Food

[bigdscobra]

Will most fish eat Nori??

Now that I have my tanks set up with the overflow it is hard to keep the frozen shrimp from being sucked in.. And forget the flake that dosent even get a chance.

List of fish: all eating frozen I feed them half a frozen piece twice a day and some flake.

Blue hippo tang
P. Clown
2 damsals
watchman goby
bi color blennie
firefish goby
engineer goby
signal goby
purple pseudochromis
spotted mandarin

I dont know if they would all eat nori since the watchman stays at the bottom all the time......

[bigdscobra]

Oh yeah is nori or other seaweed better for them??

[jaded]

pinch the flake and hold it in the water... they will eventually come to it and eat from your hand... even if they wont it will bind together into a glob that will sink enough to stay away from the overflow. They will have the time to get to it until they get greedy enough to attack your fingers for it :) I've now gotten the fish in my tank to eat almost anything that I offer from my hand

My guys wont eat nori, but I think its just that they havent "found" it yet

[brewercm]

I use a floating feeding tray. It will hold the food inside of it until it gets to the point of dropping into the water instead of floating into the overflows.

[StephenA]

All my fish learned to eat nori. However; I think the meat eaters got the idea by watching the tang. It took months. My nori ends up floating around too. The Naso rips it from where ever I put it and lets it float up. When I feed cyclopese I unplug the pumps to it can float around in the tank without being sucked in to the overflow.

[CD]

Most of the fish you listed (with the exception of the Hippo of course) probably won't nosh on the nori via "veggie clip". It would still be a good idea to keep putting the nori in for the Hippo, even though she hasn't learned how to eat yet. If you are using a clip, try putting a partial nori sheet on the clip with some live macro (like Gracelaria), and this may get her started. As far as the other fish - don't expect them to even notice. I've noticed my clownfish doesn't touch the nori, but will eat veggie flake and frozen...the gobies are primarily meat eaters, the mandarin is not only a meat eater, but will generally only eat live food ('pods). I'd say just get something like frozen Formula II (veggies) and frozen Spirulina cubes...

BTW - are all these fish in a 29G tank?

As far as the frozen/flake, etc. getting sucked into your overflow - put some tank water in a cup, add frozen, flake, pellets, etc. to the cup and let sit a couple of minutes. Use a turkey baster to feed this mixture, placing the food stream about halfway between the water surface and bottom of the tank. No muss, no fuss.

Wendy :)

[Reef69]

Pretty much the only one who is gonna eat the nori is the hippo, although ive seen algea eating clowns before...lol..but its not common..What i did to prevent the food from going through the overflows is i bought an algea clip that has a little plastic net, you put the food inside the little net and the fish will come pick at it, and eat out of the net, its not messy and everybody gets to eat..

[CD]

i bought an algea clip that has a little plastic net,


Oooo...I saw one of those at a LFS. So it works well, even for the bigger fish? I usually don't have much of a problem with the nori coming out of the clip. I use one of the Julian Sprung clips (nice, strong clip), fold the nori to where it's about a 2-3 inch square, and let 'em rip. The only time I have problems with pieces floating around is when the turbo snails get up there and start munching...I always let them eat though, because there isn't any algae in the tank to speak of, and they'd probably starve if they weren't eating the nori. LOL...pretty soon, they're going to have a nice big 210G tank to clean though. :lol

Wendy

[Reef69]

well, i have a normal clip for the algea, i use the one with the plastic net when i feed my special food cube..lol..or any other froze cube. It thaws and the fish come and pick out of it, so its not really messy..whatever falls to the sand, the cleaner shrimp and the coral banded get it..It works good ! ;)

[bigdscobra]

Reef69 which store did you get that clip with the net at I havent seen that one before...

Wendy all those fish are in the 29g I know it seems like alot of fish but everybody is 1-1.5in even the hippo i know eventually the hippo will get to big but for now everybody seems to be really happy in the tank. The hippo when i got her could only eat frozen cause she was soo small under 3/4in i havent tried to feed nori yet but if i get that clip with the net that should be perfect to keep feeding with frozen..

Thanks

[Reef69]

Check Fintique on West Ave. i got it there for CHEAP..LOL...i really like it..

[bigdscobra]

sweet i will have to check it out.. finally got my stand built and canopy still needs some little work but have the 29g 20g 10g fuge and 15g sump all running just need to wire and mount the MH light and i will post some pics..

[Reef69]

cool!..just a quick off topic question..hows the Angler doing?..did you get him to eat frozen?..

[CD]

Wendy all those fish are in the 29g I know it seems like alot of fish but everybody is 1-1.5in even the hippo i know eventually the hippo will get to big but for now everybody seems to be really happy in the tank.


Agreed...once the Hippo gets much larger, she's definitely going to have to be moved (I figured she was pretty small right now), and the engineer goby will get pretty large also. The thing I was more concerned about at this point was the Mandarin. These fish exist entirely on 'pods, and even if you had a bunch of 'pods in your tank to start with, a Mandarin will wipe out whatever you have in short order with the amount of water volume you have now. A *really* mature 75G+ tank with lots of 'pods and a 'fuge for the pods to breed in would yield you your best chances for keeping one fat and happy. Other than that, you may find you'll need a source for replentishing your 'pod population on a regular basis. ;)

Anyway - you've got everything hooked up? Post some more pics!! :D

Wendy :)

[~TG~]

The thing I was more concerned about at this point was the Mandarin. These fish exist entirely on 'pods, and even if you had a bunch of 'pods in your tank to start with, a Mandarin will wipe out whatever you have in short order with the amount of water volume you have now. A *really* mature 75G+ tank with lots of 'pods and a 'fuge for the pods to breed in would yield you your best chances for keeping one fat and happy. Other than that, you may find you'll need a source for replentishing your 'pod population on a regular basis. ;)
Wendy :)

I agree with Wendy ~ Mandarins are difficult to keep. I have been very fortunate. I got my 1st ~ 29g SW tank almost 1 yr ago, it was an established tank full of pods. It was one of the 1st impulse buys that I made, not knowing what they ate.... SO at the same time it was wiping out the pod population ~ I got it eating frozen blood worms. It took a little while ~ everytime it was hiding in it's "cave" I would flush the blood worms in his cave with a turkey baster... It eventually aquired a taste for them. Now he's in a 58g with no sump or fuge maybe a few pods BUT now thats all he eats. He's fat and very HAPPY 8)

~Thelma

[bigdscobra]

Ever since i got the mandarin she has been eating frozen, she just swims up to the forzen chunck and floats along with it eating a bunch of it.. In a year or so i should have a big tank set up at my shop once it is open..

Reef69 the angler is doing great tried to feed him frozen the other day and just gave up and feed him some gost shrimp he loves his new tank now...

I will post pics soon maybe tank of the month ha JK.. need some frags first..

Thanks
Dan

[Reef69]

Thats good, they are such amazing animals. Ghost shrimp is fine, they love them, plus they are easier to digest.

[bigdscobra]

what is the best way to get him to eat frozen? The frozen fish are almost as long as he is. I even tried cutting one in half but he still didnt go for it but as soon as i droped the shrimp in he was after them..

[Reef69]

Well, its a 50/50 situation... I put silversides on a kabob stick..and he ites it off the stick, some go for frozen, some dont..but never, under any circumstances feed goldfish, ever!..ghost shrimp is your best bet, and you can even gut pack them with cyclopeeze...