what are the best Pomacanthus foods

[Gary Majchrzak]

looking for suggestions from longtime Angelfish experts on commercial and/or homemade preparations. Sponge would very likely be part of the recipe- Broccoli and nori might be as well.

What's essential to keep the old lunkers healthy and looking their best?

[geaux xman]

i'm interested in the responses as well.

what fish do you have? and what is it feeding on?

[Gary Majchrzak]

IME there aren't many foods a big Angel won't eat.....

I'm specifically interested in best foods for Pomacanthus imperator

[SDguy]

Have you researched the Hikari jumbo mysis? My large angels LOVE them, and since I've heard krill can be a bit fatty, I thought it might be a good replacement.

Not sure, just throwing it out there :)

[Gary Majchrzak]

Hi, Peter. I appreciate you throwing suggestions out there :)

[ghstrider]

Im feeding my angels Roggers Reef Food (green one) and they didnt take to it the first day or two but after they got a taste of it thats it. They eat it off the hanging clip and rip it from the mesh. My emperor, griffis, and personifer all devour it. No waste either its all meat and spirulina chunks so no tiny particles floating to dirty the water. I still have a bunch of other foods in the freezer I use in QT but in my DT its only roggers. HTH

[snorvich]

Im feeding my angels Roggers Reef Food (green one) and they didnt take to it the first day or two but after they got a taste of it thats it. They eat it off the hanging clip and rip it from the mesh. My emperor, griffis, and personifer all devour it. No waste either its all meat and spirulina chunks so no tiny particles floating to dirty the water. I still have a bunch of other foods in the freezer I use in QT but in my DT its only roggers. HTH

I also endorse this. But as for particles floating, my anthias hover around the feeding clip to catch those. :)

[jd474]

Hi Gary, we have a large P. imperator that has been here for quite a few years, and gets nori, spirulina flake, PE mysis, and live adult brine daily; also large pacifica krill, chopped shrimp, chopped clam, maybe a little smelt, and the occasional coral polyp, round out his weekly diet. We also have a very large P. paru that gets the same diet, and both fish look fantastic. It always amazes me how much food these fish consume.

[Gary Majchrzak]

thanks to all that responded :)

[blface]

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned NLS pellets yet. My Blue face, Regal, & Asfur prefer the pellets over the frozen. Their favorite frozen is the Angel Formula from ON but will eat anything.

[Gary Majchrzak]

I currently feed ON Angelfish Formula a NLS pellets. They are excellent foods.

[geaux xman]

i've had my adult blue face that i bought from LA for 7 days now. it'll eat mysis, nori, and bloodworms, but wont touch the NLS pellets. it looks like it'll eat ocean nutrition beef flakes, but i havent tried feeding it that much.

LA said it ate instant ocean pellets. should i try picking up the IO pellets? i've tried NLS and ocean nutrition pellets without any luck.

[blface]

I currently feed ON Angelfish Formula a NLS pellets. They are excellent foods.

I also feed Hikari spirulina brine, Hikari mysis, ON #2, spirulina flakes, nori and "super soft" spirulina pellets. I vary all of these 3-4 times a day. Usually 2 larger feedings (frozen)& 2 smaller feedings (pellets & flakes).

I usually break up the nori & soak it in some vitamins; selcon, zoe, vitachem,& lately Brightwells new Angelixir. I have developed a way of feeding the ON gel formula foods by using a garlic press when the food is still semi frozen. I currently have a 9 different angels & a MI thriving on this varied diet.

[geaux xman]

I currently have a 9 different angels & a MI thriving on this varied diet.


What all angels do you have? all in the 220?

[Gary Majchrzak]

i've had my adult blue face that i bought from LA for 7 days now. it'll eat mysis, nori, and bloodworms, but wont touch the NLS pellets. it looks like it'll eat ocean nutrition beef flakes, but i havent tried feeding it that much.

LA said it ate instant ocean pellets. should i try picking up the IO pellets? i've tried NLS and ocean nutrition pellets without any luck.JMO:

keep hammering the fish with NLS pellets.
This is probably the single best food I've ever used to feed fishes.


Hopefully this thread will bring in some long-time Angelfish owners.
We all know it's not easy to keep an Angelfish's markings complete and vibrant let alone avoiding stunting and/or HLLE.

[dkanka]

Any reviews on Brightwell's Angelixir? I'm curious if people have had good results using it.

[Alex T.]

Gary,

What noticeable signs do you see in your Emperor from feeding the NLS pellets? Nobody sells them locally and I would have to order them online.

I have a juvenile emperor in my SPS reef that I'm trying to get accustomed to a whole bunch of different foods so that he may not pick so much on my corals as he matures.

So far he eats Mysis, Bloodworms, Nori, Ocean Nutrition Formula 2 and my personal favorite....Omega One Marine pellets.

[Tremelle]

I feed the NLS pellets along with HBH Super Soft Spirulina pellets, mysis shrimp and nori on a clip. All my fish and especially my Chrysurus loves the NLS and Spirulina pellets. When I hit the feed button on the Tunze controller it goes right to the feeding ring and waits for the pellets. All my fish have a nice colored sheen to them. I don't know which food is contributing the most to it but I am definitely happy with the results.

[djkms]

Any reviews on Brightwell's Angelixir? I'm curious if people have had good results using it.

I actually talked to a Brighwell representative at Reefstock a couple of weeks ago about this food soak. There is absolutely no nutritional value to Angelixer. It does not contain any sponge. He wouldn't/couldn't tell me what it was (other than amino acids) and all it is used for is to entice finicky eaters to feed. All it does is "smell" like sponge.

For around $20-$25 a bottle with 99% water I say pass :fun2:

[Gary Majchrzak]

Gary, What noticeable signs do you see in your Emperor from feeding the NLS pellets?several folks that I know of introduced Emperor's into their reef aquarium. The other's fish stunted and/or didn't fully develop their adult coloration. I can rule out aquarium size and water parameters because all of the other aquariums were reef aquariums. Some were much larger reef aquariums.

Does my fish look better because I feed NLS pellets?

I don't know for sure, but based on what I do know I'd have to say that feeding NLS pellets has made a huge difference in my Emperor's appearance.

The only other Emperor (that I personally know of) making the complete transition from juvi to adult coloration was fed NLS pellets.
Coincidence?

[BANDIT ANGEL]

My emperor will only feed on Hikari pellets and other man-made food. It won't eat other frozen food I provided. Why?

[wdt2000]

The only other Emperor (that I personally know of) making the complete transition from juvi to adult coloration was fed NLS pellets.
Coincidence?

How old was your Emperor when it started to change? I will have had my Emperor for 1 year this May with no major signs of changing. I also feed NLS (2 types) along with other food items.

[jd474]

How big of an aquarium are you talking, Gary? No pellets here (yet, anyway):

[gasman059]

I've struggled with this over the years. But Rogersreeffood does the trick, in terms of colors, health and most importanly it keeps them occupied during the day since the food stays put inside the mesh causing him to hover around it and eat every so often.

[Fig]

I took the NLS challenge, fed the fish in my 180 fowl tank for the last 4 months. Auto feeder 3 times per day. Nothing else. Fish are healthy and haven't looked better.

[djkms]

I took the NLS challenge, fed the fish in my 180 fowl tank for the last 4 months. Auto feeder 3 times per day. Nothing else. Fish are healthy and haven't looked better.

Well i know NLS pellets are really good for our fish. They even state on their container something like for best results only use these pellets. All my fish eat the pellets through the auto feeder but I am real reluctant to ONLY feed NLS pellets, especially with my Moorish Idol.

[Fig]

http://nlsfishfood.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28&Itemid=42

Looks like these Idols are doing ok.

[Gary Majchrzak]

How old was your Emperor when it started to change? I will have had my Emperor for 1 year this May with no major signs of changing. I also feed NLS (2 types) along with other food items.


April 2007 (newly imported sub-adult)
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y270/gary334/IMG_2925keeper.jpg

August 2007
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y270/gary334/emperoraug07.jpg

November 2007
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y270/gary334/IMG_4975.jpg

March 2008
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y270/gary334/IMG_6485.jpg

March 2011
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y270/gary334/March2011.jpg

[geaux xman]

very nice pics Gary! what other occupants do you have in the tank?

[wdt2000]

Have you researched the Hikari jumbo mysis? My large angels LOVE them, and since I've heard krill can be a bit fatty, I thought it might be a good replacement.


I finally got around to trying some of the jumbo mysis and all I can say is wow. I feed mysis every day, but the jumbo mysis really made my angel go into a feeding frenzy like nothing else I have tried.