Feeding

[matt295]

ok, i have 2 occelaris clowns, 2 original firefish, 1 wheelers watchman, 1 tiger pistol shrimp, 1 skunk cleaner shrimp, 1 fire shrimp, some mushrooms, 1 colt coral, 1 zooanthid, and 1 yellow polyp, yes it is by itself
i have pellets for them and i feed them 2-3 times a day. i do also have frozen food but i dont know how often to fee dthis. i know not every day but like 3 days a week. and also should i feed them the frozen the 2-3 mealtimes a day for three days, or just one meal for three days? i also have liquid coral food and we feed them about once every 3 days, is this right. sorry but i am new to salt water and dont know the answer to this

 

[poo-tang]

i feed frozen once a day and flake once a day. imo you're feeding too much. but as long s the pellets are being eaten then you're prolly fine. if a lot ends up on the substrate chill out on the pellets feedings. tho i suspect your pistol shrimp is eating well.

 

[matt295]

yes he is. i feed once when i wake up, another when i get back from school (3:00 p.m.), and once at night, usually 8:30-9:00 p.m.. i think this gives them enough time to get hungry adn eat. so i was thinking feeding pellets in morning, frozen at 3:00 and pellets again at night. is this good? dont really want to wake up and give them frozen food becasue it takes too long

 

[-Nemo-]

-I feed my fish with a pinch of flakes in the morning, an a small cube of frozen fish at night. IMO they defiantly don't need to be feed more than two small-medium meals a day.

-My shrimp and hermits and crab get pellets in the morning every other day, in the mean time they go around on the LR and eat stuff off of it. IMO they only need to get fed once a day at most, especially if you have LR they will pick things off of that.

-I only have two corals, but both are feed once a week (i forget the amount, it says on the bottle). I don't think the coral will need anymore than 2 days a week.

 

[matt295]

okay so i only have the fozen, pellets, and coral food. i should feed the corals once a week, got that. should feed the fish pellets in the morning and frozen at night, but i dont get the crabs, i usually put enough in there so that they get to eat (i think). how do you feed your crabs pellets without your other fish eating them too?

 

[AK77]

Hi Matt,

I wouldn't be too concerned with feeding the crabs. You don't mention which species you have, but most of the readily available hermits and reef compatible types will eat algae growing on the glass and rocks, as well as detritus and missed food. Most species of crabs are, after all, predominently scavengers. I'd only feed the crabs directly, if you had an over abundance of them and there wasn't enough food within the eco-system of your tank to sustain them (They'd let you know by eating one another probably). However if there were that many, I'd look to reduce there numbers as opposed to feeding them.

If they do require nourishment, you could try bigger sinking foods that won't be gobbled up in one mouthful by the fish. Alternatively, place food in a location that is inaccessible to the fish but where the crabs can reach. Personally though, I wouldn't worry too much.

AK

 

[matt295]

we got a sally lightfoot, scarlet hermit, blue legged hermits, and lots of other gusy that i cant remember the names of

 

[AK77]

Hmm. The Sally lightfoot I would probably feed as it could potentially prey on smaller fish if its hungry enough, moreso if its quite large as they are a lot faster moving than the hermits tend to be. The hermits I wouldn't be too concerned with in that respect, unless they are the more aggressive species.

I suppose you could just up the feeding of the fish a bit more. More food = more poop = more crab food lol.