Fish feeding and over feeding

Mr.Weathers · Mar 5, 2021

We recently discovered a huge outbreak of digitate hydroids and have already been battling vermitides. After watching some videos I think our main problem was over feeding that lead to pests overpopulating. We have went from flakes being blown around in the tank 10-15 min after feeding to trying to get all the food gone within 5min. We have a 125gal 6ft. With a big sump/fuge. Our big fish our mag foxface, blue hippo, yellow tang, sailfin, and a powder brown then a decent some of smaller fish ranging from Toby puffer to coral beauty nemos and gobbies. We run filter socks and a oversized skimmer. If anyone could share some videos of feeding with similar setups I’d be extremely grateful! I don’t want to starve my fish. I only feed once a day but it was a big amount and they never acted as hungry as they are now after 2 days of this cut down. There is still food not getting eaten but our flakes seem to be so small idk if they even notice them.

JCM · Mar 5, 2021

Try feeding something besides flakes? I know your bigger fish would appreciate some nori.

Jekyl · Mar 5, 2021

I would throw the flakes in the garbage and get frozen.

vetteguy53081 · Mar 5, 2021

The idea is to starve the droids and soon they vanish. Aim water flow towards them, Not at them and they will not have an opportunity to get food. They favor brine shrimp and other frozen foods. . . Rarely flakes.

Mr.Weathers · Mar 6, 2021

Thanks for the reply’s we do offer nori every other day but our fish seem to love flakes. We use formula one and prime reef flakes. I will try to direct flow more towards the hydroids. Either way we are feeding much less I really hope it will kill them off. They are only bothering my zoas for now even though they are everywhere.

polyppal · Mar 6, 2021

IMO frozen food is far superior to flake/pellet/etc, and can be utilized by other things like corals better.

I feed a fraction of a frozen cube in the morning, then I have a Avast Plank on a Apex timer that dispenses a tiny amount of food every 2 hours (I have anthias) and it works great. Unlimited Nori on a seaweed clip. When it looked like too much food, I just shortened the timer interval until I had it dialed in.

The more they eat, the better. But if you notice leftovers in the tank then its too much food going in.

xxkenny90xx · Mar 6, 2021

zatch said:
IMO frozen food is far superior to flake/pellet/etc, and can be utilized by other things like corals better.

I feed a fraction of a frozen cube in the morning, then I have a Avast Plank on a Apex timer that dispenses a tiny amount of food every 2 hours (I have anthias) and it works great. Unlimited Nori on a seaweed clip. When it looked like too much food, I just shortened the timer interval until I had it dialed in.

The more they eat, the better. But if you notice leftovers in the tank then its too much food going in.

Frozen food should be better but those pet store cubes really aren't great quality and I'm sure have been thawed and refrozen numerous times. Best to get seafood that is sold for human consumption imo

Reef. · Mar 6, 2021

No need to reduce the feedings that much, just feed less more often so there are no left overs.

Timfish · Mar 6, 2021

I've been very happy using NLS pellets in an autofeeder set to feed very small amounts 6, 8 or 10 times a day. I don'tknow what your setup is but I'll set an autofeeder 8", 12" above the water so the pellets sink faster. I've also setup "feeding tubes" which drop pellets into the return pump intake which spreads the pellets throughout the tank.

maugustine · Mar 14, 2021

We just switched to rod’s frozen.. per this site and many recommendations from the community
.. it has made such a different.. even the corals are happier!!
i ordered it online and it got here in 2 days if your lfs doesn’t have it.. it’s fabulous.. we also are working on getting measures amounts each feeding so we can tell exactly how much they need without creating waste which was spiking our nitrates and causing over algae growth!
not an expert but this really did help

vetteguy53081 · Mar 14, 2021

maugustine said:
We just switched to rod’s frozen.. per this site and many recommendations from the community
.. it has made such a different.. even the corals are happier!!
i ordered it online and it got here in 2 days if your lfs doesn’t have it.. it’s fabulous.. we also are working on getting measures amounts each feeding so we can tell exactly how much they need without creating waste which was spiking our nitrates and causing over algae growth!
not an expert but this really did help

Good stuff and a variety of formulas

beginner_reefer · Mar 31, 2021

vetteguy53081 said:
Good stuff and a variety of formulas

Is there a website?

Jekyl · Mar 31, 2021

beginner_reefer said:
Is there a website?

Most LFS will carry either rods or lrs

beginner_reefer · Mar 31, 2021

Jekyl said:
Most LFS will carry either rods or lrs

Thank you!

monkeyCmonkeyDo · Mar 31, 2021

This + rods carnivour. Fish only. Also feeding cheap marine cuisine cubes. Lol.
The rods is the supierior but the roe is easy.
I usually feed 2 or 3 times before i go to work. No more than 3 minutes worth of food.
D

Unregistered1 · Mar 31, 2021

vetteguy53081 said:
The idea is to starve the droids and soon they vanish. Aim water flow towards them, Not at them and they will not have an opportunity to get food. They favor brine shrimp and other frozen foods. . . Rarely flakes.

Thats good to know