food recommendations??

lazycouch · Jun 25, 2020

hey guys i’m new to the hobby and i have a small clown and small banggai cardinal (about 1-1.5in). the banggai has been in the tank for about 2.5 weeks and clown about 1.5 weeks. the clown eats real well mysis, blood worms, flakes but i rarely see the banggai eat anything. he chews every food i try giving him and spits it out, even goes straight to the baster trying to get the food but spits it out no matter how big the food piece is. they both seem to really enjoy picking pods off the glass so my ultimate question is is there some super food or something that no fish can resist eating maybe? i’d like to buy them some pods and was also wondering which ones you’d recommend? either way i don’t think pods are enough for the banggai so if you guys have any input on a different food i can try that’d be awesome. (ps i do thaw out the frozen foods before feeding them and i have the idea of trying to break the shrimp and worms down some more to smaller bits but im unsure that will work) sorry for the long message and thanks for your input!

Billldg · Jun 25, 2020

It sounds like the food is to big for the cardinal. May need to feed some baby brine shrimp. I soak my food in Selcon. When I had some fish in QT a little while ago it they seemed to really love it vs. other times I fed fish in QT.

nukemdanno · Jun 25, 2020

You also can DIY your own frozen food out of shrimp, scallop, oyster, squid. Puree it into paste and freeze it. There are recipes online with the addition of vitamins and nori flakes. My Banggai is a voracious eater that attempts any size food particle it can get into it's mouth. But the above blend is what I feed. it can take a couple days to get them to recognize it as a food source but once they do, they hammer it

lazycouch · Jun 25, 2020

nukemdanno said:
You also can DIY your own frozen food out of shrimp, scallop, oyster, squid. Puree it into paste and freeze it. There are recipes online with the addition of vitamins and nori flakes. My Banggai is a voracious eater that attempts any size food particle it can get into it's mouth. But the above blend is what I feed. it can take a couple days to get them to recognize it as a food source but once they do, they hammer it

that’s literally what i just thought of doing and did it! but i currently only have mysis and blood worms. will definitely look into it some more. great minds think alike! i was thinking that’d be something to do but then i wasn’t sure about the longevity of the concoctions in terms of them rotting with the different animal juices or something but then again you can make small batches at a time. thanks!

vetteguy53081 · Jun 26, 2020

Banghai is a meat eater and will eat:
Mysis shrimp
Small plankton
Brine shrimp
Lrs fish frenzy

lazycouch · Jun 26, 2020

vetteguy53081 said:
Banghai is a meat eater and will eat:
Mysis shrimp
Small plankton
Brine shrimp
Lrs fish frenzy

what kind of plankton would you recommend?

vetteguy53081 · Jun 26, 2020

lazycouch said:
what kind of plankton would you recommend?

Hikari or Rods

ReeferWarrant · Jun 26, 2020

Hit up your local asian market, I spent maybe $30 and I have barely made a dent on feeding my fish with it in a matter of 3 months. Blend squid, octopus, clams, shrimp, fish, nori (natural) and mix with flake food. Then freezed it in a small silicon ice cube maker.

lazycouch · Jun 26, 2020

ReeferWarrant said:
Hit up your local asian market, I spent maybe $30 and I have barely made a dent on feeding my fish with it in a matter of 3 months. Blend squid, octopus, clams, shrimp, fish, nori (natural) and mix with flake food. Then freezed it in a small silicon ice cube maker.

great idea! appreciate it!

iceman14555 · Jun 26, 2020

I've been really happy with LRS fish frenzy and reef frenzy, rotated with Dr. G's gut loaded mysis, and New Life spectrum probiotix pellets.

My clowns have already gotten noticably bigger in the 3 weeks I've had them. My watchman goby loves the Dr. G's.

nukemdanno · Jun 26, 2020

lazycouch said:
that’s literally what i just thought of doing and did it! but i currently only have mysis and blood worms. will definitely look into it some more. great minds think alike! i was thinking that’d be something to do but then i wasn’t sure about the longevity of the concoctions in terms of them rotting with the different animal juices or something but then again you can make small batches at a time. thanks!

Also I forgot to mention...freeze the food then you cut small portions to thaw and feed. I use ziploc bags, spread the food out flat in the bag to about a half inch thick. Freeze flat then cut and serve