Feeding Royal Gramma

[jkhalliday76]

How often do those of you with these fish feed them? I have some frozen brine and I fed him once the day I put him into my tank (today to be exact) and he ate almost everything :whstlr:

I just wondered how often I should feed him. I currently have the gramma, 3 nassauraus snails and 3 astreas in a 20 gallon with 20 pounds of LR and approx. 20 pounds of live sand.

I've been reading about him all day and feel pretty confident that I got myself a hardy, peaceful fishy. Any advice on taking care of this little bugger?

 

[Woodstock]

Nice fish.
I feed my fish atleast once a day...sometimes several times. Just realize that every time you feed you are adding nutrients to the tank.... the more nutrients, the more water changes you'll need to do. Be sure to keep an eye on your nitrAte levels~

 

[Cougra]

Most literature recommends that you feed the fish no more then they can consume in 5 minutes time. This same literature rarely states how OFTEN this needs to be done but they do say that fish should be feed less more often.

I don't like this rule very much because I find most people will overfeed their fish during this time by dumping it in all at once and the fish scurry all over the tank chasing food particles and some inevitably falls to the bottom of the tank and gets lodged in the rocks etc. If you have a lot of scavengers then I guess they will enjoy this type of feeding, however I like to minimize how many scavengers I need in my tank and rely on not adding many extra nutrients to the tank and good tank maintenance to keep things clean.

So I addapted this rule of thumb a little to determine how much to feed the fish for a day. For the first couple days I would feed as much as the fish could eat in about 5 minutes and carefully monitor how much I was feeding them. I then take that portion size and seperated it into two or three parts to feed a little bit through out the day. Occassionally (once a month or two)I'll retest how much to feed the fish using the "as much as they can eat in five minutes" rule to take into consideration how much they've grown and their changing dietary needs.

All the fish are growing at a steady pace so I'm assuming that they are getting enough.

 

[john]

if your feeding the rg frozen cubed brine,i would recomend about half a cube daily.1/4 in the mourning and 1/4 at night.

 

[lcstorc]

I would vary the diet some too and not just feed the brine. From what I have read and heard it is pretty low in nutrients, but you can't deny the fish love it. It is part of my mush I make for my tank, but I also add a bunch of other stuff for variety. Or before I started making the mush I would just give a cube of this one day, a cube of that the next day etc.
Just my 2 cents.
Peace
Lynn

 

[gimpy]

I have a royal gramma, perc clown and "sunrise" dottyback. I generally feed once a day and sometimes 2-3 times a day (rarely) because I like to watch them feed. The r.g. eats about anything I put in the tank as does the dottyback. The perc mostly eats just frozen "formula 1" (the reddish cube).

I generally feed 3 different types of frozen food. I have the formula one which the r.g. likes (but I have it mainly for the perc clown). I also have frozen brine shrimp that I feed and then the other is either a frozen mysis shrimp or a cuisine of some sort.

I cut off small (read "small") portions/pieces/slices of all three and swish it in tap water together, then pour it out through a real fine net (rinses it, the net almost looks like a white t-shirt)(I just recently started rinsing it this way-- before, I did not). I then pour it into a small glass of the tank water and feed it then. The formula one usually stays in small pieces/chunks so I have 8 or 9 small pieces that go into the tank along with the other frozen. I do not pour it all in at once. It is poured in usually over a minute or two.

I also have a dry, flake food that I feed the fish. The perc does not seem to eat this, but the other two do. I just put in a small pinch whenever I feel like watching them eat. I put the small pinch of food still between my fingers and them dip it into the water so that it will go into the water column and not just float on top.

This is "my" feeding regime and seems to work quite well for my three fish. The perc, I've had/fed him this for 6-7 yrs now. The other two, I've had 2-3+ yrs now and have fed this way/diet.

As an edit, I have read that most of our fish this size have a stomach about the size of their eye, which generally means that most of us overfeed. But that is OK for me as I like to watch them eat.
Good Luck, Frank

 

[jkhalliday76]

Thanks everyone for the advice. My Gramma (Merle) seems to be doing great. He's been exploring the tank a lot and is a happy little eater (I finally found a wonderful LFS that gives it to me straight, which I greatly appreciate.)

I think I am going to vary the food I feed him. I know I don't want to eat the same thing everyday!