what do you feed your fishies?

[oranje]

hey reefers,

so i know its important to diversify the diets of my fish, but does that just mean different kinds of flake food? or different kinds of frozen preperations...?

right now, i have a couple kinds of flake food, shrimp for my puffer, and brine shrimp for my cardinals... but, i figure i could spice up their diet a bit.

so, what do you feed your fishies?

 

[AnotherGoldenTeapot]

All of my fish / shrimp get fed Tetra-Bits.

The only exception is my mandarin that feeds itself - I do provide a refugium to help things along though. It's gotten much fatter since I added the refugium too

Very ocassionally I'll toss in some norri or some macro algae from the refugium.

 

[esmithiii]

Every day:
-Nori sheets
-Mysid shrimp
-spirulina flake

Every third day
-formula 1 or
-emerald entree
-brine shrimp plus

 

[davelin315]

spirulina flake and mysis every few days, and when I prune, caulerpa. It's not an everyday thing that I feed my fish (sometimes it is) but they seem to stay nice and fat by eating what's already available in my tank (my pacific blue tangs seem to stay nice and fat by snacking on xenia, which is a nice method of pruning it back so I don't have to).

 

[jchonline]

Marine Fishes (Micheal) states a feeding frequency of three times daily on many types of fish. Is this too often? I have a blueheaded wrasse, a picasso trigger, and a yellow tang in a 95G FOWLR. Thanks

 

[danmhippo]

If you can do that, that's great! However the practice simply doesn't fit into most people's lifestyle and schedule.

Most fishes in the wild graze the whole day. Unless we are talking about meat eaters such as moray, lion or sharks which each of their meal can go for so many days. Frequent small feedings are an effort to mimic their natural feeding behavior.

I would say, watch your fish. You will know if your schedule fit on them by observing their behavior when you approach the tank from time to time. Soon enough, you will be able to tell if they are hungry just by looking at them.

 

[oranje]

thanks for some insight...

in response to the frequency question, i personally feed twice daily with a good amount(morning and night), and maybe a pinch in the middle.

i feed the puffer every other day. as he's a fat little bugger, im sure he's fine with this.


i think that i overfeed, as opposed to underfeed, but i skim like crazy and do fairly frequent water changes. my fish, especially my pair of rabbitfish, let me know when theyre hungry, so i give them something when they get all frisky in the area i usually feed them :X

 

[Ben1]

Make sure your puffer is getting the right foods. If alls they ever eat are soft foods they can have problems with thier teeth down the road growing too large. Their are some good home recipes around that include something for every one.

Most use fresh whole fish, shrimp, clam, squid, nori, selcon or vitamin sup... you get the idea. If you have angels add sponge if you can get it, personalize the food for what fish you have.

 

[Anonymous]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by danmhippo:
<strong>I would say, watch your fish. You will know if your schedule fit on them by observing their behavior when you approach the tank from time to time. Soon enough, you will be able to tell if they are hungry just by looking at them.</strong><hr></blockquote>


Mine are pigs - nice and fat and constantly beg.

I feed San Fran Brand multi-packs. My wrasse goes insane for the squid!

 

[EmilyB]

I have enough fish to warrant making my own. However, I still feed a large variety, and I agree with tan, SanFran makes some good foods. Marine Cuisine is one of the favorites with my tanks.

And of course with the herbivores, lots of spirulina flake and nori, pellets both drop in and stick on...

I also skim heavily and feed lots.

 

[Anonymous]

The Multipack has Marine Cuisine, Emerald Entree, squid and frozen brine. I also rotate mysis in there. Once in a great while they get bloodworms (are they ok for the fish?) and once in a great while they get Omega One flakes. Like when I forgot to thaw somethign out for them.

 

[Stuart McCowan]

My Italian father-in-law promises to feed ME to the fishes if I don't take care of my wife...
Sorry I just couldn't resist...
And YES I DO have an Italian father-in-law...