Fish Food Recommendations

[SaltDog]

Hi All,

This is my first post on this forum. Let me apologize in advance - because I'm sure this topic has been discussed ad nauseum in the past; but I didn't find much after searching the current threads... so I'll go ahead and ask:

"What fish food works best for you?"

My reef tank just turned two and, overall, I've been very pleased with it's progress. Over the last 2 years, I've been using a frozen home-made formula that my local "reef expert" sells - and the fish love it! However, I've noticed that my phosphate levels are starting to get dangerously high (and, yes, I use a Berlin protein skimmer). I'm thinking that the food may be a problem because more than an insubstantial amount of it is composed of very "fine" particles that don't appear to be 'edible'. The guy that sells it claims that my corals will "eat" the smaller particles... but I'm not so sure.

Anyway, I want to try some commercial foods to see if they will lower my phosphate levels - but I also want my fish to stay happy. I've read that Ocean Nutrition's Formula One and Two foods are pretty good; but I have no first-hand experience using any commercial food products - so I'm pretty much clueless. What do you folks suggest?

Here's some of my specs:
90 gal tank (30 gal sump)
120 lbs live rock with 2 years worth of coral propagation (soft and LPS)
Fish:
1 - Blue Regal Tang
1- Yellow Tang
1- Kole's Tang
2- Black-axel Chromis
1- Bicolor Blenny
1- Occ. Clownfish
1- Coral Beauty
1- Pyjama Cardinalfish
1- Neon Goby
1- Royal Gramma

I would also be interested in opinions about how much of a particular food should be administered on a daily basis to support my bio-load.

Thanks,
Marc

 

[Len]

I'm happy feeding my fish Ocean Nutrition Prime Reef frozen cubes. I supplement the feeding with some mysis shrimp and sometimes live brine shrimp soaked in selcon.

 

[SaltDog]

Len,

Thanks for the reply... can you tell me how (and how much of) the food is administered to your fish daily? Anyone else reading this... please feel free to jump in - the more expertise... the better! I am amazed at how hard it is to find a straight-forward answer in this hobby.

Thanks again,
Marc

 

[ChrisRD]

Hi Marc,

Unfortunately, it's pretty hard to recommend a particular amount of food because it depends on your tank and your fish. Basically, I feed whatever the fish will clear from the water in a few minutes. You've got some big eaters in that line-up, so I'd imagine you'll have to feed quite a bit.

I'm assuming you're feeding the tangs Nori or someting similar? Also, try defrosting frozen foods in a cup of luke-warm tapwater and strain it through a net. This allows you to add the meaty foods to the tank without dumping all the high-nutrient juices in there.

HTH

 

[Bill2]

I feed my fish anything. Whatever I win at the Local Club But when I buy I usually go with hikari mysis.

 

[Meloco14]

I use the Prime Reef flakes and a mixture of frozen brine and mysid shrimp with selcon for my meat eaters. I have frozen angel formula for my pygmy angel, but I cant get him to eat it. So I got formula 2 flakes and he loves them. My carnivores eat them too. For your fish you need some meaty foods, like prime reef or shrimp, and greens for your tangs, like formula 2 or any of the various algae foods.

 

[Anonymous]

New Life SPectrum is hands down the best food I have ever used. Everything eats it, and man does it makes the colors pop. I've had Anthias and moorish idols eating that stuff.

 

[Saltykirk]

Hey SaltDog, New Life Spectrum is a great dry food. Fish colors rival fresh imports w/ my clowns, wrasses, tangs, & grammas. When feeding your frozen, thaw it in a net & drain the water off of the frozen. That's usually where you get the phosphate. Ocean Nutrition is a good flake too.

 

[Meloco14]

Which formula of New Life Spectrum do you use? All purpose? Premium?

 

[Anonymous]

All purpose works for me. The antiparasite food is good too.

 

[SaltDog]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the suggestions... sorry I didn't check back sooner. I will definately try out the New Life Spectrum products. Straining the frozen food also sounds like a good idea... just trying to figure out an "elegant" way to do it. All of my animals love to eat (from the Blue Regal down to the cleaner shrimp)... so I guess it's safe to try experimenting. I look at it this way - my fish have been happy with the same "prison food" for two years... so hopefully they'll enjoy the "buffet" . Time will tell.

Thanks again,
Marc

 

[wade1]

http://www.reefs.org/library/Homemadefood.htm

 

[Jolieve]

I feed my fish a mix of mysis, formula 1 and formula 2 flake and some home made frozen stuff every so often as well. The home made frozen stuff is made up of mussles, prawns and scallops. Chop in blender until bite sized pieces are produced, spread on wax paper and freeze. To feed: thaw, drain off excess liquid, drop in tank.

The clowns really love the scallops and my gramma particularly loves mysis.