Feeding Schedule/Foods

mell312

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Need some help getting on a better feeding routine as I feel the current is way off the mark. I "adopted" my tank from a friend back in October. At the time it had a bicolor blenny, a percula clownfish and brown clown goby plus CUC. Now we've added 3 young pajama cardinals. The previous owner was feeding one cube of frozen brine shrimp every other day. Most of that was going to waste and the nitrates and phosphates were through the roof so I cut back to half a cube to get those things under control and have less waste.

My question is what is a better routine? I read where others feed 3 times a day which makes me think every other day is not a good thing. How often should they be fed? What can be added to add variety and how often? Flake? Pellet? And what brands are best. Thanks for your help!
 
Could you provide the tank size you have all these inhabitants in?
 
I feed my fish anywhere from 3-5 times a day, throughout the day. I feed NLS Pellets, flake, freeze dried krill, frozen mysis, frozen table shrimp, and nori seaweed. No specific schedule on what to feed when, I just keep it varied. NLS pellets is what I feed at least twice a day, then usually some shrimp/krill/mysis depending on what I havent fed in a while. As long as you keep it healthy, varied, and frequent you will be fine. But most importantly dont overfeed, only what your fish will actually eat. I know it s going to be hard to make sure NONE goes to waste, but try to get close. That will help keep your nitrates and stuff in check.
 
I feed my fish anywhere from 3-5 times a day, throughout the day. I feed NLS Pellets, flake, freeze dried krill, frozen mysis, frozen table shrimp, and nori seaweed. No specific schedule on what to feed when, I just keep it varied. NLS pellets is what I feed at least twice a day, then usually some shrimp/krill/mysis depending on what I havent fed in a while. As long as you keep it healthy, varied, and frequent you will be fine. But most importantly dont overfeed, only what your fish will actually eat. I know it s going to be hard to make sure NONE goes to waste, but try to get close. That will help keep your nitrates and stuff in check.

Any flake brand recommendation? Is the NLS pellet just the basic 1mm Marine one I find on Amazon?

Sounds like 3 times a day is pretty common. Feel like I've been starving the poor fish!
 
Any flake brand recommendation? Is the NLS pellet just the basic 1mm Marine one I find on Amazon?

Sounds like 3 times a day is pretty common. Feel like I've been starving the poor fish!

The NLS pellet size just depends on the size of your fish. NLS has flakes too I think.
 
With the frozen cubes try thawing it out first and then use a turkey baster to squirt a little bit in... wait let them eat it all and squeeze in a little more that way it's not wasted...


Also turn off your return pump so the food doesn't just end up in your sump or other filtration
 
With the frozen cubes try thawing it out first and then use a turkey baster to squirt a little bit in... wait let them eat it all and squeeze in a little more that way it's not wasted...


Also turn off your return pump so the food doesn't just end up in your sump or other filtration
Thanks! Currently I thaw the frozen food in a net hanging in a small cup of tank water and then I discard the water once thawed and stick the net in front of the power head to disperse it. Will try turning off the filter next time.
 
Alright, that is quite a few fish but it isn't too many either.

If you find that an entire cube is not being eaten, split the cube in half. Feed 1/2 a cube a day and see how that goes. As long as your fish retain a nice thick body conformation, they are being fed enough. If you see belly dipping of the fish or its getting thinner, increase the amount of food you feed. You don't necessarily need to feed 3 times a day for your species of fish. Some species of fish, like anthias, require consistent feeding thru out the entire day but with what you have, 1 meal a day is plenty.

Controlling nitrates and phosphates requires more attention since you have a good number of fish. Reducing the amount you feed does indeed reduce the nitrates and phosphates in your tank, however, even if the fish consume all the food, they aren't necessarily retaining all of it, especially adult fish who are no longer growing. This will just end up as nitrates and phosphates. If your system is no longer removing these efficiently to levels to that you prefer, you will need to update your removal system.

So, if you reduce the amount you feed, you could indeed reduce nitrate and phosphate down to levels that you would prefer but that means you possibly could starve your fish which I'm sure your not for. lol. However, since you already have all these inhabitants, I would recommend increasing your nitrate and phosphate removal systems, this way you can continue to feed your fish properly. As your young pajamas grow, the amount of food they require will increase and so will your nitrates and phosphates. If you haven't already done so, start with some macro algae, grow it and either discard it, sell it or give it away to export the nitrates and phosphates. You can also go with biopellets to remove nitrates and phosphates but biopellets are only effective when nitrates are present. If your tank can efficiently remove nitrates or keep it relatively low, use GFO to remove the phosphates. You can load up your tank with quite a few inhabitants as long as you have the bacteria to process the ammonia -> nitrite-> nitrate and then provide systems that remove large amounts of nitrate and phosphate that you introduce in to the system when feeding all your inhabitants. Make sure you read up on these types of nitrate and phosphate removal systems because I may have given you the answer to dealing with nitrates and phosphates but these systems still need to be well understood and managed properly to work as intended. They aren't simply plug and win systems.

Now for food types, I would recommend adding some omnivorous food source, it can be pellets, flake or frozen to supplement their diets, to keep their diets balanced.

There is a scientific study of marine food out there that was done that can help you choose what type of food you want to feed to reduce the amount of phosphates. If you google it you should be able to find it, if I'm not mistaken, it was actually done by Randy Holmes who is a chemist that is very active on these forums. In his study, I recall a section in which it states that rinsing food makes very little difference. The amount of phosphate removed by rinsing the food is literally insignificant. It is a great read and will definitely benefit you.

Happy Reefing!
 
Alright, that is quite a few fish but it isn't too many either.

If you find that an entire cube is not being eaten, split the cube in half. Feed 1/2 a cube a day and see how that goes. As long as your fish retain a nice thick body conformation, they are being fed enough. If you see belly dipping of the fish or its getting thinner, increase the amount of food you feed. You don't necessarily need to feed 3 times a day for your species of fish. Some species of fish, like anthias, require consistent feeding thru out the entire day but with what you have, 1 meal a day is plenty.

Controlling nitrates and phosphates requires more attention since you have a good number of fish. Reducing the amount you feed does indeed reduce the nitrates and phosphates in your tank, however, even if the fish consume all the food, they aren't necessarily retaining all of it, especially adult fish who are no longer growing. This will just end up as nitrates and phosphates. If your system is no longer removing these efficiently to levels to that you prefer, you will need to update your removal system.

So, if you reduce the amount you feed, you could indeed reduce nitrate and phosphate down to levels that you would prefer but that means you possibly could starve your fish which I'm sure your not for. lol. However, since you already have all these inhabitants, I would recommend increasing your nitrate and phosphate removal systems, this way you can continue to feed your fish properly. As your young pajamas grow, the amount of food they require will increase and so will your nitrates and phosphates. If you haven't already done so, start with some macro algae, grow it and either discard it, sell it or give it away to export the nitrates and phosphates. You can also go with biopellets to remove nitrates and phosphates but biopellets are only effective when nitrates are present. If your tank can efficiently remove nitrates or keep it relatively low, use GFO to remove the phosphates. You can load up your tank with quite a few inhabitants as long as you have the bacteria to process the ammonia -> nitrite-> nitrate and then provide systems that remove large amounts of nitrate and phosphate that you introduce in to the system when feeding all your inhabitants. Make sure you read up on these types of nitrate and phosphate removal systems because I may have given you the answer to dealing with nitrates and phosphates but these systems still need to be well understood and managed properly to work as intended. They aren't simply plug and win systems.

Now for food types, I would recommend adding some omnivorous food source, it can be pellets, flake or frozen to supplement their diets, to keep their diets balanced.

There is a scientific study of marine food out there that was done that can help you choose what type of food you want to feed to reduce the amount of phosphates. If you google it you should be able to find it, if I'm not mistaken, it was actually done by Randy Holmes who is a chemist that is very active on these forums. In his study, I recall a section in which it states that rinsing food makes very little difference. The amount of phosphate removed by rinsing the food is literally insignificant. It is a great read and will definitely benefit you.

Happy Reefing!
Thanks for all the good info. When I acquired the tank from my friend nitrates were well over 200ppm. We've been working to reduce them and are now to between 5 and 10 now and are hoping to prevent them from getting out of hand again. With those efforts and the use of some phosphate remover we've gotten the phosphate down and under control as well. The pajamas are recent additions and weren't included in the stock we received. I've ordered some new foods and hope to be providing them a better diet within a few days!
 

IF YOU HAD TO TAKE A REEFING EXAM, WOULD YOU PASS?

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  • Not yet, but I have one that I want to buy in mind!

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  • No.

    Votes: 26 37.1%
  • Other (please explain).

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