Dry Flake Food For Sale

[returnofsid]

Which Blenny are you referring to? scissor tail goby, diamond goby, mandarin goby? The Mandarin isn't actually a Goby, but a dragonette. If this is the fish you're referring to, you are lucky to get it to eat anything other than the natural pods and mysis that are living in your tank.

What size tank do you have? How much Live Rock? Do you have a refugium? For a Mandarin Dragonette to survive and thrive, you need A LOT of quality live rock AND a refugium is almost mandatory.

Also, you have quite a large bio-load of fish. I hope you have a quite large tank. The two Maroon Clowns will soon start harassing and possibly kill the other Clown. There's also a good chance that the damsels will soon start harassing other fish.

The Coral Beauty, Yellow Tang and Lawnmower Blenny all need algae diet...ie. Formula 2 or Dried Algae sheets such as Nori. All the other fish will readily eat Frozen Formula 1.

Having more than one species of Goby can also lead to problems down the road. Also keep in mind that the Tang and Coral Beauty will grow to be pretty good size and need lots of swimming room.

Since you're rather new to this, I'm assuming all these fish were recently added, as well as the Mandarin. Mandarin's really need a well established tank that has a huge natural pod population. Even Mandarin's that eat prepared foods need this to thrive.

Once again, the number and type of fish you have is going to create a huge bio-load. I sincerely hope you have a tank in the 100 gallon or larger size!!

 

[LydieCakes]

The tank has been up for over a year and a half. Its a 55 gal tank with about 100+ lbs of live rock in it. No refugium. Yes sump.

Yes, its a dragonette and I have been told before that I am fortune he chows on other things.

I had 2 damsels before that I gave away due to them abusing other fish and I do keep a good eye on the fish that I have to make sure they get along pretty well with each other.

My tang and beauty are both pretty small in size. If they grow to large tho I will find them another home. I know that tank size is important to fish and Im mindful of that.

I havent added anything to my tank in about 3 months. The Mandarine I have had for atleast 6 months.

**Edit - My maroon clowns are to busy moving all the sand in my tank to worry about the blk one. I thought maybe they were getting ready to breed or something? Iunno, but I do know I can see the bare glass bottom of my tank on one side and the sand is double the usual height where they are moving it around.... They are CONSTANTLY fanning the sand into one corner.

 

[returnofsid]

Wow, I sure hope you plan on a much larger tank in the near future. Even when Tangs and Angels are small, they still need LOTS of swimming room and a tank under 100 gallons isn't going to provide it for the population and mix that you have. Even without the Tang and Angel, your tank would be overloaded. Sorry to say.

 

[LydieCakes]

Don't be sorry to say. It's good to know. I do plan on going bigger. Infact, I have a 220 that I just gave to my dad do to cost of maintaining, and the fact that he now needs it due to all the fish he currently has. (Freshwater - Not salt)

I don't plan on adding anymore fish to my tank. Just corals really now. My tang and beauty are pretty slow movers but sometimes the tang gets that burst of energy and sees how fast he can whip to one end of the tank to the other or in and out of the rocks.

**Edit - Ya, I live for the edit button. I hate double posting. Anyways, got word back from that lady about the fish flake. She couldn't even tell me what was in it. That's it! I'm driving to Petco. Not the one close by but the one far away to pick up some frozen foods for my fish. I shall return shortly. And I will be checking back to see if anyone posted anything new.

Thank you very much for the help.

 

[jezzeaepi]

You should have set that 220 u for your fish. thats absolutely awful that you have all those fish in a 55. not sayingitsyour fault, I lay that blame on your lfs, but that is something you should consider remedieing immediately. I highly encourage that you dedicate a few solid hours to reading all of the stickies in Lees fish section of the board. theres just too much info to condense it down in one post here.

 

[luke33]

I'd steer clear of the gel binding frozen food as well. And i use the same as what Don said.

 

[LydieCakes]

Part of the reason I have all the fish that I do have is because someone else close by was moving and said...

"You have a salt tank right?" In which I said, "Yup"
They said, "Good, take these fish or Im flushing them"

I didn't want to see them go down the drain. I plan on fixing it as soon as I can find more homes. Don't worry.

 

[DonW]

Part of the reason I have all the fish that I do have is because someone else close by was moving and said...

"You have a salt tank right?" In which I said, "Yup"
They said, "Good, take these fish or Im flushing them"

I didn't want to see them go down the drain. I plan on fixing it as soon as I can find more homes. Don't worry.

I really wouldnt stress over it. I dont really see overstocking as an issue. As long as your doing your best to keep them healthy it will all work out in the long run. Just think about all that fish poo keeping your corals fed.

Don

 

[LydieCakes]

Haha, thanks for the supporting comment.

Well, Im off to get that food now. I wanted to shower and such before I went. Thats why Im still lurking around. I will be back shortly.

Thank you much.

 

[krisfal]

Haha, thanks for the supporting comment.

Well, Im off to get that food now. I wanted to shower and such before I went. Thats why Im still lurking around. I will be back shortly.

Thank you much.

I really recommend this thread on Fish Nutrition. After reading this and having Lee Birch speak to our local club last year I began making my own food so that I know what they are eating. The little bit of processed food I do buy I carefully read the labels to make sure they do not contain land based ingredient's e.g. wheat, carrots, peas etc, although I have yet to find a flake or pellet food that does not contain these ingredients which have little or no nutritional value for our fish. Though I do do have a supply of flake I bought before I learned about the nutrition requirements that I must confess I do use once or twice a month when I do not have the time (or am too lazy) to thaw out and rinse some of my homemade food.

 

[krisfal]

I'd steer clear of the gel binding frozen food as well. And i use the same as what Don said.

Luke,
Why do you stay away from the gel binding, my understanding is that it is agar which is from kelp, so it is a product from the sea?

I am planning to try adding agar to my next batch of homemade food.

 

[jezzeaepi]

Part of the issue is that if your feeding that many fish the proper amount of nuntrition, in a tank your size, youll have some serious pollution problems. If your only feeding enough to keep the nutrient levels down, then your starving them. They may go on jsut fine for some time with a lower nutritional intake, but as the thread kris linked says, it will catch up with the fish eventually.

 

[LydieCakes]

I don't think the nutrients are an issue. I feed the lil pigs plenty. Pollution is the bigger problem in a tank my size.

Someone suggested I get a phosphate remover or a denitrifier. I was reading about them tonight but still don't know much along the lines of what they do. I do water changes about once a week but the levels in my tank do bounce around a lot at times.

Btw, Im interested in what you make for food for you're fish. I got my dad a killer one for his discus. Would be interesting to see what is recommended for marine fish/corals.

 

[jezzeaepi]

I am big fan of rods reef food. I also do mysis shrimp, cyclopeeze, and various other cubed frozen foods like others have mentioned. My feeding regiment is once in the morning and one right before lights out for the frozen. Back when I didnt have an algae problem Id put some algae on a clip several times a day as well. Pollution is my problem as well but Im getting things under control slowly. Well fed fish tend to be less agressive, more colorful, and more active. Ive never lost a fish though to disease or injury.... Only jumping =(

Ive been wanting to try a homeade recipe as well, but I start to look at the steps involved and just get lazy and buy soem rods =P

 

[krisfal]

I don't think the nutrients are an issue. I feed the lil pigs plenty. Pollution is the bigger problem in a tank my size.

Someone suggested I get a phosphate remover or a denitrifier. I was reading about them tonight but still don't know much along the lines of what they do. I do water changes about once a week but the levels in my tank do bounce around a lot at times.

Btw, Im interested in what you make for food for you're fish. I got my dad a killer one for his discus. Would be interesting to see what is recommended for marine fish/corals.

The amount of food you feed doesn't make a difference on whether or not they get the right nutrients. Even "fat" fish can die if they are not getting plenty of omega 3 fatty acids. If you are mainly feeding flake I can guarantee your fish are eating a lot of wheat (check out the ingredient list) which has no nutritional value, it just becomes fish poop with out any benefit to the fish. I hope you take the time to read the link I provided.

 

[LydieCakes]

Okay, so after reading that long post that you put up... I realized that I really cant feed my fish... ANYTHING! Ack!

I didnt know you should freeze flakes. How weird...
On a serious note tho, I guess I am going to try and find a good all around recipe for my fishes and do it up... I guess...

 

[krisfal]

Okay, so after reading that long post that you put up... I realized that I really cant feed my fish... ANYTHING! Ack!

I didnt know you should freeze flakes. How weird...
On a serious note tho, I guess I am going to try and find a good all around recipe for my fishes and do it up... I guess...

There are some decent premade frozen foods out there. What you need to do is become a label reader and make sure at least the majority of the ingredients are nutritional for the fish. Keep in mind that an ingredient list, list the ingredients in order of the amount used. So the first ingredient in the list is the one that is the highest percentage of the content, the second is the next highest and so on.

One thing I do not think Lee touched on in that article but I learned from hearing Randy Reed speak on reef nutrition a few weeks ago, is why marine organisms are better for our fish (other than that is the natural food). That is the omega 3 fatty acids which are essential for marine fish and are only found in marine organisms. They come from the micro algaes which are the base of the marine food chain.

It is really surprising how the mannerism of your fish change as they get enough of the right nutrition. They become less frantic at feeding time and they become less aggressive to each other.

 

[DonW]

I hope your feeding them something in the meantime, while we keep you good and confused. Feeding is 99% opinion based try some different foods and feed what works best for you.

Don

 

[Herefishyfishy]

In most cases, the fresh seafood that you would or should eat is good for the fish. Clams, oysters, shrimp, squid, and even bits of ocean fish. Best to avoid foods with preservatives. Suppliment with "nori" type algae and or spirulina.

 

[LydieCakes]

I know that it is important to read the labels, that is why I listed the ingredients of what I was looking at before in the first post. The same goes with dog food. And just like dogs, the better food you feed them, the less poo you pick up around the yard.

I fed them a mixture of stuff before and I guess that is what I will continue to do. I guess I will just find a variety of foods that have good main ingredients and continue to look for more recipes for marine fish.

Don is like my optimistic ray of sunshine...