Feeding Question

[Zentoolie]

Hi,
ok I'm using frozen mysis and brine shrimp cubes to feed and I have 2 medium sized occ clowns, a lawn mower blenny (who eats the frozen food ravenously), a magenta dottyback and a Flame Angel. I unfreeze and rinse the food and usually feed them once per day but I don't want to overfeed and have nitrate issues. So, How much of a cube should I be feeding to this many fish. I've read about a three minute rule but these fish seem to eat very quickly. I really would like to know how much of a frozen cube I should feed each day if possible.

Thanks

Zen

[rogergolf66]

i would feed one cube every other day. by the way the best way to get the nitrates down is a remote deep sand bed. it can be done very cheep with a 5 gallon bucket some sand a small feed pump, hoses and a bulk head X2.

good luck

[EllieSuz]

Let's begin by questioning the brine shrimp. They are a tasty treat, but not a source of significant nutrition. I would add more variety to your feeding, including something that is high in vegetable matter such as spirulena. Ocean Nutrition makes a frozen food called Pygmy Angel Formula and while I purchased it mainly for the Flame Angel, all my fish like it. Your Lawnmower and the Angel will benefit from more veggies. I'm guessing a half cube daily would be about right. After you've been at it a while, you'll develop a "feel" for how much your fish need.

[IslandCrow]

That's more fish than I have, so I can't comment on the amount, but otherwise I agree completely agree with EllieSuz. Ditch the brine (not horrible if enriched, but definitely not optimum) and add some variety. I like to feed some flake and pelletized food from time to time as well. If you're having nitrate issues, you'll want to use those very conservatively, though. All in all, my fish usually get about 4 different types of food throughout an average week, to include a home made recipe that's a combination of at least half a dozen types of seafood and veggies (I have to trick my clownfish to eat her veggies).