Can you recommend a diet for micro fish?

PolypPocket · 2026-10-07T02:15:54-0400

So I have a captive bred mandarin, FL tiger goby, blue neon goby, and a hi fin banded goby.

I have been feeding TDO B2 pellets as a staple and they all LOVE it. However I would like to supplement their diet with other things that offer different nutritional value than TDO.

I have tried frozen mysis because everyone says it’s the gold standard of fish food. They hate it. Like they will literally spit it out and watch it rot. I’ve tried so many ways of offering, even making tiny bits…nope.

I also have started experimenting with non-live baby brine shrimp (teeeeeny tiny dots that snow in the water). Primarily I bought it for the mandarin and he seems to like it. Unfortunately they’re a bit too small for the other fish and while they do occasionally get a few it’s not really effective for them. The corals enjoy them though.

Are there other brands of micro pellets or other types of food that you’d recommend to round out their diet?

Yes there are also live pods in the tank, in case anyone is wondering.

mcarroll · 2026-10-07T02:33:39-0400

Lots of my fish seem to dig Hikari micro pellets....even fish that are absurdly too big for the pellets. ;)

Hatching live baby brine is super easy and they should like them a lot better. (Instant baby brine is excellent in most cases as well tho.)

Maybe try to get froze copepods? I have pods+garlic from TMC and some fish dig them a lot.

PolypPocket · 2026-10-07T02:39:00-0400

mcarroll said:
Lots of my fish seem to dig Hikari micro pellets....even fish that are absurdly too big for the pellets. ;)

Hatching live baby brine is super easy and they should like them a lot better. (Instant baby brine is excellent in most cases as well tho.)

Maybe try to get froze copepods? I have pods+garlic from TMC and some fish dig them a lot.

Oh that’s a good idea, the frozen pods + garlic. I will look for that. And thanks for the pellet recommendation.

I thought about breeding brine shrimp and collecting the freshly hatched ones, but I tried the liquid stuff first instead. I may still eventually hatch live ones though.

mcarroll · 2026-10-07T02:49:30-0400

PolypPocket said:
Oh that’s a good idea, the frozen pods + garlic. I will look for that. And thanks for the pellet recommendation.

I thought about breeding brine shrimp and collecting the freshly hatched ones, but I tried the liquid stuff first instead. I may still eventually hatch live ones though.

Even if you think it's easy, I swear it's easier than you think. :)

Either get a good hatchery that can go in the tank (google it) or this one: https://sfbb.com/product/shrimpery/ (I DIY's one like this for what that's worth.)

Others are fine too, but IMO for our purpose these are the ideal ones.

* Rio used to market one that looked very practical as well, but I have never actually seen one for sale. Also, look up @Paul B 's DIY baby brine shrimp feeder. I intend on DIY'ing one like that next time I need BBS.