Question about feeding?

[wfo115]

I have a 47 Gallon Tall that has been running for 3 months. My tankmates are
2 false percula clowns
2 pajama cardinals
2 Purple firefish
2 Emerald crabs
4 Turbos
8 Nass
3 Margarita snail
6 Blue legged hermit
2 red legged hermit
3 Peppermint Shrimp
Some Zoas
2 feather dusters
Temp - 80
ph - 8.2 to 8.3
ammonia - 0
nitrites - 0
nitrates - 0
water changes 14 gallons every 2 1/2 weeks
Everything is going very well

Now my question is I have been feeding them once a day about a half a cube of hikari sales Spirulina Brine shrimp from a 3.5 oz package that has 32 cubes. To me it seemed like I was over feeding them, so I have gone to every other day 1/2 cube, now it seems like I am under feeding them, How much do you all think I should feed them. They all eat the brine shrimp no problem. I also put in the recommended amount of Kent Marine PhytoPlex every three days for my coral.Thanks all in advance for your opinions.

 

[mkzimms]

you might want to try mysis shrimp instead. brine shirmp have almost no nutritional value unless they are gut loaded or soaked in a nutrient rich substance like selcon. the spirulina brine is ok since it is fortified, but the mysis are a little bigger. you may find your self not "wasting" as much.

 

[robdog696]

Originally Posted by mkzimms
http:///forum/post/2608640
you might want to try mysis shrimp instead. brine shirmp have almost no nutritional value unless they are gut loaded or soaked in a nutrient rich substance like selcon. the spirulina brine is ok since it is fortified, but the mysis are a little bigger. you may find your self not "wasting" as much.
+1

I now use mysis as well. I feed spirulina soaked in garlic to my clowns and tang in the morning before work. They don't eat it all, but this allows some food to get to my cleaner shrimp and doesn't take me but 2 minutes. So I'm not late for work because of my fish. LOL! In the evenings I feed mysis or flakes. I have to soak the mysis in garlic, as my clowns were spoiled on brine. The amount you want to feed is whatever they can eat in less than two minutes. I read that clowns like to eat twice a day. I try to purchase other fish that have the same frequency of eating habits. Btw your stocklist is great, your tank looks really nice, and your clowns really make it look big. Great job!

 

[michaeltx]

mysis is much much better than brine anyday.
each tank is different on feeding it depends on how long its been setup and how many and what type of fish you have.
I have had a tank that got feed maybe once month if I remembered but they were mainly rock grazers and were fat and happy.
on the other hand my last tank had to mandarins that I feed on a daily basis * they ate frozen foods* so that I knew they got enough to eat.
adjust your feeding to your fish and tank parameters. If you see that you are getting a lot of exess bristle worms showing up feed less they are gettng a lot of food for a popualtion explosion if your fish seem to start to loss weight your not feeding enough.
its a delicate balance that each tank is different and needs sdjusting and time to see if the adjustment is a good on eor not.
Mike

 

[rtspeed]

I would also ditch the phyto as this is supplied when you clean the glss on you tank and has been found that corals don't really eat hat much of it anyways, try something like zoo plex nd micro vert as it will not add so much decay as the phyto.

 

[wfo115]

Thanks for the responses

I guess I'll Switch to mysis and cut out the phyto for zoo plex. Then I will watch and see, just dont want to harm my fish, probably better to underfeed then over feed?