live food question

[da456789]

With the addition of a the new Xenia to my tank 3 weeks ago that seems to have almost grown 50%. I have noticed a decrease in the marine snow(plankton?) that used to rise from the sand bed just after the main lights went down. Now the tank is virtually crystal clear all the time. I am looking to supplement the plankton levels in the tank with live feedings that would help all the corals I have. I have seen one product call reef bugs are there any others out there and does anyone have experience with them. Also I have seen my frog spawn expel what appears to be small shrimp shells(Pods of some type?), So any suggestions there on what to continue feeding it since the tang and other fish actively hunts those also and the tank population of pod s is dropping fast

 

[Varga]

if your tank is new, pod population falling after a month or two is normal. I suggest a refugium otherwise your fish will just eat anything you put in there in minutes.

 

[Gina]

I second a fuge and to help things get a head start you can purchase pods. If you can't have a fuge, you could add some rubble in your tank and stack it up (gives the pods a place to breed). I've bought pods to help jump start our fuge which we also added chaeto to.

 

[da456789]

The tank is 9 months old. I am thinking the high growth rate for the xenia,gsp and clove polyps was because i had a high population of natrually occuring live food in the tank from it cyclng about 6 months with just live sand and rock with a cleaner crew in it. I have seen the xenia and the clove activley feeding when the tang stirs up the sand bed or a night when the plankton rises from the sandbed. Since they are doing so well growth and color wise i wanted to suplement what is in the tank for them to directly feed on. With the tank being so clear now even at night i suspect that they have thinned out the existing food.

 

[BigAl07]

Ditto the above. I LOVE pods! I bought some "Tiger Pods" at the LFS to get things started.

Also be VERY careful about trying to feed "filter feeders" as it's very easy (and likely) to over-feed your tank. If that happens you'll start a roller coaster between water quality issues and algae issues.

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[BigAl07]

Xenia is well known to thrive (at least in some tanks) in less than optimal water conditions. Some theorize it may actually thrive on slightly elevated levels of Nitrates. Don't use this as gospel because I can't dispel or prove this. I know it's very photosynthetic and will "walk" around your tank to where it likes the current and light conditions.

 

[da456789]

Thanks for the info decided not to do live feeding at this time. Going to just supplement the regular feeding of the fish with some frozen cylopods maybe once or twice a week added to the other food they are getting. As for the fuge looking at maybe getting a hang on back one just to help out since space below the tank is limited. Has anyone tried the aquafuge?

Btw the fish and coral both go crazy when the pods hit the water. Will try to get some pictures up soon.