A balanced diet

[afboundguy]

I also get mosquito lava the fish love them. You only need enough light on the tubs to keep the water slightly green for the pods to feed on. You could also have a tub purely to grow phyto to feed the pods.

But my wife does not like mosquito larvae so that's the big issue!

 

[atoll]

But my wife does not like mosquito larvae so that's the big issue!

In that case, tell her to eat something else like crickets

 

[slingfox]

Am in the UK. It does get quite hot in summer but the cats are only in the sun for about 4 hours and later in the afternoon. No covers at all and open to the elements. Most of the rain water runs off as it's not as dense as saltwater of course. I only have to add more salt water once or twice through the year.

Do you think it is necessary to have the container in the sun? I was thinking about setting this up in my garage. I suppose I can try both outside and k side and see what happens. When you leave it outside are you topping off the water to combat evaporation ?

 

[atoll]

Do you think it is necessary to have the container in the sun? I was thinking about setting this up in my garage. I suppose I can try both outside and k side and see what happens. When you leave it outside are you topping off the water to combat evaporation ?

I cant see why you can't put it in the garage as long as you feed the pods photo. When outside getting light phyto will keep growing until pods out compete it. Can you put a seperate container outside to grow photo.
Most of the rainwater will run off if you have the container filled near the brim. You may at some point have to top it up with more saltwater however.

 

[slingfox]

I cant see why you can't put it in the garage as long as you feed the pods photo. When outside getting light phyto will keep growing until pods out compete it. Can you put a seperate container outside to grow photo.
Most of the rainwater will run off if you have the container filled near the brim. You may at some point have to top it up with more saltwater however.

I used to grow phyto with F2 and a bubbler and all that. I was was hoping to grow pods with as low effort and tech setup as possible. Looks like I need to figure out what kind of setup makes sense for me. I appreciate the ideas!

 

[afboundguy]

Do you think it is necessary to have the container in the sun? I was thinking about setting this up in my garage. I suppose I can try both outside and k side and see what happens. When you leave it outside are you topping off the water to combat evaporation ?

I grew pods in a 5 gallon bucket with a clear plastic cover with a grow light indoors easily so it can be done. I just used a cheapo HD spotlight grow light.

 

[slingfox]

I grew pods in a 5 gallon bucket with a clear plastic cover with a grow light indoors easily so it can be done. I just used a cheapo HD spotlight grow light.

Awesome :). Did you run it with an air bubbler?

 

[atoll]

As I also do outside without an airstone as well as my bigger containers.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I often see posts where a balanced diet is mentioned but what exactly is a balanced diet?

For me apart from a mixture of foods some of which I make myself it's as much variety I can provide. That includes live foods, frozen foods and my own sourced from the fishmongers.I often add a few drops of olive oil to my own food mixes.

I don't feed any commercial dried foods most full of fillers like wheat and E number additives. I feed live foods mainly in the summer that I breed outside like pods.

Food is feed 3 times per day. All food is quickly consumed within 20 to 30 seconds and all eat the foods I feed. My fish live long lives and most breed in my aquarium.

Thats my take on a balanced died, you of course may have a different take on it.

Quote

I think what’s an appropriately balanced diet depends on what species of fish we are talking about.

Just like mammals, where some eat meat, some eat plants, some eat insects, some eat fruit, etc., I expect fish benefit from a diet close to what they eat in nature.

An herbivore such as a tang might benefit from different species of algae to get a balance, while a clownfish might benefit more from zooplankton and small crustaceans.

 

[atoll]

I think what’s an appropriately balanced diet depends on what species of fish we are talking about.

Just like mammals, where some eat meat, some eat plants, some eat insects, some eat fruit, etc., I expect fish benefit from a diet close to what they eat in nature.

An herbivore such as a tang might benefit from different species of algae to get a balance, while a clownfish might benefit more from zooplankton and small crustaceans.

And in doing what I feed I believe I am as close to providing such foods as I can for all my fish from very small rotterfers through to larger shrimp and various algaes. I also feed various live foods like live pods.

 

[afboundguy]

Awesome :). Did you run it with an air bubbler?

No. I used one of those rotifer specific HOB filters that Reef Nutrition sells and I used the "clear" 5 gallon bucket cover the kit came with as well.

 

[skey44]

I’ve been feeding a slurry mix of Rods/LRS/pacifica plankton/PE mysis/sprungs sea veggies flake mix (these are various real algae flakes not flake food). Think I’m hitting lots of nutritional profiles there. My fish appear very healthy with lots of vibrance. Maybe even fat and sassy!