Feeding!!!!

Hi question,
How often should i feed my fish??

Someone told me to feed them twice weekly, as overfeeding can lead to rise in ammonia nitrite etc...

I have been feeding the fish twice a week for a while now.
I have a chalk goby, that my lfs owner said would feed himself through sifting the sand, but he looks awful thin in comparison to when i got him about a month ago!? what should i try feeding him?? he wont take frozen/live brine shrimp, or flake food!!??

Also i have two common clownfish and both their bellys seem swollen?

I guess im asking if i should up the feeding? Do you think my fish sound malnurished?

I would hate to think i was starving these little creatures that i am trying to care for!!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

I feed probably 5 times a week, skipping a day here and there. I was always taught to consider a fishes stomach to be about the same size as its eyes and feed accordingly. I feed about as much as they can consume in a 3 or 4 minute time period. I vary the diet according to the fish but usually its frozen mysis shrimp, spirulina flake, frozen cyclopeeze and maybe a small piece of romaine lettuce or nori as a treat for the tangs.

 

azdesertrat,

Does feeding that much not cause you any ammonia phosphate nitrite etc.... problems?

I was told to feed little to help keep the chemistry of the water under control!

 

Of course you try not to overfeed, but you are bound to overfeed slightly. That's what a clean-up crew and protein skimmer are for

I agree that feeding only 2x per week is too little. I like the above suggestion of 5x per week. Personally I feed once per day.

 

I feed to two times a week and my fish are just fine. They like to beg but they really don't need more than that.

 

i might try giving them a bit more to eat maybe feed them 3 times a week?

What about the goby?? any suggestions on what to feed or why he is getting so thin and not sifting the sand?

 

If you have sufficient live rock and/or a deep sand bed your system should be able to process the extra load no problem. I have 330 lbs of Southdown sand and 160 lbs of live rock in a 100G system with a 30G sump/refugium so nitrogen transfer is no problem. In a nutrient poor system it could be a problem but I hate sterile systems personally.

 

I have around 25kg of live rock in a 130 litre tank and a sand bed around 2 inches deep, so i would say that should be more than enough, I have never had any of my tests i.e. ammonia nitrate phosphate etc.... above 0 mg/l.
Do you think im being over paranoid about feeding because im scared incase these levels rise?? i do a 20% water change once every two weeks and i use ro water.
I am new to this and am still learning!!

 

Thought I would share my feeding schedule. In my 55, I feed once daily, Rods one day for the reef and specgrum pellets one day just for the fish but only as much as they will eat within 1 minute of feeding them little by little. I also soak the Rods in Selcon and Garlic. Some days I will only feed A half sheet of seaweed for the fish and cyclops target feed for the coral. I also add phytofeast daily 2tsp in a 55. I run a phosphate reactor so my phosphates are always 0 - 0.5 and skimmer, live rock and hob refugium filled with chaeto on reverse cycle take care of the rest. Only bad thing is I got some really ugly dark green coralline thats more dominant than my purple. I need a clean up crew though. Mine is weeeek, I have 3 blue leg hermits, 3 astrea snails, one brittle star, one emerald crab and a coral banded. My fish are happy colorful and growing but my coral growth is was stupid slow until i started using phyto and went to 10k, still not much but it works for me.

 

I would say you have plenty of live rock to handle your bio load. the sand bed at 2" is borderline as far as helping with nitrogen transfer. Generally a fully functioning deep sand bed is considered 3+" to be able to house anaerobic bacteria down deep. You have enough rock I wouldn't worry about it though.

I find it hard to believe any system would register 0 nitrates. There is always going to be ammonia secreted, converted to nitrites by niotrosonomas bacteria, then converted to nitrates by nitrobacter bacteria then exported by macroalgaes, or water changes. Its always happening but with a balanced mature system the levels will be very low unless you upset something like adding a bunch of fish all at once or removing lots of rock so the system cannot process fast enough.