What SHOULD I be feeding?

fox0521

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Hey folks!

here’s my stock list:
Purple tang
Scopas tang
Gold head goby
Banggai cardinal
Pair of clowns
Inverts (snails, crabs, conch, peppermint shrimp)

LPS, SPS, softies

I’ll be honest, I feed my tangs sheets of algae and I feed frozen mysis shrimp once a day. Also add phytofeast and reef roids but that’s all! Looking for input, should I feed flakes/pellets? What kind? Anything else? Looking for long term growth and health for all inhabitants!
 

Spare time

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I feed ocean nutrition prime flakes, PE flakes (I stick them in the water so they don't float), PE pellets, My home made food, and Hikari seaweed extreme. I also throw in the occasional brine shrimp.

As for coral specific foods, I do reef energy, vitachem, and live isochrysis phyto.
 

Jekyl

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I feed a variety of frozen Rods food and brine shrimp.
 
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fox0521

fox0521

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Wow, wow, wow! I was really hoping for a roaring agreement of the best regimen but like many things in the hobby, it seems that this is a preference topic! it sounds like there are some great products I should look into! I’d really like to go with some live food, rather than always using frozen. I moved a piece of live rock from my 55 to my 125, it has some live red macro algae and my tangs LOVE it! When I think about trying to simulate a natural environment and increase the life span of my inhabitants through nutrition, live food or well formulated food seems appropriate in comparison to just always buying what’s cheap and easy. I’ll do some more looking, I’m sure I’ll have lots of questions!
 

Spare time

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Wow, wow, wow! I was really hoping for a roaring agreement of the best regimen but like many things in the hobby, it seems that this is a preference topic! it sounds like there are some great products I should look into! I’d really like to go with some live food, rather than always using frozen. I moved a piece of live rock from my 55 to my 125, it has some live red macro algae and my tangs LOVE it! When I think about trying to simulate a natural environment and increase the life span of my inhabitants through nutrition, live food or well formulated food seems appropriate in comparison to just always buying what’s cheap and easy. I’ll do some more looking, I’m sure I’ll have lots of questions!

If you don't have a refugium, you can set up a bin or small tank and grow out macroalgae for your tangs.
 
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fox0521

fox0521

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If you don't have a refugium, you can set up a bin or small tank and grow out macroalgae for your tangs.
I do have a small fuge in my sump! I have chateo (and annoying GHA) in there now. What should I grow for my tangs?
The red in left of this picture is what they’re munching on now! Well, it’s brownish now since they’re pigs. Could I just cut some of that and see if it grows in my fuge? I didn’t add this macro, it just sprouted on a piece of rock I got from a local guy.
Thanks!

E4435228-1F5F-4026-AFBF-941E1D87DF7A.jpeg
ED071030-E245-4025-9EF3-98AA994C6E4F.jpeg

FD74E11E-BD71-4D98-BCD8-0E353123A330.jpeg
 

ReefSapper

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As with anything in this hobby you can dive deep or keep it rather simple, not in any way knocking the folks that have the time/patience to make their own food or feed many different things many times a day...I wish i could as well. I keep mine simple, frozen once a day (usually brine, mysis or some kind of krill mixture, all the store bought cubes) and either pellet or flake once a day. I do reef roids about every 10 days and drop a bit of nori in form my 1 YE Kole tang about every 4 days. Simple routine for me to keep, all my fish are healthy and used to this routine as well.
 

Spare time

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I do have a small fuge in my sump! I have chateo (and annoying GHA) in there now. What should I grow for my tangs?
The red in left of this picture is what they’re munching on now! Well, it’s brownish now since they’re pigs. Could I just cut some of that and see if it grows in my fuge? I didn’t add this macro, it just sprouted on a piece of rock I got from a local guy.
Thanks!

E4435228-1F5F-4026-AFBF-941E1D87DF7A.jpeg
ED071030-E245-4025-9EF3-98AA994C6E4F.jpeg

FD74E11E-BD71-4D98-BCD8-0E353123A330.jpeg


You can add it to the refugium. I am not sure what it is (or where it is) in the picture. I find tangs really like gracilaria. The only thing I would say for growing macro algae is consider dosing something like chaetogro or other trace supplements (some just dose iron).
 

wmchaseb

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I feed a mixture of pellets in the morning consisting of TDO Chroma boost, New Life Spectrum Probiotics, and Seaweed extreme. They also get a sheet of nori. Around lunch time they got a cube of PE Mysis and a cube of Hikari Frozen Spirulina Brine Shrimp, and a sheet of nori. Around 4 pm they get a small portion of rods Herbivore frenzy. I'm thinking about starting to feed reef roids twice a week as I can't keep my phosphate up. My nitrates sit around 5-7.
 

inktomi

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As with anything in this hobby you can dive deep or keep it rather simple, not in any way knocking the folks that have the time/patience to make their own food or feed many different things many times a day...I wish i could as well. I keep mine simple, frozen once a day (usually brine, mysis or some kind of krill mixture, all the store bought cubes) and either pellet or flake once a day. I do reef roids about every 10 days and drop a bit of nori in form my 1 YE Kole tang about every 4 days. Simple routine for me to keep, all my fish are healthy and used to this routine as well.

I agree 100%. For sure.

Yes, I make my own fish food (it's cheaper than buying premade frozen), but I also feed PE mysis, Hikari mysis, NLS pellets, Nori sheets, A few different kinds of fish egg.. and that's just fish food!

Find something that you can consistently feed. Whatever that might be, you can even just use pellets, and soak them in Selcon or something like that every now and then for extra nutrition. Like most things in our hobby, I think with food it's consistency and stability (so you know your fish and coral ARE eating something regularly) that are more important than min/maxing everything all the time.
 

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