How much/often do you feed...

[Brian7002]

... obvious newbie here with this question :)

I have one black misbar clown... the back of the Omega One w/ Garlic Flakes says 'feed 3 times a day as much as they will eat in 2 mins'... a friend of mine feeds his clowns pellets and says he only feeds them every couple days.

It seems like my guy is a slow eater and just kinda hangs out in his regular spot and picks off food as it floats by as opposed to going all around the tank looking for the food. I've been feeding him ~ a pinchful once a day, but I think I'm beginning to realize that that is too much because I'm seeing leftovers in the bottom of the tank 20 mins later.

How much and how often do you feed your clowns... and will Omega One Flakes suffice or do i need frozen stuff or pellets? Whats the advantage/disadvantage of each? Will a clown actually eat themselves to death or is the overfeeding risk just that leftovers raise the nitrate levels?

Thx!

[syrinx]

It depends on the situation how much I feed. In your case I would feed him by the flake- and leave him a little hungry. It is nice to vary the diet-but many generations of healthy fish have been raised on flake only. I tend to mix it up between flake fresh frozen and pellet- but I have some tanks off site that only see flake and pellet and are thriving. With one fish it is easy to regulate your feeding- there should be none left over.

[Caesra]

This is a topic I would love for more experienced reefers to chip in on.

After countless hours, I mean 50+ on this specific topic I still do not have a good feel as to what to feed, and why.

We of course, want to feed what they need, coral fish, etc.... Many people seem to feed less out of pure laziness, or to be fair, lack of time (not sure that this hobby is for those with lack of time).

Some say they feed less to keep nitrates down. This may be true, but what if nitrates are non-issue...or low priority issue? I feed pretty heavy, or at least I feel so, but my system keeps up with the cycles fine while underskimming.

There is an interesting article in the Coral magazine this month that talks about feeding, schooling and agressivness in schooling fish. In anycase, brought up some interseting thoughts as I read it.

I am sort of rambling more because I would LOVE for some of the more experienced reefers to respond with solid posts about feeding regiments other than, 'mine do fine'..I feed 2x a week, which I see often. That doesn't tell us much about how to feed our fish. If I feed my dog 2x a week, she might do fine, but that doesn't mean it is good for her.

I personally have roughly a 400g system with mutlple tanks, I feed each tank 2-4x a day with what the fish can eat in about 30-60 seconds. I use to feed every few days, but I just was not seeing what I hoped for in corals extension and the fish were insanely frenzy at feeding time. I slowly increased my feeding frequency over a month to this level. Increasing actual quantity of food as I went.

Again, even my response is half-arked, as I am not explaining quantities, my systems ability to deal with excess nutrients, etc.....

My point is, while I know your question is simpler than my curiosity, I would really love to hear feedback that is substantiated in experience of 'best practices'.

[Sk8r]

Feed him by the flake, about 4-5. This is why bristleworms and nassarius are a good idea to have in the tank: they're the mop-up for imprecise judgements. I may feed once a day, occasionally more, but generally once. Skipping a day in a more mature tank just encourages fish to work for a living. In a young tank, there's not such rich pickings, so you're bound to have some leftovers for your cleanup crew.

[THEDLO]

once a day i do random cycle of my many flakes. and every otherday they get mysis and cyclopez and this same day i do a 3x3 sheet of nori as well......

[Flippers4pups]

Is this the only fish you have? I would mix it up with flake one day and say a well balanced frozen food like "Rod's Original formula" etc... the next day. Only feed, at any given time, enough food that none reaches the substrate or rock. Over feeding will only lead to a algae bloom and increase in PO4 and NO3.