Is live food the best food?

[Paul B]

IMO, not as good as a diet would be with all frozen food instead of "high quality pellets"
Live worms would also be nice to add.

But I feel, If I have to feed anyway, why not feed something the fish were eating in the sea before they were captured? As I mentioned, pellets have no living bacteria other than what are on your hands and if they do not need refrigeration, they would also have preservatives and I am not sure how a fish processes preservatives or why I would want to feed them that.

I myself don't let my family eat preservatives. We eat fresh food that needs no preservatives.

 

[ectoaesthetics]

I personally keep T cali. pods (AKA tigger pods) in an outdoor culture. I add tons of pods to my nano everyday to every other day. They are very easy to culture. I keep live phyto in the fridge and add it to my tank and occasionally the bucket of pods outside. My tank as a result is booming with pods all the time. It has been cheap and easy. The pods in my tank are a result of adding phyto and frozen fish food to the tank -which they consume. The added tigger pods (cultured outside) are consumed quickly in the tank.

 

[fishybizzness]

I personally keep T cali. pods (AKA tigger pods) in an outdoor culture. I add tons of pods to my nano everyday to every other day. They are very easy to culture. I keep live phyto in the fridge and add it to my tank and occasionally the bucket of pods outside. My tank as a result is booming with pods all the time. It has been cheap and easy. The pods in my tank are a result of adding phyto and frozen fish food to the tank -which they consume. The added tigger pods (cultured outside) are consumed quickly in the tank.

If you don't mind me asking, what's your process for raising pods? Thanks

 

[Paul J]

Fish roe?

Mackerel fish eggs

 

[Paul J]

I personally keep T cali. pods (AKA tigger pods) in an outdoor culture. I add tons of pods to my nano everyday to every other day. They are very easy to culture. I keep live phyto in the fridge and add it to my tank and occasionally the bucket of pods outside. My tank as a result is booming with pods all the time. It has been cheap and easy. The pods in my tank are a result of adding phyto and frozen fish food to the tank -which they consume. The added tigger pods (cultured outside) are consumed quickly in the tank.

I would like to know if you don't mind how and what keeps your pod culture outside going. Is it the SG / temp / food source! I have tryed and tryed but to no avail

 

[Redneck19261]

Mackerel fish eggs

I herd fish eggs was really good to feed

 

[ectoaesthetics]

Maybe temp? I run a heater on its lowest setting during the winter. I feed live phyto from time to time. But mostly it phyto grows in the bucket outside as well. They mostly seem to feed on bacteria consuming stuff that falls into the bucket. I am NOT consistent with SG. I top off when it gets pretty low... might even be down 25-30% in water volume. These guys are from tide pools and high tide pools at that. The ones that bake in the sun and sometimes go days without any additional sea water. They are hardy little beasts in my past yards and current.

It never really gets crazy hot here. When it does I put them in the shade. I can get 3 months out of a continuous culture then I have to start a new one as their population dies down.

I have done it here (coastal CA -which makes sense because this is where they are from) but I also did it in Grand Junction CO. I have had better luck with dark buckets but the dark buckets overheat in the 110F+ summers of CO -so I really had to shade them.

+1 on fish eggs as well. I feed Caplin roe all the time as well as frozen clams (purchased live). This is of course thanks to listening to PaulB’s posts. Everything in my tank loves the clam and roe.

 

[Paul B]

Fish roe is probably the food with the most amount of nutrition you can get. Actually to much nutrition to feed at every meal but great for an addition to meals. Just like eating salmon or clams is fantastic for us to eat, but we also need other things. Maybe an occasional Twinkie.

 

[ectoaesthetics]

If you don't mind me asking, what's your process for raising pods? Thanks

I’ll send ya a PM so I don’t hijack the thread

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Maybe temp? I run a heater on its lowest setting during the winter. I feed live phyto from time to time. But mostly it phyto grows in the bucket outside as well. They mostly seem to feed on bacteria consuming stuff that falls into the bucket. I am NOT consistent with SG. I top off when it gets pretty low... might even be down 25-30% in water volume. These guys are from tide pools and high tide pools at that. The ones that bake in the sun and sometimes go days without any additional sea water. They are hardy little beasts in my past yards and current.

It never really gets crazy hot here. When it does I put them in the shade. I can get 3 months out of a continuous culture then I have to start a new one as their population dies down.

I have done it here (coastal CA -which makes sense because this is where they are from) but I also did it in Grand Junction CO. I have had better luck with dark buckets but the dark buckets overheat in the 110F+ summers of CO -so I really had to shade them.

+1 on fish eggs as well. I feed Caplin roe all the time as well as frozen clams (purchased live). This is of course thanks to listening to PaulB’s posts. Everything in my tank loves the clam and roe.

That's really cool! So essentially, just seed a bucket and set it outside and top off occasionally? Or am I oversimplifying?

 

[james Shawn bleacher]

I do blackworms every other day and the LRS reef frenzy nano on opposite days.

Now just got clams on half shell to try since I just got a black saddle puffer.

The fish love the black worms and the LRS. A since today was the first day with puffer threw in a half a clam and they are all trying to eat that to.

Feeding live or good quality frozen can be a pain but as someone that is new to the hobby this has worked out great since all the fish seen healthy from this food.

I try to feed nori now and then but non of the fish will touch it just the hermits, snails and urchins If they find it.

Fish that eat the above
2 regular nemos
1 engineer goby
1 diamond goby
1 royal gramma
1 black saddle puffer (new)
1 cleaner shrimp (she comes out and steals as much food as she can as it comes out of the turkey blaster)

 

[james Shawn bleacher]

If you are looking for an easy way to add a diverse frozen food to your feeding routine check out our offerings at LRSFoods.com We have a walk through video on the media gallery page as well to help give you insights into our products and process.

Everything is produced here in North Carolina using FDA certified, chemical free seafood ingredients, including a lot of clams. There are about a dozen captive breeding successes listed on our website bolstering the nutrition in our foods. We also distribute the entire line of Reef Nutrition products and they certainly are very popular foods as well. Like many have mentioned diversity and high quality products can do a lot to keep your fish healthy. Good luck!

Reef Frenzy what would you recommend from your line for a black saddle puffer?

Thanks in advance

 

[HB AL]

All I feed my 14 fish are 10 to 13 various cubes of Hikari in the evening. It seems to work good since all the fish are healthy and thriving. The abundance of corals I have get whatever they catch from the fish foods large pieces and micro pieces along with the fish poop which there is plenty and from the Kessil lights.

 

[Dennis Cartier]

I feed the PE Mysis flat pack and LRS Reef Frenzy. I was using the Omega One Mysis in the round pods for the longest time, but no stores carry it around here anymore. Latest challenge is that my central anemone rock, with 4 BTA's on it, results in the anemones capturing more and more of the food, causing them to grow bigger and bigger. It's like the little shop of horrors, lol.

My corals have great PE after the feeding the LRS Reef Frenzy.

Dennis

 

[spiraling]

Brine Shrimp Hatchery Dish

No Aeration, Heat, or Tubing Required! Brine Shrimp Direct's Brine Shrimp Hatchery Dish is probably the easiest to use hatchery on the market today. The unique design keeps all the unhatched eggs and shells in the outer ring, while the hatched shrimp will seek out the light and swim to the open...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

I think I might be inclined to use this more often. It's less hassle than my cone hatchery and seems good for smaller scale batches.

I have one of the hatcheries and its really easy. I got it and the eggs from Brine Shrimp Direct. Fill it with water (I just use tank water) sprinkle in the eggs. For the next couple of days you can take the collection cup and pour it in the tank. Rinse it out and repeat.
I think of them like potato chips for my wrasses. They love them.

 

[ReefFrenzy]

Reef Frenzy what would you recommend from your line for a black saddle puffer?

Thanks in advance

James, I would suspect our Nano blend would be the most appropriate since it is processed to be more finely ground for smaller fish. Shredding up a little seaweed and mixing it in the frozen "mush" as it thaws wouldn't hurt from time to time. I had a Blue Spot Toby puffer and he was really cool. Good luck with yours!

 

[james Shawn bleacher]

James, I would suspect our Nano blend would be the most appropriate since it is processed to be more finely ground for smaller fish. Shredding up a little seaweed and mixing it in the frozen "mush" as it thaws wouldn't hurt from time to time. I had a Blue Spot Toby puffer and he was really cool. Good luck with yours!

Thanks that is what I am using now. I try different seaweed for all my fish not a one will touch that stuff. They eat it and spit it out they prefer the carnivore diet, lol