Frosty Fish Feast: Do you feed frozen food to your reef tank?

[dadnjesse]

I buy the 40 ounce Piscine Mysis and feed twice a day, and a sheet of Nori every other day.
All my fish love the Mysis including my Copperband Butterfly.

 

[codenfx]

Everyday and pellets, flakes and algae wafer every other day.

 

[52728299]

i feed a cube of frozen daily with some TDO, coral frenzy, or reef roids at night.

i vary the frozen daily from Rods to PE Mysis, spirulina brine shrimp, mega marine, reef plankton and reef caviar

I'm pretty similar, I feed 1 1/2 cubes worth between 3 meals a day with tdo pellets mixed in. Usually switch up which cube I use daily, lately between marine cuisine and angel and butterfly formula with the afternoon feeding being fish frenzy.

 

[Totlxtc]

Everyday

 

[Dbichler]

Every other day I feed frozen diy seafood mix. Other days I feed nls algae max pellets reef nutrition flakes. Daily nori red and green.

 

[MarsReefer]

I feed a chunk of PE mysis in the morning and a chunk of reef frenzy at night.

I do feed a mix of powdered foods to my corals once a week, but almost all frozen for me.

 

[Salty_Northerner]

I turn off the return pump and click feed mode on the MP pump. I feed PE Mysis I put in a small plastic measuring/dose RS cup and add a tiny amount of tank water and use a puppet and the boys know where to go when it's feeding time. If my phosphate goes below .02 I'll toss them some tiny garlic flavored pellets. I generally feed once a day for as long as the timer for feed mode is running. Once the MP kicks back up, feeding is done. If I notice them pecking away at my pods then they'll get a small treat so the pods get left alone to do their job.. pods are expensive for me so I'm trying to let them multiply. So far it's working.

 

[Bob E]

Yes I feed frozen everyday, I cycle few different types of frozen

 

[Kuhmens]

Frozen, I was rinsing my frozen for a while and saw zero change. I reduced feeding some time ago to bring nitrates down and now I can feed as much as I want and still have to fose p04 and n03. So yep. Frozen goes in and they devour it before it can even have a chance to go into overflow lol

 

[UtahReefer]

I create a mix of LRS Reef Frenzy, Herbivore Frenzy, Mysis, Brine and Emerald Entree. I make up about 4 days worth and add BW Amino Omega.

 

[Cherie cook]

Feed frozen daily…and it’s wicked expensive here In Colorado! I bought everything to try to make my own.

 

[cmor1701d]

Pretty much every day. I add a a couple of cubes from the list below, rotating through the lot, some Rod's, and some freeze dried. I add Selcon and garlic Xtreme. It all goes in a pint soup container with some tank water. I then squirt a turkey baster worth in during the day.
Sometimes I'll shut down the return and protein skimmer and set the Vortechs to feed mode.
Yes, I have a lot of fish in a 210 tank.

Rod's Food - original
Rod's Food - Pacific Plankton Blend
Frozen Mysis cubes- Piscine Energetics
Frozen Spirulina Brine Shrimp - Hikari
Frozen Calanus - Piscine Energetics
Frozen Mega-Marine - Hikari
Frozen Rotifers - Hikari
Frozen Cyclopod - Hikari
Frozen Coral Gumbo - Hikari
Oyster Eggs Frozen Cubes
Freeze dried mysis
Freeze dried brine shrimp

Selcon
Garlic Xtreme

 

[Jedi1199]

I feed frozen every day.

I defrost enough for 4 or 5 days (2-4 cubes of each) in a mason jar with tank water and feed several Spoonfuls before I leave for work.

 

[Treefer32]

I fed my own frozen blend for years. Made from human frozen food from costco - Tuna, scallops, and shrimp, with benepets, a bottle of selcon, flakes, pellets, and nori mixed in. I would also add aminos or fish eggs. more liquids to bind it all together.

I did that for 3 years, my recent batch was increasing my nitrates everytime I fed. I topped out at 65 ppm, when I decided to switch to cubes. Now, I feed a mix of brine, krill, and mysis cubes once a day and a sheet of nori every 2-3 days.

My nitrates dropped steadily from 65 ppm to 8 ppm over the last 3 months that I switched out my food for cubes.

Now my phosphates steadily increase. . .

I feed 12-15 cubes of frozen a day. I leave my return pump and my gyres all on. I find the food gets distributed to more shy fish allowing even shy eaters to get something. Plus the agressive eaters are all distracted by chasing food. It's quite comical when two fish go for the same piece of food and nearly run into each other.

My tangs have learned that my corals eat too, so after everything settles they go inspect all the corals and rocks for food they may have missed.

I can't wait for an automatic frozen feeder. I can't believe with our technology as it is that we haven't found a way to auto feed frozen. I have too large of fish to feed flake or pellets to in a realistic manor.

I have a Creole Anthia that's around 11-12" in length, and he will swallow a whole sheet of nori and he'll eat probably 6- 7 cubes of frozen by himself. That doesn't leave much for the other 15 fish.

 

[Treefer32]

I feed frozen every day.

I defrost enough for 4 or 5 days (2-4 cubes of each) in a mason jar with tank water and feed several Spoonfuls before I leave for work.

Just a thought here, but I wouldn't use tank water. I would use the cleanest (Sterile) containers you can and use the cleanest RODI or RO water. (I've done this with RO water to no ill effects yet.) I throw the containers in the fridge. The reason is tank water contains billions of bacteria that are used to eating meat. I wouldn't do that as it will spoil the food. You can certainly do this, just make sure all the equipment is as sterile as possible and use sterile water.

I think the idea is great, it's what I do for my fish keepers when I'm going on vacation.

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

I feed my fish frozen capelin eggs from San Francisco Bay Company. Occasionally they get some other frozen stuff, but I've found that fish roe gives them everything they need. Nature did design it to do exactly that for developing fish larvae, so it makes sense. It wouldn't be a good diet for herbivores or fish with big mouths, but it works in my tank.

I don't usually feed pellets, and flakes are (in my opinion) utter nonsense. Flakes go down overflows, get caught on stuff to decompose, and can cause fish to ingest air when they eat from the surface. When you look at the ingredients for dry food, you find some pretty weird stuff that I just can't fathom a wild reef fish would ever come across. Some of my "favorites" are;

- Wheat flour
- Potato starch
- Dairy products
- Yeast
- Soy
- Alfalfa

If anybody ever sees a chromis grazing on alfalfa or a tang drinking milk in the wild, please let me know. Not saying that these foods are nutritionally bad for them, but it still seems like it might be better to give them food that they would find on the reef.

Of course, if you have a cowfish, give it all the alfalfa it wants.

 

[Treefer32]

I feed my fish frozen capelin eggs from San Francisco Bay Company. Occasionally they get some other frozen stuff, but I've found that fish roe gives them everything they need. Nature did design it to do exactly that for developing fish larvae, so it makes sense. It wouldn't be a good diet for herbivores or fish with big mouths, but it works in my tank.

I don't usually feed pellets, and flakes are (in my opinion) utter nonsense. Flakes go down overflows, get caught on stuff to decompose, and can cause fish to ingest air when they eat from the surface. When you look at the ingredients for dry food, you find some pretty weird stuff that I just can't fathom a wild reef fish would ever come across. Some of my "favorites" are;

- Wheat flour
- Potato starch
- Dairy products
- Yeast
- Soy
- Alfalfa

If anybody ever sees a chromis grazing on alfalfa or a tang drinking milk in the wild, please let me know. Not saying that these foods are nutritionally bad for them, but it still seems like it might be better to give them food that they would find on the reef.

Of course, if you have a cowfish, give it all the alfalfa it wants.

I had a dog that loved Bananas, peas, and other vegies. It's not something one things a dog would typically go hunting for. They've got K9 teeth built for shredding meat, not for picking peas or berries. But omg she went bonkers for bananas and peas.

Just because it may not be naturally occuring food in their habitat, there may be other foods that are healthy and support their immune systems, that they love more than what's on the reef.. Never know unless we experiment! That said, I'm not feeding a banana to my crazy fish anytime soon. But, could fruit be mixed into a sea food medly and fish go bonkers for it? Maybe? Interesting thought! It would also serve as a great binder when making one's own food! I'm half tempted to add mashed banana to my home made food mix now to see if fish like it. LOL.

 

[RichReef]

I feed frozen everyday. I use a baster type tube for targeting. All the fish know it. I turn off all pumps. I have no problem letting the food settle. My frozen eating green mandarin needs it to settle. The snails come out of the sand bed to eat also. The cleaner shrimp also hit the sand bed. When my nutrients are high I rinse it first but that is rare. I feed two Mysis, one Brine, and one Marine Cuisine everyday.

I turn my circulating pumps back on first. That gets the food moving again. When it clears I turn the return back on.

 

[Freenow54]

A Question: I bought expensive Canadian misis shrimp, and tried feeding 2 clowns, and a tang with a turkey baster. They had no interest. Even tried soaking in Selcon with same result. Would be nice to figure it out. I hate wasting food. Right now use Omega 1 flakes, and Nori

 

[Rich Klein]

Other than a half a sheet of nori, I only feed frozen twice per day measured on a small digital scale.