Fish + Food = Fun

Keeping a marine aquarium is great. It must be, there are enough people doing it. Reef or fish only, it is a tremendous hobby being educational as well. Having some of Mother Nature’s wonders in the home is an eye catcher for visitors and sometimes becomes consuming for aquarists.

There’s maintenance of course - cleaning the algae from the aquarium glass, topping up evaporated water, cleaning and checking filters and pumps and the rest. Some aquarists just enjoy it in the same way that some gardeners enjoy weeding. Some do it because it has to be done and find it reasonably enjoyable. I’m one of the latter - it has to be done but it isn’t the favourite part of the hobby.

The best part as far as I’m concerned is looking at the aquarium. I know, it sounds just like ‘I love work; I can sit and look at it all day.’ It’s not that. Looking at the aquarium is really what it’s all about. Admiring nature in the home and feeling pleased because it’s mine and I maintain it.

There’s another bit of maintenance that’s great fun too and runs a very close second, and that’s feeding the livestock.

It doesn’t take long for fish and shrimps to become used to a feeding routine. When the aquarist approaches the aquarium, often there they are at the front waiting. Food goes in and the fish tear around making sure they get their share or more if they can.

Some fish will come to the fingers and remove food. This is really getting personal and the aquarist is normally enthralled by it. Then there are the cleaner shrimps of course. They will take food from the hand and, like fish, come close to the surface for it. In addition the shrimps will walk around on the aquarist’s hand looking for food be it feeding time or not. It must be strange for them, a queer fish with weird fins appearing but hey-ho, the food is good.

There is a potential problem with this feeding interaction however it is done. It is such a feel-good situation that it is likely that a newcomer to the hobby will overfeed. Fish and shrimps will take as much as they can possibly get when they can get it. As in the wild, their instinct is to eat quickly as they do not know when the next meal will be. Fish can stuff themselves to absolute capacity, and some of the food will be excess and will pass through the gut undigested, or only partially so. This means pollution for the aquarium which is one thing that is not needed as it will impact on seawater quality. In addition, it is impossible to ensure that all the presented food ends up inside a fish or shrimp. Some will inevitably end up loose in the seawater and will become lodged among the rocks. There it will rot, although hopefully in a reef aquarium or even a fish only one where there is live rock, all the little tiny life forms that inhabit the rock structure will eat it.

Even with the caution in mind about overfeeding it is still great fun. The aquarist needs only to restrict the food quantity to that which is known to be sufficient and stop there. Fish and shrimps are persistent beggars and the aquarist may feel that their actions indicate that more food is needed and give some. Simply don’t.

Oh, yes, and when the feeding is over don’t forget to sit back and watch the aquarium. Enjoy!

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Tags: feeding-fish, fish-food, fish-tank, marine-aquarium, marine-fish, reef-fish

Remember To Vary The Food When Feeding

A fish only aquarium or reef aquarium offers several pleasures. One of them is obvious, and that is just sitting and admiring. After a while, all seems at peace in the world. Maybe that’s why some doctors and dentists have aquariums in their surgeries.

Another very pleasurable experience for the aquarist is feeding, probably because it is direct interaction. Once fish are accustomed to routines, they can nearly ’talk’ to the aquarist. ‘Feed Me!’ Not forgetting the cleaner shrimp walking around on the hand looking and hoping for a morsel.

Feeding obviously is important. Fuel is important to all living creatures including us aquarists - and I don’t mean just the beer!

What if we aquarists sat down to dinner each day and were faced with the same food repeatedly. Not too impressive really, and boring. Additionally, nutritionally we’d probably miss out on important vitamins and minerals too.

Fish and shrimps are the same. They have to eat, and if they are faced with the same food each day they’ll eat. However, no matter how good the food preparation is by the manufacturer, it is likely that it will not be fully balanced.

The first consideration is what type of creature it is - vegetarian, carnivore or just opportunist. Surgeon fish are a generally good example - they need algae and if there is insufficient in the aquarium it must be provided. So a base diet has to be provided if the fish have any particular demand.

My fish are omnivores, feeding from the substrate or water column. I have seen them eating algae but it is not an absolute must (the dwarf angel needs algae but not like a surgeonfish, and there is a little, and sufficient, algae in the aquarium). My base food is marine flake, which contains many ingredients suited to marine life and has additional vitamins and minerals added. The supplementary food I use is frozen, consisting of brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, lobster eggs, and chopped cockle. There are others available.

The fish are fed twice a day, although on occasional days I miss a feed, which clearly breaks the routine. On other days one feed is flake and the other is one of the frozen foods. The flake is usually fed in the evening and the frozen after the lights have been on a while, but now and again I change this round. The frozen food is kept in a separate sealed plastic sandwich box in the freezer. It is pre-prepared by taking one square from one of the food types and cutting it into four while frozen. These pieces go back in the box and are fed one at a time until the four pieces are gone. I then pick another type of frozen food and do it again. So the frozen food is varied. It would be just as easy to cut squares up from different types of frozen foods and feed them randomly. So the fish receive a basic diet and also a varying frozen one. In this way hopefully they receive an overall adequate diet which will keep them healthy. My fish have been in residence for 5+ years and have good health and colour. (There aren’t many fish as I have regard to the seawater quality.)

Another advantage of this type of feeding, particularly with frozen food, is that other life in the aquarium feeds too. When I feed the frozen varieties I see polyps catching some. Some goes into the rocks, as does some of the flake, and I am sure the myriad of tiny reef creatures enjoy it.

Talking of nutrition, remember to keep flake food containers tightly shut when not in use, and frozen foods properly frozen. When thawing food, do it in a small utensil. Do not put it in a microwave, but let it thaw naturally in either a little seawater or R/O (reverse osmosis) water.

Proper feeding helps maintain a healthy aquarium and healthy vigorous livestock. At this point I’m sure I’ll be forgiven if I state once again - don’t overfeed! There is an article on this site about feeding called ‘Feeding Time’, it comes under Care and Maintenance. I’ve put a link below.

http://www.aquaristsonline.com/articles

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Tags: Aquarium Maintenance, aquarium-fish-food, Care, feeding-fish, saltwater-aquarium

Fun or Frustration

During your life looking after a [tag-ice]salt water aquarium[/tag-ice] have you ever done something that you didn’t regret, but which tended to test your patience and perhaps even question your own sanity? I have.

Salt water [tag-tec]coral fish[/tag-tec] are for the most part very beautiful. The fish we keep tend to become favourites, or we see one in a magazine, on-line, or observe one in a shop which we fall in love with.

My most favourite coral fish of all is the copperband butterfly (Chelmon rostratus). Though not the brightest coloured coral fish by any means, to me it is very beautiful both in its shape and colouration. Its behaviour is also most appealing as it looks and pokes its snout into crevices and holes, searching for a tasty morsel. [Read more]

Tags: copperband, feeding-fish, fish-food