where to get firm plastic mesh and how to secure it to my tank to feed CBB? see vid link

[FishPersonFL]

Hi. The video here at time 2:21 shows his contraption for securing food for a CBB to peck at. Similar concept to a worm cone shaped feeder, but that can only be at the water surface.

***where can i find this mesh? I actually have it if i ruin my fish 'breeding trap' which I still use occasionally. So I'd rather just get a small sheet of it.
**How would I then secure it (and easy to remove it to put food in) to my tank? I have a eurobrace, so that j shape tube in the vid wouldn't work. Not that I can even find a tube like that!.
I'm really anxious to try this technique he uses out.
TY!

 

[Greg P]

Lance, where's the vid?

 

[FishPersonFL]

I just put it on there.. thanks :-D

 

[Bepis]

If I were you I’d use regular mesh except make a cube out of frame and place that in the area of it. You could always just pick it up. Could buy multiple Red Sea Lids and weld them together

 

[FishPersonFL]

If I were you I’d use regular mesh except make a cube out of frame and place that in the area of it. You could always just pick it up. Could buy multiple Red Sea Lids and weld them together

Good idea, but having the feeding mesh trap attached to something I can lift out of tank easy is ideal. Andwould have to buy a RedSea lid which is more $ than this : I'm thinking this mesh would be ok . $15 in the end for all I need is a small piece of it, but oh well. I'll go to Home Depot later ideally today to see if they have cuttable sheets of it there somehow if I'm lucky.
Then i'd super glue rigid air tubing to the mesh 'food trap' formed with plastic ties. I guess I can just attach another 2" piece of rigid tubing perpendicular to the long piece and then a small 1" piece perpendicular to that 2" piece, making an upside down j shape. It wont be very sturdy since the tubing is so thin, but for now maybe will work.

Maybe I can find plastic, non aquarium toxic, frame corners like on the mesh tank lid you mentioned. I can make a U shape of those,which woudl be more secure than rigid airtubing and attach that to the long rigid air tube / food trap. *are the L shape frame pieces that come with the lids aquarium water safe? I woudl think they are. So I can probably get a few form say brs.. hmmm

 

[Bigtrout]

For a harder plastic mesh, look at the plastic canvas used for needlepoint. It comes in many different sizes, and opening sizes(holes per inch) can be put together with heavy fishing line or really small zip ties. Its fairly cheap as well.

It looks like the material in the video is the same stuff i just mentioned!

 

[FishPersonFL]

after making the feeder, I found this when I a search for black worms on premiumquatics.com : https://premiumaquatics.com/products/fishies-pouch-feeder.html . It's $21 and uses a magnet (which I dont like) so it's an option for those that dont want to make anything DIY.

 

[FishPersonFL]

I put mine together.. I'll post pics later after i'm done modifying the feeder. But I made some bigger holes in the needle point firm plastic mesh. I'm going to acutally drill holes into it so I can get the size I need (the cbb will not pick food off the feeder, mine has to put his mouth into it. I did that before with another feeder for my OSFF's.

My feeder is pretty good overall. I formed the 'hook' onto the the tank using two airline fitting elbows to attached to firm airline tubing with small pieces of airline tubing to actually connect the pieces. it's pretty sturdy.
But I'm extremely happy as I actually got my CBB to eat frozen food already.. only through the feeder. It's Roggers Reef food btw :-D.. I cant tell yet if he likes the green or orange variety. He spits some out but swallows some also. He likes it more than live black worms which he finally started eating, and more than live(?) .. I dont know for sure they are still alive clams.

 

[FishPersonFL]

He just started eating brown rogger's reef food, while still in water column. I saw him eat 3 good sized pieces, he didnt spit out!. He actually doesnt often pick at the contraption I put together above, but I never did drill the holes in it either. He's been happy with live black worns and fresh clam I put in 2x a week. But I may be able to stop all that and just do this food. I dont think he is attrated to any other food type. Not even orange rogger's food, which I'll try again. I'm hoping he keeps doing this.

EDIT: I just fed him again. He eats both the orange and brown type. LIkes brown a little better maybe because it's 'softer'
this totally makes my day

 

[absfish]

For a harder plastic mesh, look at the plastic canvas used for needlepoint. It comes in many different sizes, and opening sizes(holes per inch) can be put together with heavy fishing line or really small zip ties. Its fairly cheap as well.

It looks like the material in the video is the same stuff i just mentioned!

Is that stuff safe for aquariums, do you know? Thanks much--

 

[Garf]

Is that stuff safe for aquariums, do you know? Thanks much--

Folks have been using it in algae scrubbers for a long time.