Proper feeding of my fish, anemone and corals

RedSea_New59

New Member
Hi all. Ok, so I have had my RedSea 34 g tank up and running for 3 months now (bought it from a preevious owner, not my LFS) and all looks pretty good except for some green hair algae which is looking better now that thigs have settled and I have moved some snails in work on it. Also, I seem to have an abundance of bristle worms and have been told it could be from over feeding my critters (which is a fairly common mistake, I think)

So, for fish, I have a Sleeper Goby, Common Clown and 3 blue-green Chromis's
I have an anemone (not sure the actual name) with an anemone crab
several hermits, snails, Fire shrimp and emerald crabs.
For corals: have a Hammer coral, Candy Cane coral and Purple Montiporia, as well as several Zoanthids.

My question 1: How often should I feed the fish with flakes, dry pellets and mysis/brine shrimp? I have been doing it once daily.
My question 2: How often should I feed the anemone (size of a baseball) with a piece of shrimp (he loves it)? I have been doing it daily, but think it may be too much?
My question 3: How often should I feed the corals directly with Reef Roids? I have been doing it every 3 day.

The main I ask is everytime I feed the stock (esp with the Reef Roids) I get dozens of bristle worms coming out to feast too. I know they are "good" for my tank, but I have seemingly too many.

Any advice on feeding is appreciated:)
 

Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
I think it doesn't matter how many times you feed the fish, but what is important is the amount. I generally know how much per day I feed, and depending on my work schedule they may get fed once a day, or six times a day, with the feedings spread out over the day but in total they receive the same amount as just the once a day.
However, it is recommended that Chromis are fed at least three times a day.
 

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
I agree with @Nobbygas. I don’t think there is a right answer here. The main thing is are they eating the food or is it too much and it’s harming your water quality.

I use to feed a tank of 8 fish 1 cube a day. I know others who would feed every other day. I feed my butterflies a smaller amount of food about 3 times a day.

These days, I do tend to lean towards feeding a bit more than a bit less because I think it improves the health of the fish. But, I also do a lot of water changes to maintain water quality.
 

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
You feed the NEM too too much
They do not need supplemental feedings they eat light. Ok for bi-monthly squirt of brine shrimp or my sis shrimp, or maybe tiny fingernail size piece of shrimp.

With the others on fish and corals

Great point. I should be clear I was only talking about fish. I have no idea how to take care of an anemone and I actually rarely fed my corals, although people that do I think do it once or twice a week.
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
...
My question 1: How often should I feed the fish with flakes, dry pellets and mysis/brine shrimp? I have been doing it once daily.
My question 2: How often should I feed the anemone (size of a baseball) with a piece of shrimp (he loves it)? I have been doing it daily, but think it may be too much?
My question 3: How often should I feed the corals directly with Reef Roids? I have been doing it every 3 day.
...

Ideally, you should not feed dry flakes or pellets at all. Live and frozen foods are much better. However, we don't live in an ideal world. I'd recommend you use dry food 2 or 3 days a week at most. Mysis shrimp are good also. Brine shrimp are best used to get a new fish to initially feed. Frozen brine shrimp don't have much nutritional value.

Anemones only need to be fed about once a week, at most. Don't over do the feeding.

How much and what you feed depends a lot on the coral species. Some don't need to be fed at all. Others may be fed. Still others must be fed. I'd tend to start off feeding the corals about once a week and then adjust the feeding as needed.
 

Oxylebius

Well-Known Member
You are going to get different opinions on this. I recommend reading up on each individual animal you have to better understand what is best for each. And always read articles and opinions with a critical mind, being more aware of who is writing it and why they are writing it. Critical thinking is a great skill to hone these days.

My question 1: How often should I feed the fish with flakes, dry pellets and mysis/brine shrimp? I have been doing it once daily.

Generally, once a day feeding for most fish is fine. There are some fish that have high metabolisms which will need to be fed more then once a day. These fish are generally classified for experts b/c of the additional needs that they have.

Your blue chromis are a fish that does really well if fed multiple times a day. In the wild they eat continuously all day long. They do better in captivity and live longer if fed multiples times a day. That said, there will be people who tell you that they only feed theirs once a day and the fish are fine. There is a difference between just surviving and thriving. Always keep that in mind.
http://www.saltwateraquariumblog.com/green-chromis-chromis-viridis/
https://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/schooling-fish-should-be-kept-in-schools

Type of food. I don't recommend flakes or pellets as most are full of fillers, nitrates, and phosphates. If you are able to, try to feed frozen foods that are made up of the foods that fish eat in the wild, for better nutrition and less water quality issues (less nitrates and phosphates).
https://www.advancedaquarist.com/2012/3/chemistry

Mixing the types of food you feed your fish helps to provide a more varied diet, and hopefully results in a more nutritious diet for your fish.

My question 2: How often should I feed the anemone (size of a baseball) with a piece of shrimp (he loves it)? I have been doing it daily, but think it may be too much?

Depends on the type and size of the anemone. Generally once a week is fine. If you can read up on the type of anemone that you have. You will get a better idea of feeding rates and how feeding may change (or not) as it grows larger.

The Neopetrolisthes crab is a filter feeder and lives off the mucus of the anemone. To keep it alive you should read up on it and provide it the proper filter foods. Some people have claimed that they have been able to get this crab to eat regular food from time to time. I would try to target feed it some brine shrimp to see if it will eat it. Be careful that the fish don't take the food from it.

All of your other crabs and shrimp will likely go for food when you feed the fish. You can always choose to feed them once a week or just let them clean up the left over food that falls to the bottom of the tank. Make sure that they are actually eating the left over food so that you aren't having water quality issues. I turn my pumps off when feeding so that any left over food is eaten.

My question 3: How often should I feed the corals directly with Reef Roids? I have been doing it every 3 day.

Again, this is going to vary on the type of coral. Some of the larger polyp corals may be happy eating once a week. Other corals like the monti you really don't have to feed. Some small polyp corals do eat tiny particles on the water, but you really don't have to target feed them. Generally the more you feed the faster they can grow. Generally once a week.

With all feeding make sure you aren't over-feeding. Over-feeding leads to poor water quality. You want to feed to the point where there isn't any food left in the tank to rot. And if you can swing it, feeding fish smaller amounts a couple of times a day is better then a large amount once a day. But, if are unable to do this, most fish are fine eating once a day. You can always try to feed twice a day on your days off from work and once a day during the rest of the week. Mixing this up doesn't hurt the critters.
 
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