I just boiled som lettuce - how long can i leave it in my DT?

I just blanced some lettuce (left it in for 20 sec while water boiled) how long can i leave it in my tank? also how much garlic can i feed them?

everything was just bought from store. all organic

my tang took a large hunk of the lettuce right away!

 

Just as food spoils in your refrigerator, so will it in the aquarium. I don't think there's any definite time span; it depends on factors like water temp, and the conditions in your tank. Just keep an eye on the lettuce on the clip, maybe feel it for slime after 24 hours. If your fish like it, it should be a moot point.

Moving this thread to fish food. Hopefully you can get quicker responses there.

 

I'm wondering why you would put lettuce in for food, with it's low nutrient profile, especially when you can get Nori, from a local Asian food store, which is an excellent source of needed nutrients for your fish?
Even most LFS's would sell you the "aquarium" version of it at a higher price of course.

 

I leave all veggie matter in the tank for 24hrs tops. Never is a problem because my rabbitfish and yellow tang eat it all before then.

Rayjay has a point that lettuce doesn't offer very much nutrition, but if your fish are healthy and you keep veggies for them to graze 24/7, it may not be a bad idea to feed them lettuce once in a while since it will satisfy their need to graze without packing on calories.

 

Romaine lettuce, blanched broccoli, and the like are good fillers for grazers. I wouldn't want that to be their whole diet though. It's important to give them foods containing spirulina algae too.

 

I see hobbyists passing this information on but can you direct me to the documentation that leads hobbyists to claim this?
I can't see using it other than a stop gap when running out of proper food until one gets to shop for more.

 

I don't have any documentation. This is just a personal experience thing. I know someone with a 400g tank that feeds romaine daily and weekly gives some meaty foods and their tank does just fine. That's not exactly what I would recommend but it works for their system. At the store, we gave romaine to the grazers as it gave them something to eat a little at a time all day long.

Lee Birch, who is pretty much an expert on fish nutrition and fish diseases, disagrees with this. He doesn't like any terrestrial or freshwater foods given to marine fish.

 

Just out of curiosity, why use that instead of an excellent product like Nori which is quite cheap at the Asian food stores?

 

Very easy question. The nori would break up into slimy small pieces. Some would collect in all of the individual tanks, and some would collect in the sumps. In a store situation, you are dealing with thousands of gallons. That all has to be cleaned. Romaine lettuce is actually more expensive than the nori was. However, it stayed intact and I didn't have to pay salaries for people to clean it up. It was cheaper in the long-run when factoring in salaries.

 

Thanks for replying. I would never have thought of it from that angle.