how much are you feeding

[Qasimja]

right now i have a medium sized coral beauty, large tomato clown, medium lyretail anthia, medium sized one spot rabbit fish and 2x pyramid butterfly fish is 2 full cubes of mysis shrimp too much to be feeding per day does that sound like too much? i feed them twice a day i also feed pellets every other day but the anthia doesnt seem to like pellets yet

 

[BadFish619]

Sounds like a bit much. I use about a full cube once a day for 2 large clowns, 2 fire fish, puffer, goby, 2 crabs and a shrimp. As long as they eat it all and don't leave food all over you will be ok tho.

 

[CivicS14]

I feed about 3-4 cubes of mysis a day + auto feeder 3 times a day with pellets and about a sheet of seaweed a week.

I have 3 yellow tangs, 1 convict tang, 1 bellus angel, 2 leopard wrasses, timor wrasse, 6 line wrasse, & 1 clown

 

[Qasimja]

ah yes i forgot i also put seaweed up 3 times a week the only fish that really eats it is the rabbit fish and the coral beauty eats the pieces that break off so do the butterfly fish

 

[Fishurama]

It does seem like a lot to me. I feed my 1 large sailfin(8 or so inches), 1 black ice snowflake clown, 1 blue damsel , 1 green brittle star, 1 snowflake eel, 2 mini maxis, 1 green bubble tip, 1 rock anemone, 1 orange spotted goby, 1 melanurus wrasse, 1 spotted mandarin, 1 scooter blenny, 1 lawnmower blenny, and a clown goby among the clean up crew, 1 full cube of mysis or brine depending on the day along with 1-2 ripped up pieces of krill(depending on size) mixed in and 3 full pieces of krill(2 for the snow flake eel to keep it away from eating my small fish and 1 for the bubble tip anemone every few days) I do a full sheet in a day for my tang. You should also add some kind of veggie for the coral beauty among others.

EDIT: Oops saw your post about the veggie.

 

[dansreef]

I would ask what are your nutrient levels (Nitrates & Phosphates) .... if they are not out of whack....then you should be fine with the level of feeding you do. My tank is almost "too efficient" at exporting nutrients.... and I find it difficult at times to feed my fish and corals enough to keep my nutrients up and at the proper levels. OF course... my fish eat very well and are very fat.

IF you are efficient at exporting nutrients, you can feed more.

 

[mta_morrow]

Do they eat it all when you feed them?

if so, then your not feeding to much!

if they don’t eat it all, then you are feeding to much!

it’s how I have always fed, and in my current tank I have 30+ fish of different sizes.

 

[ScottB]

I pretty much follow the same philosophy as @dansreef and track NO3 and PO4 weekly to ensure my nutrient import/export balance is maintained.

 

[Qasimja]

Do they eat it all when you feed them?

if so, then your not feeding to much!

if they don’t eat it all, then you are feeding to much!

it’s how I have always fed, and in my current tank I have 30+ fish of different sizes.

yea they seem to eat most if not all of it the tomato clown is a pig she will out chase all the fish for food thats why i started feeding so much so the others could get enough

I would ask what are your nutrient levels (Nitrates & Phosphates) .... if they are not out of whack....then you should be fine with the level of feeding you do. My tank is almost "too efficient" at exporting nutrients.... and I find it difficult at times to feed my fish and corals enough to keep my nutrients up and at the proper levels. OF course... my fish eat very well and are very fat.

IF you are efficient at exporting nutrients, you can feed more.

my nitrates are at 10 and my phosphates are at 0.03 but i run gfo

 

[TvanB1]

It really depends on export / filtration. I feed 4x-5x per day with frozen, pellet, paste, live, etc.
The more you feed the more you need to filter.
I do water changes once every two weeks on top of GFO, skimmer, marinepure, filter socks, etc.

 

[dansreef]

my nitrates are at 10 and my phosphates are at 0.03 but i run gfo

To me.... those levels are just fine....and your feeding is fine. If they start to rise, then you either export the nutrients... or feed less.

I have a large system about 225 twv... and I run a big skimmer and a large algae scrubber.... I dont have issues with nutrient buildup. In fact, I am too efficient which has led to a long battle with dinos.... which I have in check by having Nitrates between 10-20 and phosphates around .05. I dont worry about a little cyano or green algae... just as long the dinos don't flare-up. It works for me... and my fish love to eat like pigs.....

 

[lapin]

Ditto;
I pretty much follow the same philosophy as @dansreef and track NO3 and PO4 weekly to ensure my nutrient import/export balance is maintained.

 

[DzidtheReefer]

When im off from work ill feed 5-6 times a day of LRS, Rods, and pellet. I use about a sheet of algae a week. I have 5 tangs, 3 wrasses, 2gobies, 3 blennys. All of my fish are fat

 

[Qasimja]

When im off from work ill feed 5-6 times a day of LRS, Rods, and pellet. I use about a sheet of algae a week. I have 5 tangs, 3 wrasses, 2gobies, 3 blennys. All of my fish are fat

I want to try feeding reef frenzy and rods the next time I go to my lfs I'm gonna pick some up

 

[DzidtheReefer]

Get yourself the fish frenzy aswell. By feeding a variety of foods, your fish will become pigs and become more immune

 

[ScottB]

I will tag in again to suggest that the quality/variety of fish food is more important than the volume (within limits of course).

Once a month I go buy raw clams, oysters, mussels, squid and a fish of the day filet. Add to this sheets of nori and toss in the blender (when spouse is out). That mush goes into ice cube trays and last the month. Day before needed, a cube goes into feeding tupperwares and an equal amount of mysis is added along with some selcon.

Credit for this recipe goes to folks on this forum but has some logic if not science alongside. OK, except for the fact that the mollusks available here are not the least bit tropical. And they are all irradiated for human consumption. Maybe I have recreated a debate that should have its own thread but cannot help but share what works for me.

 

[SDK]

Good advice from all and I just wanted to second the nutritional aspects and mention variety. The Anthias that are not taking pellets yet are just getting mysis, which is not ideal long term.

If you are not ready to start dealing with live food or shucking clams just yet, at least get a few more frozen varieties. LRS reef frenzy and spirulina enriched frozen brine are both good initial choices.

Try mixing in some pellets into your frozen food when you thaw it. The pellets will soak up some of the juice and that may help getting the Anthias to start taking to it...

 

[Qasimja]

Good advice from all and I just wanted to second the nutritional aspects and mention variety. The Anthias that are not taking pellets yet are just getting mysis, which is not ideal long term.

If you are not ready to start dealing with live food or shucking clams just yet, at least get a few more frozen varieties. LRS reef frenzy and spirulina enriched frozen brine are both good initial choices.

Try mixing in some pellets into your frozen food when you thaw it. The pellets will soak up some of the juice and that may help getting the Anthias to start taking to it...

thanks im gonna try mixing the pellets into the mysis food maybe that will get the anthia eating it and next week i plan to get a few different varieties of food from my lfs mainy fish frenzy and rods

 

[HB AL]

I’m now up to 12 to 15 Hikari cubes a day. 14 fish

 

[naterealbig]

I’m now up to 12 to 15 Hikari cubes a day. 14 fish

Good god man, that is almost a pack of Mysis a day. Some quick math says your spending minimum > $200/mo on Mysis alone. Certainly that enormous load of corals are consuming the majority. Tank looks beautiful. Well done.

For what it's worth, I'm in the high import, high export club as well. generally speaking, I'd say your feeding sounds good, assuming your phosphate and nitrate levels are stable.