Feeding?

Adam113 · Mar 6, 2017

Just a few questions on feeding.

Right now the inhabitants are:
5 snails (3 astrea, 2 can't remember)
4 hermit crabs
2 emerald crabs
1 cleaner shrimp (brand new)
Few brittle stars that came in live rock
2 clown fish
1 firefish

I was using flake food just about every day, then frozen shrimp every few days. I have since decided to stop with the flake food, and go with the frozen shrimp pellets only. I supplement with seaweed as well.

I guess my question is, is this a good feeding habit? And how often and how much should I feed based on my inhabitants. It's a 29g cube.

Thanks for any help!

Adam113 · Mar 7, 2017

Anybody? I've heard conflicting recommendations on this, and I assumed this was due to varying tank sizes and inhabitants. I've heard everything between every other day to three times a day.

Thanks

laga77 · Mar 7, 2017

Not using flake is always a good choice. In your case, you can use small frozen mysis or any of the frozen blends like Reef Frenzy. You can cut up larger chunks with scissors if needed. No need to add seaweed as your inhabitants will eat whatever algae grows in your tank. Just don't feed the same thing all the time. Switch things up a bit as variety is better over time.

MaiReef · Mar 7, 2017

I think Ocean Nutrition Formula 1 and Formula 2 flake and pellets are great for the reef for multiple reasons.
One is that once it it in small pieces all life can consume it.
Two is that it provides a balanced diet for digestion that fish get in the wild.
Three is that if you go on vacation, a simple auto feeder will keep your tank okay until you return.
Four is that it adds Nitrates and Phosphates consistently with an auto feeder for filter feeders, coral and macro algae.
I personally feed a combination of those two flakes twice a day and frozen around once a day. I say around because it is sometimes none and sometimes twice.

For example the Formula 1 feeds snails and hermits as well and the Formula 2 also feeds the Emerald crabs

Adam113 · Mar 7, 2017

laga77 said:
Not using flake is always a good choice. In your case, you can use small frozen mysis or any of the frozen blends like Reef Frenzy. You can cut up larger chunks with scissors if needed. No need to add seaweed as your inhabitants will eat whatever algae grows in your tank. Just don't feed the same thing all the time. Switch things up a bit as variety is better over time.

Right now I'm just using frozen mysis. I usually fed about a third or a half a cube a day.

I started adding seaweed because my emerald crabs were turning a bit white. They're greening back up now. The seaweed drives them, my cleaner Shrimp, and my hermits crazy. They seem to love it.

Is feeding every day okay for my set up? I noticed when I would feed the flakes every day I'd get a lot of build up all over my sand. Tank got dirty fast as I assume I was overfeeding.

MaiReef · Mar 7, 2017

I personally do not have build up, but I have a descent amount of flow and my engineer and clown keep a bunch in the water column to get filtered if not eaten by the fish. I think the amount is key. A bit more than the fish can eat in 5 minutes has been my rule of thumb over the years.

Adam113 · Mar 7, 2017

MaiReef said:
I personally do not have build up, but I have a descent amount of flow and my engineer and clown keep a bunch in the water column to get filtered if not eaten by the fish. I think the amount is key. A bit more than the fish can eat in 5 minutes has been my rule of thumb over the years.

It may have been the food as well. It was national geographics tropical fish flakes or something. The tank was my dads, and we lost him to cancer about 8 months ago. The tank had been pretty much abandoned, and was overgrown with so much crap and only a few surviving snails. I brought the snails to the fish store and started over. This tank is kind of a memory to my Dad. I was just using his flakes that he had used before.