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LS90gal
03/26/2013, 10:55 AM
I feed lettace to my tangs just wondering if lettace adds phosphates to my water. I rinse the lettace very well before I put it into my tank.

Laddy
03/26/2013, 10:59 AM
Not on any meaningful level, if any.....however, table lettuce we would eat is not very nutritous. Go with nori bought at the local grocery store.

Palting
03/26/2013, 11:02 AM
Cabbage, lettuce, spinach.....they've all been used to feed marine fish. Not very good, however, as the nutrition content is not appropriate for marine life. Nori or unseasoned seeweed/sushi wrap available from most grocery stores or Asian stores does a much better job.

thegrun
03/26/2013, 12:33 PM
Nori is best but spinach is not bad.

cloak
03/26/2013, 12:49 PM
The prepared foods at your LFS are much mo better. Spinich, lettuce, cabbage, etc... I need the roughage, I'm not sure if this apply's to tropical fish though.

SGT_York
03/26/2013, 01:18 PM
Nori is super cheap and does not go bad, much better option than "human" food, somehow Nori is fish food in my mind!

MrTuskfish
03/26/2013, 02:06 PM
Cabbage, lettuce, spinach.....they've all been used to feed marine fish. Not very good, however, as the nutrition content is not appropriate for marine life. Nori or unseasoned seeweed/sushi wrap available from most grocery stores or Asian stores does a much better job.

Turnip greens, romaine lettuce, spinach, softened in the freezer, are "appropriate for marine life". I've heard countless times that marine fish should only be fed marine-based foods. However; spirulina algae, certainly the most common SW herbivore food and PE Mysis, possibly the best frozen SW carnivore food---are both FW products. With nori available, I don't feed many garden veggies, but there is certainly nothing wrong with them. IMO & IME. I've seen well -known Public Aquariums (like Aquarium of the Americas, prior to Katrina) , feed romaine and spinach by the case.

Palting
03/26/2013, 02:55 PM
Turnip greens, romaine lettuce, spinach, softened in the freezer, are "appropriate for marine life". I've heard countless times that marine fish should only be fed marine-based foods. However; spirulina algae, certainly the most common SW herbivore food and PE Mysis, possibly the best frozen SW carnivore food---are both FW products. With nori available, I don't feed many garden veggies, but there is certainly nothing wrong with them. IMO & IME. I've seen well -known Public Aquariums (like Aquarium of the Americas, prior to Katrina) , feed romaine and spinach by the case.

Good to know. Thanks. I'll modify my opinion to mirror yours, then: "With nori available, I don't feed many garden veggies, but there is certainly nothing wrong with them."

dthorn
03/26/2013, 03:16 PM
Just a thought from my days keeping iguanas. . Collard greens are one of the most nutritional greens money can buy and less than a dollar a pound. Might be a better treat. Didn't feed iguanas romaine or iceberg lettuce because they are considered to have almost no nutritional value.

I don't keep any grazers but thought I'd mention this for you guys who do to consider. Happy reefing!

dthorn
03/26/2013, 03:28 PM
Also, there are websites devoted just to the nutritional value of different plants. Not sure if it would affect fish the same, but some foods are goitrogenic. This means they bind the iodine in foods, preventing the body from being able to use it. Broccoli, cabbage, kale, etc. Fall into this category. Just "food for thought, " pun intended.

MrTuskfish
03/26/2013, 04:26 PM
Good to know. Thanks. I'll modify my opinion to mirror yours, then: "With nori available, I don't feed many garden veggies, but there is certainly nothing wrong with them."
A modified Seinfeld quote always works.

Just about all my fish will eat nori, even triggers. I have lions that will slurp the stamp-size pieces of nori from the surface and a couple of H. Tusks that will eat the stuff from my fingers. The same fish will also eat turnip or spinach greens. All of my herbivores also love cucumber that I feed, mabe once a month. I usually just tear up some nori and toss it in; it never lasts long enough in my tanks for "grazing" anyhow. I wash turnip greens and freeze them on a cookie sheet, then put the softened leaves into a zip-lock bag. A leaf of this stuff will last for hours and I usually just feed it when there just doesn't seem to be enough growth on the LR, in other words, randomly. All of my herbivores eat so much meaty stuff that sometimes I wonder just how much greens they really need.