, so I cut it off and used a torch to melt it to the diameter I wanted. It now works great.

CJ

No way! That things awesome! Gotta get me one.

 

[Eggpaul]

I use one of these:
Aquarium Fish Feeding & Feeders: Kent Marine SeaSquirt Feeder

The tip is really too small, so I cut it off and used a torch to melt it to the diameter I wanted. It now works great.

CJ

Can I see a pic of where you cut it off? Used a saw? I have one and I can't feed my coral mysis shrimp with it. Tip is too small.