Coral Foods

Guy W

Guy W

AC Members
Apr 8, 2002
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Naples, FL
I have a few corals in my tanks, some button and mushroom colony's, an LPS Frogspawn, feather dusters...

I was wondering if feeding my tank Nannochloropsis algea that I'm culturing as Rotifer food for my breeding clownfish would be as good as feeding the corals commercially available coral foods?

Guy
 
Probably the only animal that will be able to catch the nanochloropsis is the worm. Have you tried putting some rotifers in? They are probably a lot like the commercially available foods. From what I remember in Bornemain's book, buttons, mushrooms and LPS like bigger chunks of food.
 
hi,

The short answer to your question is Nano is not good for what you want.

I tried a few times to feed my feather dusters some of my surplus rotifers and it did not seem to make any difference.

I asked someone, I believe it was Dr. Ron Shimeck, about this and the fact I had so many feather dusters. He said that feather dusters have a mesh-like feeding apparatus and that they can only catch food of a certain size: too big and they can not digest it, too small and they can not catch it.

His theory about why I had such prolific feather dusters (I have so many they seem like a plague), is that I also have bristle worms. Apparantly the larvae of this animals are what the feather dusters it.

So maybe your feather are already eating.

As for mushrooms, I can tell you that if your water quality is good and you have enough light and you provide your fish with food, they should also reproduce prolificaly.

As for you LPS, I cant say anything. No experience on that side of the hobby yet ;P
 
this thread caught my eye because I am thinking of changing my routine.

I am relatively new to the hobby, so am still learning. if I confess gross errors, be patient with me!
anyways, on Wednesday nites (everything has a schedule in my house) I douse the tank with Marine Snow. (I don't over do it, I follow directions) I bought this product afer my husband "surprised" me with the purchase of a gordonian before we were really ready for something like this. (he has a habit of doing that, then I go to the research and try to figure out how to keep things happy. He does NOT follow directions well!)
On Saturday nites, I feed the fish and my bubbletipped anenome chopped chunks of this frozen product (yes, it is brought to room temp!) The ingredients say its composed of shrimp, krill, salmon eggs, sardine meat, plankton. I mush some of this up and mix it with tank water until its a fine slurry, and then waft it near the other invertebrate residents,as well.
I've been doing this for several months and everybody seems relatively happy. But, I've begun to wonder if I am really addressing all the needs. I do like "prepackaged" convenience products. Am not adverse to homemade concoctions, but need to have "convenience foods" around for those bad nights when the humans end up eating frozen dinners as well. Would like to hear what everyone else is using, with good success!
 
I believe that Marine Snow may not be what it claims to be but I could be wrong. This things usually have more water in it than they caim to have. Dr. Ron Schimeck gave a talk about this.. He actually sent samples of some of this substances (DT Phytopankton, Marine Snow, etc) to a lab for a content analysis. Almost all of them had a lot of water and nothing more than a few nutrients... I believe DT was the exception but I could be wrong...


If you see that everybody is happy, then continue your routine. If something changes and some one is unhappy, then ... then, blame the industry for not providing truthful and honest information ;P

Oh, one more thing... With the frozen food... Be careful not to overfeed that... It can ruin the balance of the tank... And it can also be problematic for the anemone...
 
about the frozen food.. what other easy food would you recommend for the anenome. I have thought about bits of shrimp.

In terms of the balance of the tank, I presume you mean the biological filter/nitrate levels? I have not had a problem with that, maybe it is because I am not overdoing it in terms of amounts or frequency.

how can the frozen food be problematic for the anenome?

Thanks for your reply!
 
Hi,

Sorry for the vague terms... It is not that the frozen food is bad for the anemone. The problem is, as I have read somewhere, that if you overfeed you can actually kill the animal. I read this from a respectable authority in the aquarium industry, I just cant remember who....

My point is, feed, but dont overfeed. Since this is NOT first hand experience but just info I am passing to you, I can not tell you what is overfeeding and what is underfeeding.

My main point was that Marine Snow is really nothing but water. Maybe DT is better, but I cant tell you that IME, because I have no experience with that.... I do understant that DT is better...

Usually I do not post based on hear-say or things that I read, but in this case this was something I heard in a talk from a very well respected person in the aquarium hobby... I felt that it was an information I could pass on...


BTW If you are into the hobby you should attend one of this conferences, they are called MACNA. Next one is in Boston.

You can get more info at www.masna.org

Just my 2c
 
I appreciate your 2Cents!

Even though you may not have direct experience comparing DT with Marine Snow, your observations help me be aware of other alternatives, and what the possible downfalls/advantages might be.

Doesn't replace individual research and experience, but it helps! That's the value of a forum like this!

The anenome is fed only once /week, on the weekend. Its a big thrill for my daughter to get to do this!
 
I have noticed that the inverts in my tank seem to eat when the fish get fed. once again, frozen food. If they do not eat, I do not fret over it. My newest edition (long tent. anemone) I try to feed silversides, and shrimp. He still has not eaten a meal since I purchased him. I also use and adative for filterfeeders. I have a bunch of small (dime size) featherdusters. This is what my LFS told me to use as far as addatives: all Kent products for filter feeders: for trace minerals, coral vite: for growth stimulation coral excel. I do not know if all of these are necessary, but everything seems happy. I was told that the coral vite would cause outbreaks of algae. I only dose once every 2 weeks on the food, once a week on the trace addativem, and every 2-3 days on the stimulator. The instructions say go more, but don't over use. That is the one thing I do not like about this hobby is that all manufactures give vauge instuctions on use with there food product, and additives. They all say feed ofter, but don't over feed.
 
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