how much to feed corals and fish?

[dedragon]

Nope but how far along is your tank? Corals I wouldnt put in for awhile and I would be more concerned about good brand lights, rodi filter, quality salt mix, etc, Just putting it out there if you havent I find its always good to reiterate these things to beginners

 

[Jekyl]

If just starting out focus on your parameters only. Good husbandry, good testing and proper lighting. Those things will make coral grow faster than any food on the market.

 

[dedragon]

overfeeding is a common mistake and 99% of corals dont need to be fed ever. I would do what jekyl said and just buy rods or LRS frozen foods and you are pretty set

 

[Jekyl]

Corals will survive in a new tank (6 weeks old)
However you will not see good growth until the tank is established. There are many cycles the tank goes through. The ammonia/nitrite/nitrate cycle is just the first one. It's for these reasons we always recommend a tank to be closer to a year before getting an anemone. Usually it will take a few months before corals really start thriving in a new tank. Take it slow, make sure your parameters stay where they should. Then start adding corals and experimenting with feeding and such. If you take it at a sprint you could either lose corals or if they thrive be forced into learning about dosing and what not before you're ready.

 

[PeterB113]

is the pipe fish hard to feed? do i need live rock? i was planning dry rock.

Pipefish i would only get when you have a HUGE pod population. I bought 250 amphipods on aquarium depot and put them in my tank with no fish for a 6weeks and now my tanks has thousands and still growing. Pipefish and dragonet will only eat pods extremely rare for them to go after frozen.

 

[catalystNfacade]

are you sure they wouldnt eat frozen foods?

Get a tank acclimated or breed one and it should eat pellets as well as frozen. They can be difficult to keep feed even with dry food. They will desolate your pod population.

 

[catalystNfacade]

Im in the same boat with a 20g long with clownfish,firefish goby,dragon pipefish , purple urchin, sand star and 3 hermits. I also have a ton of corals. My tanks looking good so far been running for 3 months. I definitley moved way to fast and had some problems butworking through them also i fed way too much. I was feeding a mix of reef roids marine snow and mysis cube also fuel amino acids everyday.... Now im feeding every few days and my tank looks cleaner and corals look puffier. I also feed the fish pellets as needed but my pipfish lives off all my pods. I would feed very sparingly the corals your keeping wont need alot of food if any. Id say weekly coral feeding and watcher changes and pellets for your fish dailly or every other day.hope this helps. This is what my tabk looks like today.

Careful with adding amino acids. It can lead to dino out breaks. I ran into that problem and use it sparingly now based on the color of the corals. Your tank looks beautiful

 

[PeterB113]

Careful with adding amino acids. It can lead to dino out breaks. I ran into that problem and use it sparingly now based on the color of the corals. Your tank looks beautiful

Thank you!

 

[Ro Bow]

Pipefish i would only get when you have a HUGE pod population. I bought 250 amphipods on aquarium depot and put them in my tank with no fish for a 6weeks and now my tanks has thousands and still growing. Pipefish and dragonet will only eat pods extremely rare for them to go after frozen.

so i just buy that many copepods and dump them in my tank before i add fish?

 

[Jekyl]

so i just buy that many copepods and dump them in my tank before i add fish?

Yes. However you will need to add them regularly with your tank being so small. May be best to just pick a different fish.

 

[Ro Bow]

also is a banded pipefish ok in the 20 gallon or is the tank to small for it

 

[Ro Bow]

Yes. However you will need to add them regularly with your tank being so small. May be best to just pick a different fish.

ok

 

[Jekyl]

also is a banded pipefish ok in the 20 gallon or is the tank to small for it

I would stay away from all fish that survive on a copepod population

 

[Ro Bow]

ok thanks so much

 

[PeterB113]

also is a banded pipefish ok in the 20 gallon or is the tank to small for it

The banded grow larger then the dragon pipefish. And i would put pods in a wait weeks before adding fish otherwise youll be buying pods alot.

 

[hds4216]

also is a banded pipefish ok in the 20 gallon or is the tank to small for it

I wouldn't do it.

 

[Ro Bow]

ok

 

[arichmond1003]

Corals will survive in a new tank (6 weeks old)
However you will not see good growth until the tank is established. There are many cycles the tank goes through. The ammonia/nitrite/nitrate cycle is just the first one. It's for these reasons we always recommend a tank to be closer to a year before getting an anemone. Usually it will take a few months before corals really start thriving in a new tank. Take it slow, make sure your parameters stay where they should. Then start adding corals and experimenting with feeding and such. If you take it at a sprint you could either lose corals or if they thrive be forced into learning about dosing and what not before you're ready.

100% agree. Stability is key, I’ve learned that the hard way. Make sure things like your ATO are working properly, or you have a solid regiment to manually top off. Make sure you have the right/enough lighting as well for the corals your looking to grow. Then when you are stable, and you have an established system start with the “easy” corals like zoas and move into lps then sps

 

[catalystNfacade]

also is a banded pipefish ok in the 20 gallon or is the tank to small for it

They get up to seven inches long. The Blue Strip Pipefish only gets to about 3 inches so it would probably be a better fish. They are difficult to keep alive.

 

[Cacopepo]

like some stated a mandarin not such good idea for a 20g. I had one on a 90 gallon reef one time and luckily out of the blue moon started eating flakes and pellets with the other fish but wouldn’t touch the mysis. I had him for about 2 years til I sold everything. Should start with easier fish to take care of.