Fishies Favorite Foods and Treats

[Ronjunior]

What kinds of foods do people feed their fish that seem to keep them healthy and happy?

I've been feeding mine part Prime Reef and part Formula 2 flakes in AM and chop up a meaty treat in the evening of either coctail shrimp/sole or brine shrimp. Every other day, a clipping of dried algae. The only fish that isn't eating anything I've fed him is my new Naso Tang.. he's filtering sand for algae, chomped on some micro algae and unfortunately tore up my only pulsing Xenia...hopefully he'll learn to eat something else. My new Kole tang just goes to town scraping the rocks all day and evening long; wife thinks it's funnier than heck to watch fishes mouths and tongues protruding out at the algae. I'm thinking of maybe making my own algae clips out of rock so it blends in with the reef for those that won't venture to the glass to eat.

[fly guy]

Mysis...its whats for dinner.

[Barleychown]

Mysis, various fish/shellfish that have been through the food processor, cyclopeeze, and live brine.

[Michael7979]

I serve up - Prime Reef, Form. 1, Form. 2, brine, cyclop-eze, squid, oyster eggs, Reed Maricultures Arctic Pods, spirolina flake, and seaweed veggies(nori). They get the flake/seaweed everyday and some other treat at night, skipping a night here and there.

[Michael7979]

Hey Ronjunior - try soaking some of your frozen foods in some tank water with a piece of garlic. It will help trigger the feeding response. Just remove the garlic before feeding.

[CCR]

shrimp tar tar, just don't tell my shrimp!!!!!

[Ronjunior]

To those whom I was discussing and were worried on Monday night's chat about my new Naso Tang not eating and stomach pinching in too much; well I picked up some Hawaiian ogo seaweed from Joel that he got with his Hawaiin order and his stomach went plump and looking good in less than 24 hours. Now comes the hard part of how to get him to eat something else, Hawaii is a long way to go to get a years supply of seaweed. I've tried green and red seaweed/algae sheets at the substrate level, Formula 2/Reef formula flakes, Mysis and brine shrimp, and he has not been interested whatsoever. The only thing he's really eaten is the ogo seaweed and nibbled at blanched lettuce (lettuce was just to try to get him to start picking at the algae clip...I know, not much nutrition even in Romane lettuce)

I tried Michael's garlic idea, but it only got my salivary glands going and not the tang's

Any other ideas before I run out of Ogo?

[andy]

Blanched broccoli heads or spinach maybe? Can you try clipping some of the seaweed to some nori, maybe he'll get used to the nori that way?

[fly guy]

Is spinach ok to feed your tanks??? I think i recall hearing somewhere that it wasnt.....i could be wrong though

[pledosophy]

I have read that most produce is not good to put into saltwater tanks because of the chemicals used to grow it. They can become trapped in the leaves. Fine for humans, but dangerous for fish. This is why Nori is typically recommended as well as for nutritional profile. Sorry just from memory, there are a cobweb or two up there.

[Nyles]

Fish treat - Emerald Entree

Coral Treat - Coral Food

 

And of course cyclopeeze

[Piero]

mysis and cyclop-eeze only

 

sparingly, once or twice a week.

[Ronjunior]

I forgot to make myself stand corrected the other day. My Naso is eating at the ogo seaweed, but the stomach is not plump and normal...I was fooled by shadows and not having my daylights on when I checked him in the a.m. He seems to mainly pick at things in the sand, any suggestions on foods to drop in the sand for her that won't be readily eaten by the other tank mates?

[Nyles]

My Naso eats nori like no tomorrow, but loves Spirulina shrimp as well.

[oldbrownies]

I forgot to make myself stand corrected the other day. My Naso is eating at the ogo seaweed' date=' but the stomach is not plump and normal...I was fooled by shadows and not having my daylights on when I checked him in the a.m. He seems to mainly pick at things in the sand, any suggestions on foods to drop in the sand for her that won't be readily eaten by the other tank mates?[/quote']

 

I just use my mag float to clip some nori on the side of the tank for the tang every now and then, he LOVES it, takes about a day for him and my other fish to eat 1/4 of a sheet, go by the fubon shopping center, they have it really cheap there it was like 2 or 3 bucks a pack

[Ronjunior]

I finally found something my Naso will eat instantly! The fernlike Caulerpa taxifolia. He gobbles it up like there's no tomorrow. I made a nori burrito with caulerpa for a filling, and he pretty much spits the nori out but eats the filling :( . He actually will eat it out of my hand now, but I cannot grow it fast enough to feed him. I need to find folks around the area that do weeding every once in awhile to go collecting from. Anyone? Maybe some other forms of macro algae that tangs love? (he doesn't devour the ogo seaweed from Hawaii, just picks on a rare occasion) When I convert my 55g into a sump, maybe more can grow in there in due time.