What and how often are you feeding?

[nosduj]

Trying to come up with a better game plan for feeding my reef tank, I currently feed flake regularly with frozen approx twice a week. My fish obviously prefer the frozen food, but some day its hard to find time. For flake food I use TDO chroma boost. When using frozen I generally use a combo of LRS reef frenzy or frozen mysis combined with Benepets benereef. What and how do you feed?

 

[KrisReef]

Fresh & frozen clams
Hikari frozen cubes -rotofers, brine shrimp, cyclopods, Mysis, spirulina and brine shrimp, blood worms .
Rod’s Food frozen
Ocean Nutrition F2 pellets
Random other frozen brands/ cubes
BBQ salmon fresh cooked

 

[Uncle99]

Frozen, Mysis, brine, bloodworms, and krill, once morn, once night
An automated flake in the afternoon.
I have 4 tangs so they eat above + one sheet of nori per day.
I’ve been feeding this way more than 6 years now.
Keep an eye on your nitrates and phosphates to ensure the amount of feeding is not ramping them upwards.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

I love rods foods but have been feeding petco Sally's krill and cubes of different packs. I feed 1 time daily 3 cubes.
250g display with say 20 fish.
D

 

[Jedi1199]

I mix up a weeks worth of frozen cubes and feed heavily once per day. I use a combination of at least 9 or 10 foods. Brine, mysis, rotifers, plankton, reef plankton. emerald entree, seaweed delight, coral cuisine, cyclops, a good couple spoonfulls of flakes, and often a tablespoon of benepets. Add everything to a half pint mason jar, fill with tank water and put in refrigerator. I add 4 good tablespoons in the tank every day.

 

[Petcrazyson]

I feed my fish twice a day, will spot feed goby/shrimp pair once. This is my fish food list:

Nori (Seaweed) - (on a clip)
Frozen Mysis Shrimp
Frozen Omega Brine Shrimp
Frozen Spirulina Brine Shrimp,
Frozen Reef Plankton
Frozen Plankton
Frozen Fish Eggs
Frozen Copepods (Cyclops)
San Francisco Bay Brand: Marine Cuisine
San Francisco Bay Brand: Coral Cuisine
San Francisco Bay Brand: Emerald Entree- (Plankton, Krill, Spinach, Romanine Lettuce, Red-leaf Lettuce, Spirulina)
San Francisco Bay Brand: Angel and Butterfly formula-
(Sponge, Mysis, Mussels)
Fresh Krill
Fresh Shrimp
Fresh Spinach (on a clip)
Fresh Banana (a treat given every once in a while)
Fresh Clams (treat given more often)

 

[X-37B]

Larry's
Mysis
Brine
Marine cuisine
Hikari pellets

Current 3 systems 22 fish total get 3 cubes of frozen 2x a day between them.

 

[Jedi1199]

Nori (Seaweed) - (on a clip)
Frozen Mysis Shrimp
Frozen Omega Brine Shrimp
Frozen Spirulina Brine Shrimp,
Frozen Reef Plankton
Frozen Plankton
Frozen Fish Eggs
Frozen Copepods (Cyclops)
San Francisco Bay Brand: Marine Cuisine
San Francisco Bay Brand: Coral Cuisine
San Francisco Bay Brand: Emerald Entree- (Plankton, Krill, Spinach, Romanine Lettuce, Red-leaf Lettuce, Spirulina)
San Francisco Bay Brand: Angel and Butterfly formula-
(Sponge, Mysis, Mussels)
Fresh Krill
Fresh Shrimp
Fresh Spinach (on a clip)
Fresh Banana (a treat given every once in a while)
Fresh Clams (treat given more often)

Looks similar to my menu. I switch between the spirulina and regular brine. I forgot that I often add Angel formula 2 and Pygmy Angel formula cubes to the mix. I don't have any angels in my systems currently, but there is a lot of stuff in those cubes that everything else likes.

 

[exnisstech]

I mix up a weeks worth of frozen cubes and feed heavily once per day. I use a combination of at least 9 or 10 foods. Brine, mysis, rotifers, plankton, reef plankton. emerald entree, seaweed delight, coral cuisine, cyclops, a good couple spoonfulls of flakes, and often a tablespoon of benepets. Add everything to a half pint mason jar, fill with tank water and put in refrigerator. I add 4 good tablespoons in the tank every day.

Does the food stay good for a week refrigerated? I feed quite a bit of frozen variety but your method sounds like something I'd like to try. Momma could even feed if needed in a pinch.

 

[Jedi1199]

Does the food stay good for a week refrigerated? I feed quite a bit of frozen variety but your method sounds like something I'd like to try. Momma could even feed if needed in a pinch.

Been doing it this way for almost 2 years. Never had an issue.

I wouldn't mix up more than what I can use in about 5 days... tops.

 

[tigre44]

I feed frozen and pellets each day. I voted for other for this reason

 

[nosduj]

Been doing it this way for almost 2 years. Never had an issue.

I wouldn't mix up more than what I can use in about 5 days... tops.

That's a great thought, I don't feed frozen daily due to the fact of not having time to properly thaw and mix, it would be very convenient to just grab a jar from the fridge and spoon into the tank

 

[Nanogeek815]

I feed frozen hikari daily, and don't feed 1 day per week so that cleanup fish (wrasse, filefish, tangs, etc) do their job.

 

[Scottrshoe]

I made my own frozen food mix toady....

I used:

LRS Reef Frenzy Nano
Hikari Marine S pellets
BRS freeze-dried Mysis shrimp soaked in selcon
Two Little Fishes Mixed Seaweed Flakes
BRS Reef Chile
and some RO/DI water

I found some silicone ice-cube trays online that make 3/8 inch cubes. I made one tray of RO/DI cubes, then used those cubes in my Ninja chopper to mix and keep the LRS cold as I made the concoction. (I purchased the chopper specifically for this, because I like being married)

I added in the other ingredients (I didn't measure, but just kind of eyeballed the additional ingredients) and blended it and diluted with RO/DI water to the consistency I was looking for. I then added it back into the ice-cube trays and froze in the deep freeze. (all of this while my wife is at work, of course )

removed the cubes from the trays and placed in a plastic container for easy access.

Fed my first one this afternoon, and the fish all went nuts for it. The Dottyback and the blenny were swimming in and out of the Gourmet Frozen Feeder, and chasing the pieces around the tank. For the first time, I saw the diamond goby eat from the water column!

So far, very pleased with the results....will see how it does more long term, and if I see any benefits in my corals.

Some images of the process and the first feeding below:

Supplies I used

Mixing the LRS and ice cubes

Adding in the rest of the ingredients

Mixture added to trays, and the left over in a bag for the next batch

Final product:

Fish enjoying the first taste

I have a 20g tank. I feed one cube, twice a day....just drop it in the IM Gourmet Feeder, hit the feed button on the return pump and walk away.

 

[Reeferbadness]

Been doing it this way for almost 2 years. Never had an issue.

I wouldn't mix up more than what I can use in about 5 days... tops.

I also refrigerate my frozen food BUT have read, and it makes sense, that some key nutrients deteriorate after 48 hours of being in the fridge (vs frozen) so usually, just make a batch for 2 or 3 days.

 

[Jedi1199]

I personally have never seen an issue with what I do as far as feeding. I do defrost 5 cubes daily for the 180G pred tank. Usually I do this while I am packing my lunch for work. It really only takes about 5 or 6 minutes to defrost cubes for feeding.

Since I feed such a variety to the reef tank, it would be quite difficult to do this on a daily basis. It is far better for me, to make a batch for a few days rather than try to make a mix on a daily basis.

 

[EricR]

I like to mix it up a bit but my norm is twice a day, half and half of:
-- Ocean Nutrition Formula Two flakes soaked in Selcon
-- Minced chunks of clam bought live from supermarket but then shucked and frozen for use

*scoop some tank water in a small cup, mix it all up, and dump/blast it into the tank