How much should I feed?

[KarenM]

I know I've overfed in the past, but my babies are starving! I have the yellow tang (still trying to rehome her..), coral beauty, sixline wrasse, and a false perk, all about 1 1/2". A 1" camel shrimp, and a 2" cleaner shrimp.l

Every evening I give them 1 cube of a frozen food - lately it's been mini-mysis (I defrost it and give them half of it, wait about 1 minute for them to eat that, then give them the other half), and a cut up krill (I give the cleaner shimp one piece). I also put a 2" strip of the sheet type marine algae on a clip, and every few days I put in 20 drops of Micro-tek for the sea apple and BTA. Once a week I give the BTA a piece of krill. Tonight I also tossed in a cut up dime-sized piece of frozen squid.

The tang goes crazy when I feed them. She knocks everyone else out of the way and eats everything that's floating. She eats the 2" strip of algae within the hour, and I found out that she's the one eating all my chaeto (you're right, Captain Bob), and still acts like she's starving. She ate a softball sized clump of chaeto in a week. And the clown and the wrasse race back and forth in the front of the tank when someone walks up to it.Is this enough?

I'm trying not to overfeed them, but they act like they're starving.

[GKarshens]

You could feed them 5 times a day and they would still act that way. Your regimen sounds pretty good. The only thing I would change is take a little longer to pour in the mysis. I usually pour in a small amount every 5 mins taking about 4-5 times to use up a cube. That way none of the food gets missed and sits on the bottom and rots. You might also watch closely on the algae strip. My tangs tear it up with 10 mins but alot of times they let big chunks float away and keep going after the clip. I usually give them a 2" x 4" strip every other day. HTH

[KarenM]

You could feed them 5 times a day and they would still act that way. Your regimen sounds pretty good. The only thing I would change is take a little longer to pour in the mysis. I usually pour in a small amount every 5 mins taking about 4-5 times to use up a cube. That way none of the food gets missed and sits on the bottom and rots. You might also watch closely on the algae strip. My tangs tear it up with 10 mins but alot of times they let big chunks float away and keep going after the clip. I usually give them a 2" x 4" strip every other day. HTH

Ok, I'll spread out the mysis more. Maybe that was contributing to my nitrate problem. Thanks for your help.

[Headless_donkey]

Gabriel I like your idea of breaking up the feeding to small sections. I think I will try that.

[+ACampbell]

I agree that it helps to spread the feeding out. I've been putting a cube in my wavebox so that it spits it out over the course of a few minutes.

[Noodle]

Does anyone swish and strain the frozen stuff in tank water before adding the mysis into the tank? I keep on hearing that it's best to do that to cut down on the amount of dissolved organics being introduced into the tank from the mysis "juices". Anyone else do that with their frozen foods?

[cmanning]

Does anyone swish and strain the frozen stuff in tank water before adding the mysis into the tank? I keep on hearing that it's best to do that to cut down on the amount of dissolved organics being introduced into the tank from the mysis "juices". Anyone else do that with their frozen foods?

We do rinse the Piscine mysis and sometimes I do the regular mysis. It just seems too much nutrients in the liquid and you can tell it clouds your water. Of course, the skimming is essential to bring out as much possible.

[KarenM]

We do rinse the Piscine mysis and sometimes I do the regular mysis. It just seems too much nutrients in the liquid and you can tell it clouds your water. Of course, the skimming is essential to bring out as much possible.

And yet another possible reason I have nitrate troubles... Hey, Cindy, my zenia melted. Maybe it was because of the nitrates.

[cmanning]

And yet another possible reason I have nitrate troubles... Hey, Cindy, my zenia melted. Maybe it was because of the nitrates.

Hey Karen,

I read about someone suggested to have your fish babysit while it cycles. If it comes to that it's very possible we could do it. When your tank finish cycling I got some more xenia you can pick up. By the way, do you still have that yellow tang? Just wondering.

-Cindy_

[KarenM]

Hey Karen,

I read about someone suggested to have your fish babysit while it cycles. If it comes to that it's very possible we could do it. When your tank finish cycling I got some more xenia you can pick up. By the way, do you still have that yellow tang? Just wondering.

-Cindy_

I'm still not sure what's going on with my tank. It was a steady 5-10 nitrate reading for 4 months, then it spiked. After 2 water changes it's back down to 10, but I don't know for how long. Thanks for the fish-sitting offer, I may have to take you up on it if things don't calm down soon because I'm using premixed IO water and I can't afford $15 every other day.

Yep, still got the tang. I'm really trying to avoid taking her to a LFS because it'll upset her getting moved there and then she'll get sold and moved again. She's so beautiful and graceful, I'd just really like to find her a home and move her just once.

[cmanning]

I'm still not sure what's going on with my tank. It was a steady 5-10 nitrate reading for 4 months, then it spiked. After 2 water changes it's back down to 10, but I don't know for how long. Thanks for the fish-sitting offer, I may have to take you up on it if things don't calm down soon because I'm using premixed IO water and I can't afford $15 every other day.

Yep, still got the tang. I'm really trying to avoid taking her to a LFS because it'll upset her getting moved there and then she'll get sold and moved again. She's so beautiful and graceful, I'd just really like to find her a home and move her just once.

I forgot....how big is your tank?

[KarenM]

I forgot....how big is your tank?

Now if I tell you, I'll have to kill you. It's a 40 gal. (make room for the tang police!)

[cmanning]

Now if I tell you, I'll have to kill you. It's a 40 gal. (make room for the tang police!)

Ohh!! the reason I'm asking is I thought maybe you might consider a little larger tank later on. Of course, monetary issues come in place when going on a larger scale. Believe I understand, maybe down the road it could be a possibility. Like I said earlier the offer is still open, if you decide to pull out the fish. Good Luck

-Cindy-

[KarenM]

Ohh!! the reason I'm asking is I thought maybe you might consider a little larger tank later on. Of course, monetary issues come in place when going on a larger scale. Believe I understand, maybe down the road it could be a possibility. Like I said earlier the offer is still open, if you decide to pull out the fish. Good Luck

-Cindy-

As tempting as a larger tank is (I used to have a 75 gal tropical), I doubt I'll go larger. I have to many limits - money, time, space, etc. And if I ever did decide to go bigger, I'd go all the way and get one like yours! I could spend 24 hours a day just staring into that.

Thanks again, Cindy. I'll keep you posted on how things are going. Last night it was at 5-10, which is what it always has been. I'll probably do another water change this weekend and see if I can get it down to zero. I may also get another testing kit - I've seen some bad reviews on the API, which is what I have.

[Enigma13]

I am not sure that you should be all that worried about getting your nitrate down to 0. Running 5-10 is an acceptable level. My nitrates usually run in that range and everything in my tank is healthy. I do a 10% water change weekly. If you start climbing above 20 then I would be worried. Few heavily stocked systems are going to be able to achieve 0, and the Yellow Tang in your tank almost assures that you would be considered heavily stocked for a 40.

[KarenM]

I am not sure that you should be all that worried about getting your nitrate down to 0. Running 5-10 is an acceptable level. My nitrates usually run in that range and everything in my tank is healthy. I do a 10% water change weekly. If you start climbing above 20 then I would be worried. Few heavily stocked systems are going to be able to achieve 0, and the Yellow Tang in your tank almost assures that you would be considered heavily stocked for a 40.

I don't think I'm going to make zero. My last water change was Tuesday, and since Wed. it's held at betwen 5-10. That's what it's always been. I'd like it be zero just to follow the norm and not have any concerns, but I don't guess it's going to do that right now.