Fish Feeding Amounts

[tdkarl]

Ok gang wierd question, how do you know if your feeding you fish enough? Here is what I currently have in my tank:

2 tangs
1 goby
1 angel
1 cleaner shrimp
6 chromis
1 bristal star
20 - 30 blue legs

How much do you suggest and how often?

I currently have been feeding them 3 froozen blocks of food. Thawed of course.

1 Prime Reef
1 Herbivore Minced (seedweed)
1 Brine Shrimp

It takes the fish about 5 minutes or so to eat all that.

[Amphibious]

Tony,

If you are feeding that amount of food once a day, in my opinion, that's not enough. Too many hobbyists and most LFSs totally under feed there critters. They feed them a survival amount instead of a thriving amount. What do you want your fish to accomplish, barely survive or thrive? They will do better in a home situation where you feed them that amount several times a day. Think about it, fish especially, swim constantly. they are burning off energy constantly. If, what you allow them to put into their belly is burned off, their metabolism mechanism will burn fat and lean muscle tissue.

By your picture you look like a healthy guy. How would you do on one hamberger a day, nothing else. Or, drastic example, the triplets being fed one bottle a day. It just doesn't compute does it.

And, pay no attention to the people telling you, "OH, you'll over feed your tank and cause all kinds of problems". The only way you can over feed your tank is...to keep pouring food in after the fish stop feeding. Of course you're not going to do that, are you.

Feed your fish an amount that will promote health and growth. that means you should see fat bellys.

That's my take on the subject.

Dick

[lReef lKeeper]

i agree with Dick, i feed my fish twice per day and they get AT LEAST what you are feeding yours.

i use to feed less than you are every other day or so, but i have changed my habits to better suite my fish's needs.

[CarmieJo]

Tony, I usually feed daily and use a variety of foods. Frozen brine shrimp is pretty devoid of nutrition unless it has been enriched.

[rroselavy]

This topic has got to be the one for which I have heard the most polarized answers.

A beginner like me is VERY confused to hear from an LFS employee that he likes to feed a lot and often, and then read in books that you should feed sparingly. My accumulated experience is in nano tanks, where feeding is sparse or with penalty.

Amphibious brings experience, and good advice in the concept of "thrive" versus "survive" - but I assume a tank's sustainability has a lot to do with how well a system can eliminate excess nutrients. Those with DSB's, Refugiums, more effective skimmers and better practices may have better luck with generous portioning than those with more meager systems and discipline.

I have 1 Ocellaris Clown (1.5"), 1 Spotted Cardinal (1.5") 1 Cleaner Shrimp and several Nassarius. I feed 1/4 cube frozen food every day or two. I feel as if I feed lightly, but my system's nitrates (~15ppm) tell me otherwise. I attribute this mainly to a lack of DSB and Refugium, although I added some Chaetomorpha recently.

[Amphibious]

My accumulated experience is in nano tanks, where feeding is sparse or with penalty.

Amphibious brings experience, and good advice in the concept of "thrive" versus "survive" - but I assume a tank's sustainability has a lot to do with how well a system can eliminate excess nutrients. Those with DSB (http://www.talkingreef.com/forums/general-fish-discussion/5157-fish-feeding-amounts.html#)'s, Refugiums (http://www.talkingreef.com/forums/general-fish-discussion/5157-fish-feeding-amounts.html#), more effective skimmers (http://www.talkingreef.com/forums/general-fish-discussion/5157-fish-feeding-amounts.html#) and better practices may have better luck with generous portioning than those with more meager systems and discipline.You bring up two good points, rroselavy, thank you.

(I previewed this post, as I always do, and see it has gotten rather long. I apologize for that. However this is an important subject that I am passionate about. Please bare with me. Thanks!)

First the Nano tank owner. A nano is generally accepted to be 30 gals and less. Nanos because of their size and space limitations are notoriously under filtered. Because of my extensive experience (60 years in the hobby), I would still feed a Nano more than most people. I like to see my fish "fat and sassy". Plus, what must seem to most of you, over eons of time I've developed a keen sense (perhaps even a skill) of recognizing how much is enough and how much is too much food at any given time. I know intimately, my systems ability to handle the amount of food I'm giving. I also have the luxury of being retired and around my tank every day all day. If you saw how much food I thaw out and feed each day you would be amazed, maybe even aghast.

Think on this. If you are feeding sparingly, your fish are surviving. If you feed generously, but within your systems capability of handling the excess, your fish will not only be surviving but thriving. In which state, surviving or thriving, will your fish's immune system be at peak efficiency??? Most fish in peak health condition can fight off most incidences of disease naturally. You, the hobbyist and owner, may never even be aware of a disease fought off naturally. Many hobbyists are aware of a disease only when it approaches disaster level. Then, it's too late in many cases.

Very recently, I stumbled across a clown fish that I'd never seen before. It was emaciated for the following reasons, the LFS guy not feeding it, it was wild caught and therefore went through the chain of capture, holding, shipping to the USA, holding, shipping to LFS. All this in about 2 weeks time without any food!!! The collector, the trans shipper, the importer, the wholesaler do not feed the fish. The reason is, if you feed them they will poop and that will/may foul the shipping water, raise Ammonia levels and kill the fish while in transit. Good point, but, it emphasizes my point about feeding more, more often. When you buy that flashy little jewel from the far off reef, it hasn't eaten in days/weeks, has been stressed big time and the LFS guy throws a bit of flake food or frozen brine shrimp at it. The fish probably will refuse to eat or pick with dis-interest the first day or two. You need to attempt feeding them often, in increasing amounts and the choicest food, as they begin to eat.

Have you ever seen stringy white fices hanging from their butts. Their intestines are really mucked up from lack of food and stress. They are constipated and the only way to get things moving is to feed them. The more you can get them to eat the better the chance they can force that bowel obstruction to pass. Once that happens it's a good bet they will recover. A case in point - The clown fish I happened onto a few days ago. Here's the best pic I could get of him because he's shy and scared in his new safe haven, my aquarium. He doesn't know yet he found a sanctuary but, he's coming around. The pic...

http://www.theculturedreef.com/RareClown.jpg

You can clearly see his belly is concave. You should have seen it when I bought him 5 days ago. He is more emaciated in the shoulder area than the picture shows. He should be fat and will be in a short while.

He was in stress every moment since capture. I asked the LFS guy if he'd started eating yet. He says, "Oh yeah, he eats pellet food". This I gotta see. He took a pinch of pellets, dropped them into the tank. The fish dove toward them as they quickly sank to the bottom. Picked one up and spit it out. The act of picking one pellet up as it sank convinced me he would eat if given a food of HIS choice. Clearly it wasn't pellet food. I decided to take him home to "The Sanctuary" where he could recover.

I recognized this clown to be wild caught and rare. I had to search for a bit before I could identify him positively. Anybody want to take a guess before I tell what it is???

If you read this whole post, I commend you! Hopefully you gained something from it.

Thank you Rob of TR for giving me/us a platform to speak out and teach.

Dick

[CarmieJo]

I'll bite. He looks like a saddleback although his "saddle" might be a little smaller than usual.

[CarmieJo]

Revision, how about A. thiellei?