How often/much do you feed your fish?

James_O · May 2, 2021

There have been some old threads discussing this, but I wanted to get your guy’s updated opinions.

I just got 2x Clownfish and am currently feeding 4 NLS pellets (each) one day and 4 mysis shrimp (each) the next day.

Do I need to feed them 2x a day? Or more?

I want these little guys to live a long, happy life, and I want them to have lots of nutrition.

Daniel92481 · May 2, 2021

Fish will always eat, doesn’t mean they’re hungry. Kind of like me.

Ideally, once per day is enough, but could even go once every 2 days. Keep an eye on your nutrients to gauge your import/export.

Reef and Dive · May 2, 2021

Once a day is pretty enough. Be careful with mysis on a new tank.

After it matures you can consider feeding more often, although not really necessary.

James_O · May 2, 2021

Daniel92481 said:
Fish will always eat, doesn’t mean they’re hungry. Kind of like me.

Ideally, once per day is enough, but could even go once every 2 days. Keep an eye on your nutrients to gauge your import/export.

So probably pellets in the morning and shrimp at night? Or do all pellets one day and then all shrimp the next day?

Also, people keep mentioning they soak their mysis in some nutrients before feeding. What is this liquid they soak it in?

Reef and Dive said:
Once a day is pretty enough. Be careful with mysis on a new tank.

After it matures you can consider feeding more often, although not really necessary.

Why should I be carful with mysis?

Daniel92481 · May 2, 2021

James_O said:
So probably pellets in the morning and shrimp at night? Or do all pellets one day and then all shrimp the next day?

Also, people keep mentioning they soak their mysis in some nutrients before feeding. What is this liquid they soak it in?

Why should I be carful with mysis?

Yea, either one of those schedules would work. Just don’t overfeed. It’s so hard not to.

As far as the liquid to soak in, some might use selcon, which is a garlic additive. It helps finicky fish start to eat and might even help with immunity and parasites. Also, make sure to rinse your frozen food first to rid of excess unnecessary phosphates.

James_O · May 2, 2021

Daniel92481 said:
Yea, either one of those schedules would work. Just don’t overfeed. It’s so hard not to.

As far as the liquid to soak in, some might use selcon, which is a garlic additive. It helps finicky fish start to eat and might even help with immunity and parasites. Also, make sure to rinse your frozen food first to rid of excess unnecessary phosphates.

They beg soooo well. ;Facepalm

I’ll definitely make sure to remove any uneaten food.

I will probably follow this feeding schedule:

Monday, Wednesday, Friday: 4 NLS (each)
Tuesday, Thursday: 4 Mysis (each)
Saturday & Sunday: Fast

Does that look good?

Reef and Dive · May 2, 2021

James_O said:
Why should I be carful with mysis?

Too rich in nutrients for a new tank. If it was mine I would not use mysis more than once a week...

Staghorn · May 2, 2021

Do you mean 4 pellets / mysis per fish? If your nutrients aren’t rising I would feed them a little more. Clowns really don’t pick around the tank too much. If you really want to keep the healthy I would increase the food.

James_O · May 2, 2021

Staghorn said:
Do you mean 4 pellets / mysis per fish? If your nutrients aren’t rising I would feed them a little more. Clowns really don’t pick around the tank too much. If you really want to keep the healthy I would increase the food.

Sorry, what I said above was confusing.

I plan to feed twice a day, but mix up the food. For example, I plan to feed mysis 2x tomorrow, but then feed NLS 2x on Tuesday.

Monday, Wednesday, Friday: 4 NLS (each) twice a day
Tuesday, Thursday: 4 Mysis (each) twice a day
Saturday & Sunday: Fast

That's what I meant to say.

---

Not sure how I measure "nutrients" in a tank?

monkeyCmonkeyDo · May 2, 2021

2-3 times daily.
However lately 1 time and run out the door. Lol. Last cpl days have been busy.
D

Insanereefs · May 2, 2021

I have a 14g biocube with 2 clownfish and I feed them once a day or every other day as to avoid any spikes.
Also those pellets are highly concentrated so 1 pellet per fish instead of 2 would be fine if you want to feed them twice a day.

Trever · May 4, 2021

Ok this is really useful to me.

I feed a lot more than this. Guess that explains my GHA (though nutrients haven't been measurable since algae first appeared moons ago). My small clown typically eats 4 pellets eg., chromis god knows how many (8+).

People say "don't overfeed", but this detailed level of discussion (number of pellets) makes it more clear what that means I guess.

I have switched to frozen food because supposedly those have LESS nutrients- less GHA fuel, and indeed it seems to be working, algae is down.

How are you counting mysis? Freeze dried? I have been feeding frozen PE and there's no way to count individual shrimps there.

Overall, I thought I was being very careful. Food NEVER sits on the bottom, I watch it all, etc.. But yikes...

Rickybobby · May 4, 2021

I feed 2-3 times a day. Sometimes struggle to get nitrates. I’ll do anything for my fish

Reef and Dive · May 5, 2021

Trever said:
Ok this is really useful to me.

I feed a lot more than this. Guess that explains my GHA (though nutrients haven't been measurable since algae first appeared moons ago). My small clown typically eats 4 pellets eg., chromis god knows how many (8+).

People say "don't overfeed", but this detailed level of discussion (number of pellets) makes it more clear what that means I guess.

I have switched to frozen food because supposedly those have LESS nutrients- less GHA fuel, and indeed it seems to be working, algae is down.

How are you counting mysis? Freeze dried? I have been feeding frozen PE and there's no way to count individual shrimps there.

Overall, I thought I was being very careful. Food NEVER sits on the bottom, I watch it all, etc.. But yikes...

Remember... food becomes poop... poop becomes nutrients in the tank... so not leaving food on the bottom does not mean adequate amount of food. If I feed 10 times a day, my fish just eat everything, and they’re already pretty fat.

I believe their nature is to eat as much as they can when they find food in nature...

Staghorn · May 5, 2021

Yeah, I’m not a fish expert but I think 1,2,4 pellets is extremely low. How big is your aquarium? You can measure nitrate and phosphate and even though these tests may not be super accurate, over time they will show you trends. If the numbers are climbing then try to export more nutrients via skimming, water changes, refugia, and many other options. If your nutrient export can’t handle it then maybe scale back your feeding. Your fish will thank you for the little extra food.

homer1475 · May 5, 2021

Daniel92481 said:
Yea, either one of those schedules would work. Just don’t overfeed. It’s so hard not to.

As far as the liquid to soak in, some might use selcon, which is a garlic additive. It helps finicky fish start to eat and might even help with immunity and parasites. Also, make sure to rinse your frozen food first to rid of excess unnecessary phosphates.

This is COMPLETELY FALSE.

Selcon is a vitamin, not garlic. It is made up of highly unsaturated fatty acids, lipids, vitamin C, and vitamin b12.

Also the thinking of extra bound up phosphates and nitrates in the "water" in frozen food was also debunked many years ago. There really is hardly any "extra". The small bits your washing away, feeds your corals. Stop rinsing the frozen, and stop spot feeding corals with powdered "coral foods". Just feed all the frozen in frozen food.

James_O · May 5, 2021

Update:

I have been feeding 2x a day and have had no issues! I remove any uneaten food and make sure not to over feed.

I usually feed mysis at night and NLS in the morning. (Mostly because I don’t have time to feed mysis in the morning. ;Facepalm)

Daniel92481 · May 5, 2021

homer1475 said:
This is COMPLETELY FALSE.

Selcon is a vitamin, not garlic. It is made up of highly unsaturated fatty acids, lipids, vitamin C, and vitamin b12.

Also the thinking of extra bound up phosphates and nitrates in the "water" in frozen food was also debunked many years ago. There really is hardly any "extra". The small bits your washing away, feeds your corals. Stop rinsing the frozen, and stop spot feeding corals with powdered "coral foods". Just feed all the frozen in frozen food.

I’ll give you the vitamin, not garlic part. It helps finnicky fish eat. It’s an additive. It works! As far as the frozen food bound up with phosphates, not nitrates. You’re wrong about that. Don’t make me call Ryan and Randy to put you in check Homer. Doh!