can you... (total noob questions!)

[torahtrance]

A few questions I wanted to ask. Not saying I am doing any of these, but they came across my mind as questions to ask..

- Can you feed the fish bugs you find around the house?
If my kids see an ant, or a small spider in the house, can I throw it in the aquarium for the fish? Or is it bad for some reason?

- In my kids school there was an outbreak of lice!!! disgusting i must tell you. I was wondering, when my wife is checking for lice she found a couple small ones, and put them in a cup with water and I was thinking... hmmm would that be good food for the fish? LOL

- I read somewhere that sometimes you can feed certain fish lettuce, in particular romaine lettuce I believe. Is this a universal thing to try? Can i take a few small pieces and throw them in or is it very bad except in specific circumstances?

- If I find a worm outside while gardening, can I cut it up and feed it to the fish??

............Ok thats the random questions that I wonder about....

Now specific real questions:

I currently feed my fish the tetra maximum marine aquarium pellets, and thats all I have gotten so far.

What else is usually available in LFS? I remember from freshwater days, I would feed the fish frozen bloodworms as a treat. I read a lot of people mentioning brine shrimp, and these pods that apparently show up.

I would love to 'grow' all these types of live food, but I read that its really difficult to do mostly. Is there a place that I can learn how to do the easiest bits to increase the quality of natural food flowing through the aquarium?

I guess the main question in this area would be, is there 1 solid resource that goes through all the things you need to do to get good amounts of organisms thriving in your sump/system to provide a variety of meals for the fish/corals etc??

If you could only choose 1 other food besides flakes/pellets, what would be the best?

 

[mikecc]

Can you feed the fish bugs you find around the house?

Tried that, they just float around in there. Put a bunch of mosquito larve in a freshwater tank once, ended up with a house full of skeeters.

 

[torahtrance]

can you feed the fish bugs you find around the house?

Tried that, they just float around in there. Put a bunch of mosquito larve in a freshwater tank once, ended up with a house full of skeeters.

lol

 

[DaveK]

You can feed bugs you find arounf the house, but I'd not recommend it. All too often they are not eaten, and they are usually not bugs you want around your house in the first place.

Ditto for lice. Not worth the risk.

For dry foods, I tend to prefer Hakari Marine-S Pellets. They are very fine. However, dry food is often not ideal for a reef. The various frozen foods such as clams, krill, bloodworms, and mysis shrimp are all good. Traditional brine shrimp can be good to start a fish eation, but is not a good food otherwise, so don't feed it often.

The seafood counter of your local grocery store is a good source for food. Most raw shellfish are great food when chopped up very fine.

You only need to feed romaine to fish that need a lot of vegetable matter, such as tangs. Other fish may nibble on it though. You get a lettuce clip for this. It's a plastic clip with a suction cup. Simply insert a leaf or romaine.

Most live foods do not last long in SW, so you have to be careful how much you feed. Some LFS sell live blackworms, which are food.

Raising live foods can be easy to difficult, depending upon the food. One of the easy ones is white worms. You can usually order a starter culture online, but I'd wait until spring when there is no danger of them freezing.

Lastly, there is no one best food. It's best to alternate among as many as you easily can.

 

[DaveK]

Can you feed the fish bugs you find around the house?

Tried that, they just float around in there. Put a bunch of mosquito larve in a freshwater tank once, ended up with a house full of skeeters.

This is a case of over feeding the tank. Most fish love mosquito larvae and will gorge themselves on it. If they all get full and can't eat anymore, this is when you get the problem you describe. Best to feed only what the fish eat right away, and keep the rest in a covered, sealed jar.

 

[puffermike]

This post got me thinking. I use to have a lot of brackish systems in the past and watching the bio diversity within them was entertaining. Anyways, I was sitting on my couch in the living room when I felt water dripping on me. I looked up thinking hmmm... Roof can't be leaking my house is two floors. I looked over at the brackish tank and noticed my archer fish looking aggressive. So, that's when I noticed a fly buzzing around in the house. Somehow, the archers were not only able to see the fly but also shoot a jet of water through a 1/2" opening in the glass panels covering the tank.

Sad to say for that fly, I opened up the lid and for some reason it decided it wanted to be in the tank. I shut the lid and watched it buzz around in the tank for about 3 seconds until one of the archers jumped out of the water and snatched it out of mid air. Sometimes you don't have to feed them the bugs. They'll take them on their own. :bouncer:

 

[torahtrance]

this post got me thinking. I use to have a lot of brackish systems in the past and watching the bio diversity within them was entertaining. Anyways, i was sitting on my couch in the living room when i felt water dripping on me. I looked up thinking hmmm... Roof can't be leaking my house is two floors. I looked over at the brackish tank and noticed my archer fish looking aggressive. So, that's when i noticed a fly buzzing around in the house. Somehow, the archers were not only able to see the fly but also shoot a jet of water through a 1/2" opening in the glass panels covering the tank.

Sad to say for that fly, i opened up the lid and for some reason it decided it wanted to be in the tank. I shut the lid and watched it buzz around in the tank for about 3 seconds until one of the archers jumped out of the water and snatched it out of mid air. Sometimes you don't have to feed them the bugs. They'll take them on their own. :bouncer:

[video=youtube;fhbz40jio4q]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhbz40jio4q[/video]

awesomeeeeeeeeeeee

 

[Oxylebius]

Can you feed the fish bugs you find around the house? Tried that, they just float around in there. Put a bunch of mosquito larve in a freshwater tank once, ended up with a house full of skeeters.

Hahaha, that is funny!

This post got me thinking. I use to have a lot of brackish systems in the past and watching the bio diversity within them was entertaining. Anyways, I was sitting on my couch in the living room when I felt water dripping on me. I looked up thinking hmmm... Roof can't be leaking my house is two floors. I looked over at the brackish tank and noticed my archer fish looking aggressive. So, that's when I noticed a fly buzzing around in the house. Somehow, the archers were not only able to see the fly but also shoot a jet of water through a 1/2" opening in the glass panels covering the tank.

Sad to say for that fly, I opened up the lid and for some reason it decided it wanted to be in the tank. I shut the lid and watched it buzz around in the tank for about 3 seconds until one of the archers jumped out of the water and snatched it out of mid air. Sometimes you don't have to feed them the bugs. They'll take them on their own. :bouncer:

Good story!

The seafood counter of your local grocery store is a good source for food. Most raw shellfish are great food when chopped up very fine.

I'd go with this option. Have feed this way before. Sometimes w/dried foods and even some frozen foods you can add extra unwanted phosphates to the tank. By buying your own frozen raw shellfish, you can eliminate some of that unwanted phosphate that other foods can bring into the tank.