after reading slappers comments about leaving nori in the tank, struck me as a good topic of debate

the problem is, how do you describe how much you feed? most of us have reef tanks so feeding is obviously quite important, too much and you're adding waste that will essentially turn into unwatned nutrients.

personally i have no idea if i overfeed or not, i have read the best way is approximate a fishes stomach being about the same size as its eyeball. but then on the packet i read "only feed as much as a fish consumes in 2-3 minutes". if i did that, my FAT AS tang would look like a blue beachball. he eats HEAPS and eats insanely fast so that could potentially be a heap of food based on the eyeball thing, i over feed, based on the 2 minute rule, i under feed. so which is it? how much to feed?

well done chimera you have beaten me to it.

i have been doing the 2 Minute rule, but the nori was different put a piece on the clip 1 hour later all gone (not) so i would put another piece their :-?

have stopped the nori now going to feed them every second day for starters

Well I obviously over feed how can I tell, my nitrates have gone through the roof have cut back big time two times 200ltrs = 400ltrs water change to 1000ltrs did nothing to correct the problem.

sounds like you do overfeed fay! no reason for nitrates to go skyrocketing if you do regular water changes. other than old tank sydrome, cant think of any other reason

The part time farmer in me compares the stomach of fishies a bit like the stomach of cows. I would guess there is a fair bit less food value in things like nori that herbivores (yeah right) like tangs eat. Cows have very large stomachs cause they need a large capacity to process the volume of grass they need to live. Tangs are probably similar compared to carnivorous fish.

Just to confuse myself entirely (and before another bright spark points it out) in the wild they are probably grazing most of the day so wouldn't need huge capacity .

Don't think the eyeball rule of thumb applies as well to herbivore fish.

Interesting question.

As a newby to keeping fish I found it very difficult to figure out what to give them when and how much. Now a few months later I do something , the fish seem to like it a nd the nitrates have only slightly increased :-? but do think I have to cut the feeding back.

I feed them flakes in the morning but miss some days out there the fish are almost still asleep when I go to work. In the evening I give them some frozen conccotion of mussels / king prawns / shrimps and what ever was on special and at the moment some frozen brine shrimp (had visited Hamilton). I got some freeze dried seaweed from an Aian shop what i give the 2 tangs some of about 3 times a week and about every other day I put a spirilina tablet in the aquarium where the fisg go completely crazy about. That means all but the one I bought the stuff for....my lawnmower blenny. He ignores all food and just eat algy of the tank. Does a great job but I do wonder if I have to help him abit to remove the algy there he is really fat.

Back to the question of over feeding. My blue regal tang is clearly the boss and goes mental when you put food in the tank. Clearly afraid some other fish might get something too. He looks healty (not sure what a tang looks like when he is really fat). But I do know that he is the biggest polluter of the tank with his amount of fish pooh.

So maybe when we feed our fish we should give them each there individual plates . At least then we know they all got some without the bullies getting to fat or pollute the tank too much.

Yes the million dollar question!!! Am I over feeding.

I have no idea but the tank is a wash with food each night and it takes a few minuites for it all to go.

1 x frozen cube

3 x pumps of Marine gro fish food

1 x small teaspoon of spirulina flake

This is about what I need each night...

Might be a little too much?

sounds like a recipe to feed aptasia to me

Dam ... I have some of those

I only feed every two days and give them a decent feed that will last 25 fish approx 7-8 minutes. Cubes of Brine, spirlina flake and pellets all mixed.

I add nori about twice a week if they are lucky.

My fish are fat and my nitrates and Po4 read ZERO.

Every day is too much in my tank as they have OTHER food to feed on such as Algae and pods etc.

Nice thread Chim...hasnt been discussed for awhile.

Another reason I feed every two days is so I can put LOTS into the tank so they all get some easily. I also turn off the return pump and 2 out of the 3 of my streams so they can get it! Small feeding only allows the pigs to eat it and the shy ones miss out.

I was about to start a topic on the same thing. My problem is my clowns! they seem to binge, and I mean binge!! I am trying to train my bangaii to eat gro granules but he still refuses so I feed mysis shrimp and my clowns beat everyone to it and get so fat that they lay belly up on the surface fast asleep. They look like they have swallowed marbles. I know I could feed the bangaii at night but I have a labour intense job and cant stay up longer than the clowns ( yea I know pretty sad) I feed every 2 days, so would this be over feeding or just the clowns compensating for not been fed the day before?

My feeding changes week by week, depending longer term on how the fish are looking, and shorter term whats been happening in the tank. If have just added a fish (s) I might feed frozen 2-3 times a day for a while, normally I wouldn't free frozen more than twice a week, unless fattening up fish. dry food, flake, shimp, granuals, cylpos-ezy, feed every day or two.

Do people feed many different types of food? I feed 4 different frozen, and 5-6 different dry foods. (not all at once, :lol: )

Three differnt frozen foods and four differnt dry foods....

i have 7 small (imo) fish, and i feed 2 cubes of frozen brine shrimp each day, i feed nori for the tangs and spirulina flakes now and again for a treat. my fish would happly eat more but its the happy fat fish vis waste that controls my feeding. :roll:

i have had high nutrients in my tank that may have been caused by over feeding, there on the fall now and i havnt adjusted what i feed, so i cant blame the food just yet.

Hey Cracker,

I'm up your way this weekend so I can take those anthias off your hands cause I know they must be a pain to feed several times a day!

I thought you were more generous than that! :lol:

You know I don't think the issue is whether fish are getting overfed, it's more how much food your tank can handled without nutrients becoming a problem.

There is nothing wrong with dumping a boat load of food in, so long as you have the ability to get the majority of the uneaten stuff out before it becomes a problem. The dangerous thing is letting food sit and rot. That's when the nutrients become an issue.

I think that a lot of people don't fed enough. I also think it's a bit strange when people stop feeding to try and control nutrient problems. The problem isn't that your feeding too much, it's that your system is not removing enough crap fast enough.

Layton

i feed nori every other day and spirilina flake on the in between days, mornings only. I also feed 2 cubes of mysis every night, i put it in the stream flow and all gone in less than a minute. 18 fish in total 4 tangs the rest small

I refuse to give my lot any more nori, until they eat all the caulpera (sp?)

If you go onto a natural reef in the wild there isnt the same food available on the reef that fish have in a tank system so fish are constantly roaming for food in the wild....going without a (good) feed for days probebly....personaly I think we over feed our captave friends and need to cut back as the fish in our tanks dont have the same room as wild fish to (burn off) the food they eat.I feed the fish every two days...gives them time to also eat other things in the tank...ie; algie etc

...and corals :lol: :lol: :lol:

haha.... hey... who doesn't like a burger and frys every now and then...... :bounce:

If you go onto a natural reef in the wild there isnt the same food available on the reef that fish have in a tank system so fish are constantly roaming for food in the wild....going without a (good) feed for days probebly....

I'm not convinced:

Can We Provide Enough Food In An Aquarium?

Yes and No. To a degree, some of the limitations of a closed system are insurmountable. In a wonderful analogy using some feeding rate data of reef communities from scientific literature, Dr. Ron Shimek (Shimek, WMC 1998) noted how it would take 250-350 ml of wet food per 100 gallon of water per day to approximate food availability on a coral reef. Using a similar analogy, based on nutrient and water dwell times, I would add that the coral reef gets a 100% water change 2-3 times per day! This degree of nutrient availability and water exchange is coupled with the fact that we have relatively little data on the exact feeding requirements of various animals. However, we do know some specifics, and many generalities.