how much and how often to feed?

[megan84]

Hey everyone! Wow, it's been awhile...
So...I have a 125 with about 100 lbs of LR, 60 lbs of RS, 8 black and gold chromis, a coral beauty, a cortez wrasse, a red serpant starfish, a brittle starfish, god knows how many hermit crabs and turbo snails, 5 emerald crabs, and used to have 5 but down to I think just 1 peppermint shrip (see cortez wrasse above

)
I'm feeding frozen mysis and everyone loves it, if they get to it before the wrasse (again

on that wrasse...) So before the wrasse and serpant starfish, I was feeding 1/2 a block of the shrimp 2x a day and it was working out well. But now that stinkin wrasse is getting to the food before my little chromis (and everything else for that matter...) so any suggestions on how much to up the feeding and if i should be feeding anything else?
thanks as always!

 

[sepulatian]

You may want to pick up some frozen formula foods. Mysis isn't very nutritious, especially if that is all that you are feeding them. Pick one in a flat package. You will be able to break off whatever sized piece that you want. You want to be sure that they all get their share, but not so much that there is food left over. If there is a little then don't worry about it. Your inverts will eat it.

 

[shackaholic]

i feed my fish rod's food once every other day and feed them enough so that they eat it all within 1 - 2 minutes.
since i use frozen food, i thaw it out in ro/di water in a shot glass for a while and then dump the food into a fish net and dump it into the water so as not to add too much phosphate to the water.

 

[megan84]

good call, thanks. Any suggestions on how to separate that wrasse from the others so everyone gets a chance to eat?

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by Megan84
http:///forum/post/2678412
good call, thanks. Any suggestions on how to separate that wrasse from the others so everyone gets a chance to eat?
Do you want to get him out of the tank? He is going to go for the food every time it is dropped in. You can add food at different ends of the tank. Add some at the end that he knows best, then add it at other areas while he is eating to give the others a chance.

 

[t316]

Originally Posted by Megan84
http:///forum/post/2678412
good call, thanks. Any suggestions on how to separate that wrasse from the others so everyone gets a chance to eat?
I use the same method as Shack, up above, and some of my fish have become trained to expect the "net" to have food. Just net the wrasse each time and hold him to the side until the others are finished, or make yourself a eggcrate divider to drop in each time until he gets the message. I hate, absolutely hate, a bully

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by T316
http:///forum/post/2678432
I use the same method as Shack, up above, and some of my fish have become trained to expect the "net" to have food. Just net the wrasse each time and hold him to the side until the others are finished, or make yourself a eggcrate divider to drop in each time until he gets the message. I hate, absolutely hate, a bully

But the net can scratch his eyes, causing pop eye. I am not trying to be over sympathetic for the fish, it is true. Nets scrape their eyes, especially when they thrash around.

 

[t316]

Originally Posted by sepulatian
http:///forum/post/2678438
But the net can scratch his eyes, causing pop eye. I am not trying to be over sympathetic for the fish, it is true. Nets scrape their eyes, especially when they thrash around.
That part was really a joke, sorry I should clarify for any newcomers. Although I have had the fish swim right into the net to feed, then I slowly move the net to the side and let him continue while I feed the rest of the tank. But if he catches on, then yes, this is considered a stressful event and would only cause more problems.

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by T316
http:///forum/post/2678446
That part was really a joke, sorry I should clarify for any newcomers. Although I have had the fish swim right into the net to feed, then I slowly move the net to the side and let him continue while I feed the rest of the tank. But if he catches on, then yes, this is considered a stressful event and would only cause more problems.
Wow, my humoradometer (yep, I made it up) must be off

Sorry about that! I have had fish that were used to the net before as well. I never had to seclude them from the action, but I always thought about how easy it would be to catch them if need be.