How much do I feed these pigs?

[wm23oh]

I have a 10 gallon tank with the following fish.
1 Percula Clown - Aquacultured
1 Clarkii Clown - Aquacultured
1 Yellow tail Damsel - Aquacultured
1 Longfin Sleeper Goby yellow with teal freckles
I feed them 2 times a day and they eat and eat. I am worried that I am over feeding them. I give them 3 large pinches of food and none of it hits the tank floor. Or at least not for long.
I know over feeding causes nitrates but I also know if they are full they won't have the tendency to fight for food. So I don't know what to do.
Should I keep feeding them or limit what they are fed?
I also have 2 different types of dry food I feed them. TetraMin is their favorite and Omega One (they let the Longfin Sleeper Goby eat that.
And as of yet all they get meat wise is ReefPlankton. I have blood worms I feed my gold fish but not sure if that is good to give to my saltwater fish.
Any suggestions are welcome.

 

[emmitt]

I would say cut your feedings in half, at least. Either cut out a feeding or only take half the pinch of flake that you use. You may want to consider pellets if they will eat it. Less likely to get blown away and lay uneaten turning into nitrates.

 

[salt phish]

i have a 10 gallon reef with 2 false percs and only feed every third day once
and they are fat and sassy

 

[stanlalee]

when I had clowns and damsels I fed them about 3 times a week forever without problems. they dont need frequent feeding. Many gobies tend to need to eat daily but if yours eats like a pig I'd cut back feeding to once a day or every other day.

 

[wm23oh]

Ok cool. Where do you get the brine shrimp and such from to feed the clowns? My pet shop seams to always have blood worms in stock and keeps trying to sell them to me for my saltwater fish.
I only feed my fresh water fish bloodworms, flake food, and frozen peas that are cooked and diced. Note my fresh water fish get 5 peas each and are FAT and happy all the time. My fresh water fish also love eating the plants I buy for the tanks.
Is this silly of me or will blood worms be ok for saltwater fish and clean up crew as well? I used to feed blood worms to the last damsel I had and the blueleghermits I had ate the rest but I don't know if cleaner shrimp, clams, and anemonies can handle the extra nitrates this may cause. I want to make sure they get a variety of foods. What type of greens do you think a clown fish will eat that the clean up crew may help remove after feedings?
As a side note I lost all my fresh water fish to pellets once and sorry I will NEVER buy pellet food again. My fish are my babies and they all have names. And yes I cry if I loose one of my friends. I know I'm nuts but I love them.
Thanks.

 

[emmitt]

Dont feed brine shrimp, they have no nutritional value. Use mysis instead.
How did you lose all your fish to pellets??

 

[batman1820]

Seems like you are a little overstocked so you should really just feed them once a day

 

[wm23oh]

Originally Posted by emmitt
Dont feed brine shrimp, they have no nutritional value. Use mysis instead.
How did you lose all your fish to pellets??

I had only had my freshwater tank setup for 3 months at the time. I had been told that if I want my fish to grow and be happy I need to feed them pellets. That pellets have lots of vitamins and minerals that my fish need. So I purchased some and read the instructions. Place 3 or 4 per fish and remove whatever was left after 5 minutes.
I fed the fish and they ate every drop. I decided not to give them any extra since the warning was to not over feed them.
The next morning all the fish but 1 was dead. The one that was alive had a black stomach and was being pushed around by the water current. I knew it didn't have long so I took it out and placed it in a cup of tank water and placed it in the freezer. That is what I was told to do to help them pass so it didn't suffer anymore. That was and still to this day my favorite fish. Her name was Prego. Because she was fat, happy, and although I don't think she was pregnant she looked so.
I checked and double checked the bottle and it didn't give any warnings. I tried to figure out what was wrong since my water in every aspect was perfect. I then after a week of

decided to throw a few pellets in a cup of water and noticed the problem right away.
The pellets blew up to almost 3 times the size in the water and still had a tough outside to them. Boy I was and called the company that made that

[hr]
! I told them what happened and their reply was well everyone knows to soak them before feeding them to your fish. That is just common knowledge.
Anyhow after I made that lady

on the phone I hung up SUPER mad at her for telling me I was stupid for not knowing that the pellets would expand.
Maybe I was but their was NO warning on the label. And because of her company I lost 3 beautiful fish and 1 frog.
So I tell you I will NEVER feed my fish pellets again! I will always warn others NEVER to use pellets. They are too dangerous!
Oh, Batman1820 I will follow your advice too!

 

[ophiura]

Originally Posted by Batman1820
Seems like you are a little overstocked so you should really just feed them once a day
I totally agree and would strongly encourage returning at least 2 of the fish and just sticking with that. Could be trouble to have so many in such a small tank down the road, IMO.

 

[wm23oh]

Originally Posted by ophiura
I totally agree and would strongly encourage returning at least 2 of the fish and just sticking with that. Could be trouble to have so many in such a small tank down the road, IMO.
I believe I have this under control. All the fish get along ok but the 2 clownfish will not share the anemone. So I have even thought of purchasing another bta and placing it on the other side of the tank on a rock and hope it will stay their. Since my current bta won't leave the top of the tank glass I think he is happy their.
I have plenty of knowledge when it comes to keeping the water quality great. I have over a year of experience of dealing with salt and fresh water fish and believe I can keep ahead of any problems before they get bad.
Again I am not perfect but I will do everything I can to make my little fish friends happy. I mean my God I spent $200 for a light for a 10 gallon aquarium. I have too much invested to make a mistake.
Of course I do appreciate your info. and welcome your comments but since everyone in the tank is getting along just fine I must be lucky and will keep them. But I do head your warning and will take extra care.
The only things I'm new to in the tank is the 2 cleaner shrimp, 3 clams, and 1 anemone. I may ask silly questions like why are the clams burying themselves in the sand and why is my shrimp taking rides on my fish but that's about all. Just trying to figure out what all is going on.

Again THANK YOU for your help.

 

[ophiura]

I had a damsel in a 15g tank and it would attack ME. And some clowns in a 3500g tank that would also attack me when I got too close to their spot...and it happens in the wild too. Simply, these fish start to get territories as the grow, and in time they may not like being so close together. Just something to consider, IMO.

 

[batman1820]

Originally Posted by wm23oh
Again I am not perfect but I will do everything I can to make my little fish friends happy. I mean my God I spent $200 for a light for a 10 gallon aquarium. I have too much invested to make a mistake.

I'm not saying that you're system is going to crash, but how much you spend on your system doesn't matter. My family spent $30,000 dollars on a 385 gallon fish only tank made by Seavisions of South Florida with a Dialy Seas System that runs everything and it stilled crashed once. Not only did a professional come once a week, but i have been keeping marines for about 2 years now. My point is, things happen regardless of how much you spend on a tank.

 

[wm23oh]

Originally Posted by Batman1820
I'm not saying that you're system is going to crash, but how much you spend on your system doesn't matter. My family spent $30,000 dollars on a 385 gallon fish only tank made by Seavisions of South Florida with a Dialy Seas System that runs everything and it stilled crashed once. Not only did a professional come once a week, but i have been keeping marines for about 2 years now. My point is, things happen regardless of how much you spend on a tank.
I know how much you spend doesn't account for everything. I didn't mean that. But again I do thank you and will pay close attention to the tank.
ophiura I will also take your warning to heart. In January I plan to purchase a larger tank close to 100 gallons so until then I'm kinda stuck with what I have. I will keep watch and make sure they do not chase eachother around the tank.
As of now they just keep their chosen homes free of other fish.
Anyhow thanks again. I do appreciate your help.

 

[nygel]

do u have a picture of your tank? im curious as to how it looks.... and i have a false perc and want to add a clarkii (i too have a ten) ... do they do well besides the fact that they wont share the anemone (dont have an anemone anyway)?

 

[wm23oh]

Originally Posted by nYgel
do u have a picture of your tank? im curious as to how it looks.... and i have a false perc and want to add a clarkii (i too have a ten) ... do they do well besides the fact that they wont share the anemone (dont have an anemone anyway)?
All the others say it's a bad idea to place 2 clowns together in the same tank. I am new to this forum and found this out after the fact. However my 2 clowns are doing just well. Not sure how they will react later on though.
Here is a picture of my messy kitchen and the worst (best I could take) photo I have of it.
In the black circle is where my longfin goby lives. He has made a home of the holes in this rock. Their are many caverns in it that connect and he sometimes pops out of the strangest places.
The pink circle is where my Damsel lives. He has the hole and the crevace between the 2 rocks but does not enter the cave in the rock to the far right. I don't know why but only the clown fish do.
They also love the anemoney at the top left. Or at least they do when they think they will get more attention.
Anyhow they have their own spots where no other fish or creature is allowed but other than that they get along just fine. This includes the clown fish.
Anyhow that's about it. You can't see the red, teal, and green growth on the live rock from any of my photos but it is their. OH! the clams are in the front under the sand near the longfin goby.