How often and what to feed my fish?

[saullman]

I have a 45 gallon JBJ with 3 fish in it. I have a scooter blenny, a black clown, and a six line Wrasse. I am trying not to over feed my fish, but I'm not sure what I should be feeding and how often?

Almost forgot to mention that I have a algae issue that I can't manage to get rid of. I got my water tested at WWC. They tested for nitrite and nitrate and said my levels were ok. Nitrate was between 10-15ppm. I also tested phosphates on my own with a salifert test kit and everything looked good. 0 phosphates. I am also using rowa phos in my system. I adjusted my ai prime to run all blues throughout the day with 3 hours of whites in between from 2-5. Oh, and I have a Tunze skimmer that I run all the time. I do bi-weekly 10 % water changes. My corals are all doing good. Just not sure why I can't get rid of this algae?

 

[James M]

Scooter Benny should have tons of pods but is constantly competing with the six line.
You could feed a mixture of flakes, pellets, and frozen

 

[rkpetersen]

For the clown and wrasse I'd probably feed about 1/2 a cube of mysis or mega marine once or twice a day. You can thaw it and rinse it with tank water before feeding which will reduce the amount of uneaten organics in the water. The blenny may not be able to find enough food if your tank isn't mature. Do you siphon the algae when you do water changes? I'd also decrease the amount/percentage of white light output during the time that you have it on.

 

[Jesterrace]

LRS Reef Frenzy. Pretty much everything you need in one food source.

 

[saullman]

For the clown and wrasse I'd probably feed about 1/2 a cube of mysis or mega marine once or twice a day. You can thaw it and rinse it with tank water before feeding which will reduce the amount of uneaten organics in the water. The blenny may not be able to find enough food if your tank isn't mature. Do you siphon the algae when you do water changes? I'd also decrease the amount/percentage of white light output during the time that you have it on.

The blenny seems ok for food. I have had him for a while now. He just grazes on the pods all day. My tank is about a year and a half old. I moved it in Sept, but I don't think that resets the clock. The clown and the Wrasse are both new. Just bought them from WWC a few days ago.

As far as the algae is concerned. Yes, I siphon when I do my water changes. I will pick off as much as I can by hand from the rock and try to manually remove it from the sand bed. I will also try decreasing the white light. Right now it is set to ramp up to 25% for 3 hours during the day. No reds or greens.

 

[Pbh-reef]

Maybe consider adding to your CuC or get a blenny like a tailspot to help with the algae? It looks like hair algae to me, in that case a hector or rainford goby can eat it for you.

 

[Katrina71]

Increase your water changes to 20-25% bi-weekly.

 

[norfolkgarden]

In a 45 gallon tank just 1 or 2 trochus snails OR 1 small turbo snail OR a half dozen ceriths OR 1 or 2 astrea snails should take care of your algae problem in a few weeks without starving and dying and adding more phospate and nitrate back into your tank.

I would add 2 or 3 blue leg hermits. But keep in mind they prefer cerith snail shells for homes and will often kill the live ceriths even if you have provided empty cerith shells for them to grow into.

If they are easily available, 2 trochus andxa few tiny blue legs would be my first choice. [emoji846]

 

[RMS18]

I feed 3-4 times a day, totaling 8 cubes of frozen food a day plus some live black worms in a 120.

I have no CUC - something i'm trying on this new system, well see how it works!

 

[Jesterrace]

No cleanup crew and 8 cubes of frozen food per day? That definitely won't last. Is it a barebottom tank?

 

[norfolkgarden]

I feed 3-4 times a day, totaling 8 cubes of frozen food a day plus some live black worms in a 120.

I have no CUC - something i'm trying on this new system, well see how it works!

Lol, even more than I eat. [emoji846]

May I suggest a quarter cube a day for that number of fish and you can spread it out over 3 feedings.

I have 18 fat fish in a 75 gallon. They are all under 3". And that is really *way* too many fish for 75 gallons.

I feed them the flat pack equivalent of less than 3 cubes a day. That amount is spread out over several times a day.
And they are over fed!
A lot of it drops down to the 8 too many serpent starfish and brittle starfish.

 

[RMS18]

No cleanup crew and 8 cubes of frozen food per day? That definitely won't last. Is it a barebottom tank?

Nope, there is a sand bed. The fish eat up almost everything. The system just hit 2 months old, been feeding this way since week 2. So far other than some slight uglies for a 2 month old system all is looking good. Like i said i am "trying" it out to see how it goes however with bi-weekly water changes, sand siphoning, great skimmer and refuge i have a good feeling - What lead me to this was what occurred in my last tank. At the end of the life of the system before the upgrade, I realized there wasn't much of a CUC left at all, yet my tank was running the same. We shall see!

 

[saullman]

In a 45 gallon tank just 1 or 2 trochus snails OR 1 small turbo snail OR a half dozen ceriths OR 1 or 2 astrea snails should take care of your algae problem in a few weeks without starving and dying and adding more phospate and nitrate back into your tank.

I would add 2 or 3 blue leg hermits. But keep in mind they prefer cerith snail shells for homes and will often kill the live ceriths even if you have provided empty cerith shells for them to grow into.

If they are easily available, 2 trochus andxa few tiny blue legs would be my first choice. [emoji846]

I forgot to mention that I already have 3-4 trochus snails, 2 nassarius snails, and a handful (prob 6-7) blue leg hermits. Plus, I had 3 or 4 larger Mexican turbo snails, but everytime I buy them they just become food for the hermits so I stopped buying them. Nothing seems to be working for me.