Should You Use An Automatic Fish Feeder

It is best to feed the fish in the aquarium every day, even better is to feed them more than once every day as they then get food sparingly throughout the day however what do you do when you are away from home.

In my opinion it is best to have someone come around to the house to look after the aquarium whilst you are away. If someone else looks after your aquarium whilst you are away then they can top up the water, look for and react to any potential issues etc, however, this it is not always faesible or possible.

In these circumstances you can always install an auto top-up device if your aquarium will require water replacing due to evaporation whilst you are away. You can install an auto shut off device in the sump to protect the equipment in the sump if anything happens.

But what about the fish?

The fish are going to need to be fed. There will be food in the aquarium which the fish can eat – dependent upon the fish however this may not sustain them so it is better to provide some way to faciliate the provision of food.

This can be accomplished in a number of ways.

The first one is to prepare some food before you leave and then use something like a perastaltic pump on a timer to provide food throughout the day. The trouble with this option is that the food will not last for long before going off.

The second option is to use an automatic fish feeder. These devices are normally battery powered and have little compartments which the dry food is located. On the device is a timer which you can program to feed the fish throughout the day/week. Basically when the timer reaches a time which is feeding time the compartment opens and the food falls into the aquarium. They are very simple devices and very simple to use – you place some food, normally flake food into the compartments, set the timer and you are good to go.

The main trouble with some of these devices is that the dry food in the compartments becomes damp and then when the compartment opens at feeding time the food does not fall out as it is stuck to the sides. Some devices have in-built air blowers which attempt to keep the food dry however I have found that in a reef tank with higher water movement they still do not completely prevent the food from becoming damp therefore not all the food will be dispensed however some of it will and some food is better than no food at all.

So are they worth it?

In my opinion automatic fish feeders are worth it if you are not able to get anyone to look after your aquarium whilst you are away – afterall some food is better than no food at all.

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I Used To Think The Fish Was Stupid

Well, not really, but it did appear that way.

I have a soft coral reef and there are only two fish, a Fijian blue damsel (Chrysiptera cyanea) and a flame angel (Centropyge loriculus). Under white and blue lights they both display stunning colour, and the damsel even more so with just the blue (actinic) lighting. The flame angel is the boss of the aquarium, the damsel getting out of the way when approached and also getting periodically chased a little just to let it know who the boss is.

Like other aquarists I sit and watch the aquarium and get a lot of pleasure from it. This usually occurs after feeding and it was at feeding and directly after that I vaguely wondered if the flame angel had less intelligence than the damsel. Seems a strange thing to consider but it was the fish feeding that brought it on.

Generally the fish are fed a de-frozen food such as mysis or brine shrimp once a day and marine flake once a day. One feed type will be in the evening and one in the morning with each type feed time varying. Sometimes I purposefully give a feed a miss.

Anyway, as soon as I approach the aquarium both fish appear at the front showing heightened interest, swimming along the front and also up and down. ‘Food’ they seem to cry, ‘and get on with it!’

In goes the food and like a flash the damsel is on it. Sometimes the fish darts around so fast the food is just gone. Wherever the food gets driven by the seawater currents, provided it can be seen, the damsel gets it. Of course, the point comes when it starts to lose interest.

The angel is much more sedate. It swims along and takes food well, without the speed of the damsel. However, it ignores food which is some distance away. At first I used to mutter ‘Stupid fish, eat it, the damsel’s getting it all.’ I wasn’t annoyed with the fish, only with the possibility that too much food could get into the rocks of the reef. I feed carefully, a small portion at a time until the fish show signs of loss of interest.

I used to note the damsel losing interest but felt some concern for the angel – had it had enough or should I feed some more? So when the damsel lost interest I used to generally target feed the angel, that is, wait until the angel was in position and drop a small amount. The angel would chase food to an extent once it had seen it. Generally the method worked, but it was a bit of an annoying requirement. Both fish were not overfed but displayed a good body shape.

It was after a feeding I decided that I was being unfair to the angel in wondering if it was stupid. The damsel took food nearly instantly from all over as long as it was in sight, and this was and is because that is how they feed on the wild reef. They hang in the water column awaiting food items, and if any are seen speed is required to get the food before others, and good distance eyesight is required to see the food in the first place. The flame angel goes along looking for food on rock faces and in crevices and caves, which is a much more considered affair without the need for speed. Also, the distance of potential food from the fish is short. The flame angel is an omnivore and if anything is floating about that is edible it will be eaten, but it is not the natural prime food location. So – my apologies to the angel.

I don’t target feed the angel anymore, this was only in the early life of the aquarium. The food is still fed carefully but if any drifts into the reef rockwork I’m not alarmed. Now that the aquarium, which is over six years old, has developed I’m aware that there are a large number of tiny life forms about. I have only to look in the aquarium at night to see them scurrying on their urgent errands. So any food that gets into the rocks is food for them.

I have never had any nitrate or phosphate reading. If they are there, they are undetectable on my test kits. The zero phosphate is probably down to the fact that I have always had an anti-phosphate filter running, with properly timed media changes. When the aquarium commenced bio-filtration was by canister filters, and of course the nitrogen cycle stops after the creation of nitrate with canisters. This is why I used a homemade anti-nitrate filter in the beginning. Maybe routine seawater changing helped plus the fact the fish load as now was low. The inert porous rock I used to build the reef is now live, and so any nitrate should be controlled naturally. The anti-nitrate filter was turned off over two years ago and a nitrate reading has never appeared.

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Brine Shrimp – Why Not Supply Your Own

Feeding fish nowadays is not usually a problem. Whatever the fish eats there is something commercially available that is suitable, be it a flake, pellet, freeze dried, sheet or frozen variety. Among the foods available as frozen are brine shrimp, which have been used by aquarists for very many years.

The popularity of brine shrimp isn’t surprising because so many small and medium sized fish eat them with gusto. They are convenient too when stored frozen until needed.

Occasionally a retailer is known who can supply live shrimp, but these supplies seem to be less available nowadays and if a supply is found it is often unreliable.

Frozen brine shrimp are suitable but are they as good as live ones? I am not a nutritionist but suspect that a live shrimp will be more sustaining than a frozen one, particularly if the live one is used fairly soon after hatching.

Rearing brine shrimp is very straightforward and easy. There are kits available for the purpose, but it is just as easy to modify some easily obtainable items.

The items required are a small seawater container, such as a plastic food storage box often supplied with a lid (lid not required). Anything will do though; it does not have to be seawater safe. The box needs to be large enough to accommodate a small heater/stat, the smallest one available as there will be very little seawater to heat. Actually, it doesn’t even need to be seawater; tap water will do as the brine shrimp will not go in it. Next needed are an air pump and some airline. Again the air pump should be small as a lot of power is not needed. The final requirement is a plastic drink bottle with a body about 3 to 4″ in diameter, with a screw-on plastic cap.

The plastic drink bottle should have the body shortened. The length can be obtained by ensuring the screw-on cap is in position, and placing the bottle upside down in the container so that the cap is on the bottom. The cut point should be about ½” or a little more above where the surface of the water in the container will be. The bottle can easily be cut with a sharp knife, such as those used for craft work.

Next drill a hole in the centre of the cap for the airline to fit into. Drilling a hole slightly too small is good as this will ensure a watertight fit.

Put the modified bottle in the container and keep it upright with string or anything available and suitable. Appearance doesn’t matter as the whole thing can be kept out of sight if desired.

Now we’re ready for shrimp production. Obtain some eggs from the internet or the local retailer. Reading the box will probably show that only a very small amount of eggs are required to produce a lot of shrimps!

Fill the bottle to ½” or so below the top with seawater, keep some from a routine seawater change. Replace this seawater before each batch of eggs is put in. (Note that the salinity may need to be increased depending on where the eggs were collected. Check the instructions for this. The amount of salt needed will be very small if it is needed at all.) Fill the container to ½” or so from the rim, this time using tap water if desired, though seawater will do. Turn on the heater, which should be set to a temperature between 75 and 80 deg F. Leave it all alone until the water in the container has reached this setting (the heater indicator will turn off). It won’t take long as there isn’t much water to heat.

Now turn on the air pump and if necessary using an airline clamp adjust so that the seawater inside the bottle is moving vigorously. The water outside the bottle will heat it.

Put an appropriate amount of shrimp eggs into the lemonade bottle. In about 36 hours there should be a 90% hatch or better.

These little newly hatched shrimp are nutritious and very attractive to small fish and are also caught by some corals. They can be left for a while if the aquarist wishes to grow them on, but note that once the yolk sac (attached to each shrimp) is gone if they are not fed they will begin to deteriorate. Feeding them to the aquarium inhabitants is best if done within 12 hours or so of hatching.

Getting them out is simple. The egg shells are not wanted and these, by using the following method, can be avoided. There are eggs available that have been de-shelled and so the shrimp could be caught without the assistance of a light.

The shrimp are attracted to strong light. Obtain a torch, some airline and a fine net. Turn off the air pump and wait for a short while for the turbulence to die down. Shine the torch into the bottle and the shrimp will rise toward it. Siphon them out into the net.

Ok, fish and corals, here they come. They will soon be gone, as the livestock seem to recognize the meal and vigorously chase them down. Watch the corals, are they capturing? Some probably are.

It’s all very easy. There isn’t much equipment and modifying the bottle is straightforward. The set-up does look a bit unprofessional, but it can be kept out of sight if desired. A regular supply of shrimps is simply arranged, mixed in with other types of food for variety. Once set-up, activation takes minutes.

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How Often Should You Feed The Fish

As with all animals food is required for energy – energy which is used for a lot things. Fish are no exception.

But how often should fish be fed – daily, weekly, fortnightly etc.

Before we move on to how often feeding should occur it is important to ensure that the food provided is the correct type of food for the fish in the aquarium and that the type of food is varied. For example various tangs have a requirement for green food therefore it is important that this requirement is provided for. This does not mean that the fish should be fed algae all the time as whilst the fish will survive it may not thrive.

So feeding frequency then. This is quite often determined by the species of fish itself however it is always better in my opinion to feed little and often.

Fish by their very nature will feed when fed however, for example if you only feed your fish once a week then the fish will take most of the food however a lot of the food which has been eaten will pass out of the other end undigested. Food which was not eaten will put extra load on the filtration system and could lead to increased levels of nutrients – for example nitrate.

Most fish basically look at four things in life. They look for food, to not become food, where to hide and some other fish to mate with.

On the reef during daylight hours they spend most of the time scouring the reef looking for tiny morsals of food on the rock face however in a home aquarium the myseterious hand of man appears above the aquarium and provides food for them. This feeding would probably be more than they would find during an entire day on the reef however when the aquarist is not near the aquarium the fish continue to scour their mini reef looking for food.

Feeding little and often throughout the day allow for the fish to digest all of the food provided to them and decreases the chance of an increase in nutrient levels.

I do appreciate that this is hard to accomplish however as not all aquarists spend all day sat in front of the aquarium – I know I dont as a little thing called a job and another thing called a family get in the way!

Automatic fish feeders are good for things like flake food as they will release based upon a timer however you do need to be careful with this approach as dependent upon the model of feeder they sometimes do get clogged and the food does not get dispensed as it should. There are some good ones on the market though so this method should certainly not be discounted.

A peristaltic pump could be used for example on a timer to pump a small amount of food into the aquarium at various times throughout the day.

The trouble with the above two options is that feeding the fish is a pleasure – it is to me anyways and using an automated device removes or reduces this pleasure so what I do is change the lighting above the aquarium to match the time when I am at home. Therefore I get to the feed the aquarium three to four times each day. I vary the feeding times and amounts throughout the week and do not always feed four times – sometimes I feed only the once, others twice etc.

For me this works however again it may not work for everyone.

As said whilst it is a pleasure to feed the fish and all fish food appears to have gone this does not mean that it will all be digested. Any uneaten food and undigested food will put an extra strain on the filtration.

If you do only, for various reasons have the time to be able to feed once a day then it is recommended that you do not simply get some food and put the entire amount in the aquarium. Feed a small amount and wait until the food is gone, when all food is gone add some more. Keep going until the fish stop to show enthusiasm for the food offered leaving as much time as you can afford between feedings.

Also always try to use feeding times as a time to sit and watch the fish.

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Brine Shrimp – Any Use In The Marine Aquarium?

Several different foods suitable for marine livestock could be used for overall feeding and this variation is a good thing, as it increases the chances of fish etc ingesting all that they need. Whatever food is used, it should be marked as ‘marine’ – flake food for example. The aquarist should ensure that particular livestock receive sufficient natural foods, such as algae, if this is important to their well-being.

Most aquarists feed frozen and flake foods. The flake is rich and good to use provided overfeeding doesn’t occur. The same point about overfeeding applies to frozen foods as well, but not the richness. Frozen foods are very useful and it is good to include them. Mysis shrimp is an example.

Another frozen food that could be used, in addition to any other flake and frozen type to increase the food base that is being offered, is brine shrimp. It would be unusual to find a frozen food supplier who did not stock this. The shrimp are in flat packs made up of ten or more blisters, and each blister is designed to be removed individually. Once removed, if necessary it can be further reduced in size as the blister portions are easy to cut when frozen. Then the food can be placed in a small container such as an egg cup and some RO (reverse osmosis) or seawater added, after which it should be left to defrost. Defrosting should not be speeded up by using a microwave or hot water as it has been reported that the nourishment value of the food is reduced.

Once defrosted the water that the food is in should be drained off as far as possible before the food is put into the aquarium, where it will be caught by the seawater currents and float off. It shouldn’t last long – fish find it attractive.

I am not a food specialist in any way. What I understand from reading is that frozen brine shrimp is not particularly nutritious, less so than mysis shrimp for example. In its basic form from frozen it has good roughage value. The food can be nutritionally enhanced when it is alive by what is fed to it, and brine shrimp that has been reared in this way is often described as ‘enriched’. One of the foods that could have been fed to achieve this is spirulina algae. This could be stated on the package.

Brine shrimp does not have to be used from a frozen state, it can be fed live. Many local fish shops (LFS’s) supply them live and pre-packaged, though in my area the availability has diminished a great deal. When purchasing them in this way, have a look at the package – usually a clear plastic bag – and ensure they are alive. There’s not much point in paying for live when they’re not.

Another way of obtaining live brine shrimp is for the aquarist to produce them. This is not difficult. What are required are agitated salt water (some from a seawater change perhaps), a suitable container (containers designed for the purpose of breeding brine shrimp are available) and brine shrimp eggs. The eggs go into the container and after a while very small shrimps appear. These can be recovered by a fine net or even a pipette type device. All instructions are with the container. Some containers are a complete kit.

If the aquarist requires bigger brine shrimps they will have to be fed and grown on – once the egg-sac has been consumed feeding is required.

I used to produce brine shrimps and quickly learned that when the instructions advise ‘a small pinch of eggs’ that is definitely what is required. At first I put in too many eggs and ended up with far too many shrimps. I also used to put them in the aquarium when small, just as the egg-sacs had been more or less used up. The fish I kept, which were small, used to eat them as fast as they could, and even some of the corals, such as toadstools, used to tuck in.

I had the ‘brilliant’ idea of dispensing with the breeding container and put the eggs directly into the aquarium – it contained warm moving salt water after all. Unfortunately this was not successful, and I put the failure down to insufficient turbulence to move the eggs.

I now use ‘enriched’ frozen brine shrimp among the other foods that I feed, which includes other frozen varieties and flake.

Brine shrimp is fine for the marine aquarium, but needs to be mixed with other foods and not be the only food. When I say mixed with other foods, I do not mean literally. Brine shrimp could be fed for one meal on its own; the next meal could be flake, the next mysis shrimp, the next flake, and the next brine shrimp again. There isn’t any reason why the number of varieties could not be greater. Advanced aquarists sometimes mix different frozen and flake foods, divide them into portions, and freeze them. Others try fresh foods mixed and freeze them.

Brine shrimps are very good for enticing reluctant feeders to eat- maybe a new fish has been added. They swirl around in the currents and the majority of fish chase them, and hopefully the new fish will join in once its initial shyness has gone. They are also captured by some polyps and ingested.

Brine shrimps are a good addition to the food arsenal kept by the aquarist. Frozen is the usual type used and this is understandable = just pop them in a box with the other frozen fish foods and store them in the freezer.

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Food For Thought

Food is required by all life for energy and general health. Lots of food of the wrong type may provide some energy but the contents will not supply the general needs of the life form. So it is important to feed the life in the marine aquarium the correct type of foods and at the same time not overfeed.

On the wild reef different life forms have different niches for food. There are predators, some general, some very specialized. There is life that eats a particular item, such as herbivores eating algae. There are also omnivores that will eat almost anything they come across, thus taking advantage of a wide range of food sources. The needs of these different types stay with them in the aquarium.

Again on the wild reef with its abundance of different life forms hardly anything goes to waste, there is something in the food chain that will clear it up. In addition, the huge volume of seawater over the wild reefs can ‘absorb’ any small amounts of food created pollution. This is not the case in the aquarium. Though modern systems attempt to replicate the wild reef as near as possible there isn’t a way that all the life variations can be represented. The very limited gallonage in an aquarium, even one considered to be very large, is subject to food pollution.

The aquarist can deal with algae by having herbivorous fish, crabs and snails present. Detritus can be dealt with to an extent in the same way. In a fish only system with live rock (FOWLR) and particularly in a reef system there should be a considerable number of minute creatures living among the rocks which no doubt will make use of excess food. Where does this excess food come from? In a FOWLR the aquarist is more than likely to stock the aquarium to its fish capacity. This is also usual in a reef system, though the fish stock is, or should be, lower. All of these fish, and any other creatures, need to receive supplemental feeding. The food that might be available in the aquarium is insufficient.

This supplemental food provided by the aquarist is usually either frozen or in flake form. There are variations but it is these two that are the main foods used. It is here that the potential danger lies. Novice aquarists more often than not do it – overfeed. Experienced aquarists, though more careful, ‘overfeed’ as it is usually impossible to ensure that all food is eaten and some inevitably end up in the rockwork. It is to be hoped that the tiny creatures in the rockwork will make use of it.

We should not be too hard on the novice aquarist who overfeeds. There are two reasons for this bad practice, the first is that the aquarist is concerned that enough food is available for the livestock, and the second is that feeding is a very pleasurable experience. So the error is made for the correct reasons.

A comment has been made about the restricted seawater capacity of an aquarium. One gram of flake food (say a teaspoon full) with a protein content of about 50% can convert to 336ppm (parts per million) nitrate*. In a reef aquarium the guideline for this type of aquarium is 10ppm or lower, and in a FOWLR as low as possible, preferably about the same. Though varying seawater gallonages should have some effect it is clear that pollution is a threat.

So what’s to be done? How can the pollution threat be reduced?

The aquarist should be providing a reasonably wide spectrum of supplementary food. As said, this is usually frozen and flake. It is obvious that to prevent pollution the amount of food of either type needs to be restricted, but how? How can the aquarist be happy that the livestock have eaten enough?

It is said quite often that fish and other marine life should be fed little and often, feeding only enough as can be completely consumed in two or three minutes. This is quite correct, first because reef life usually feeds continuously in the wild and second because the life will be hungry and more likely to chase down all the food.

Unfortunately, modern lifestyles do not allow ‘little and often’ feeding in many cases, as jobs call the aquarist away.

The first consideration is an auto-feeder. These feeders can be programmed to release a small amount of food into the aquarium at set intervals. Some are quite good, others not. The top of the aquarium must be open, and there needs to be an adequate area where the feeder can be securely fixed. Some aquarists see these auto feeders in the same way as, for example, automatic water top-up devices, in other words automate the aquarium system in all ways possible. All automation is good, correct? This is, in my opinion, wrong, some automation is good. Auto feeders though should be viewed as a potential way to feed little and often, nothing more.

These devices distribute flake food. For flake to be released it has to be completely dry, and the device is over the top of the aquarium in a damp area. This means that some of these devices fail from the start as the food becomes damp. At least there should be some kind of food drying mechanism – some feeders have a small fan that moves air through the food chambers.

Another problem with feeders is that they drop flake into the aquarium, and dry flake will float. If there are any weirs, overflows etc the food may go over these before being consumed.

Personally I don’t use them, preferring to feed direct twice daily. This means that the livestock will receive more food but with longer intervals between feedings. This doesn’t matter provided feeding is done carefully, and of course it fits in with the lifestyles of most aquarists.

The amount of food that will be consumed by the livestock will vary aquarium to aquarium as obviously the amount of livestock will vary. The aquarist needs to discover the quantity of each type of food, frozen and flake, which is required. This is easy to do.

Take frozen first. Frozen foods, such as brine or mysis shrimp, are usually supplied in blister packs made up of many blocks. The aquarist needs a very small container – an egg cup is ideal. Take one frozen food square from the pack and chop into four parts. One of these portions should be placed in the egg cup, and some aquarium seawater or RO (reverse osmosis) water added, enough to cover the food. Allow the portion to de-frost completely, so that the shrimps float free. Do not accelerate the process by using a heat source or a microwave, as it has been reported that this reduces the nutritional value of the food.

When fully de-frosted, pour off the liquid as far as possible. Then allow one half of the food to enter the aquarium. The food will be caught by the seawater currents and will move around the aquarium which should attract the fish. Once the food has gone the fish will probably continue swimming around eagerly looking for more. If so, repeat the process de-frosting more food if necessary, and continue to do so until the fish indicate they have had nearly enough. This is shown when the eagerness displayed has reduced.

The aquarist now has an indication of the amount that will be required for each feed. However, this doesn’t mean that the one or two or whatever blocks of food can be de-frosted and put in the aquarium all at once, this would present too much food to the fish and some would inevitably be missed. The aquarist can de-frost the full amount, but the food should still go into the aquarium in portions. This helps to ensure that it will all be eaten. Also, each feeding should be seen as an individual exercise, as sometimes fish can be less interested in food than at other times. It is better to underfeed than overfeed – if a little underfed the fish will probably be a little hungrier the next time. Any de-frosted food left over should not be re-frozen but discarded.

Flake food is dispensed in a similar manner. The flake should always be that which is described as suitable for marine life. The egg cup or similar is again required. Also, it is helpful to have some tweezers available, plastic if possible. Most fish, once they have seen other fish eat flake and have recognized it as food, will be attracted to it.

Take a good pinch of flake and place it in the egg cup. Try and ensure that the food is in flakes and avoid any very small bits as the fish will usually go for the larger flakes and the bits could be caught in the rock work. Put some seawater or RO water in the eggcup so that the flake goes soggy. Now take a very small pinch of flake with the tweezers – it will look awful and will cling to the tweezers. Release the wet flake into the aquarium where it will open up. The fish should chase it down and quickly consume it. They will no doubt swim around eager for more, so do the same thing again. As soon as this eagerness diminishes, stop feeding. Again, the aquarist has an indication of how much food is required. It may be that when using flake the fish lose their eagerness more quickly – this could be because the flakes can be quite large and the food is very nutritious. The aquarist should remember that flakes are very nutritious and less will usually be enough. Again, each feeding should be treated individually and a reduction in eagerness watched for. Any excess flakes should of course be thrown away.

With some fish, such as surgeons, there is a requirement for algae to keep them in good health. Though flake containing algae could be used, if there isn’t much algae of the correct type available in the aquarium the aquarist could put some in, in fact, this is a good practice. This algae is of the dried variety which is supplied in sheets, such as Nori. Health food stores often have this as well as pet retailers.

The algae sheet can be reduced in size according to the number of surgeon fish present, and then held in place against one of the viewing glasses with an algae magnet. It will move with the seawater currents and the fish will spend much time grazing on it, much to their benefit. It is a good idea to ensure there is algae present for such fish every other day – some aquarists keep it present every day. The aquarist needs to remove anything that is unused and likely to float off round the aquarium. It also needs to be remembered that feeding algae will reduce the appetite at feeding times of the fish that have eaten the algae.

Some fish, despite others eating well and giving a good example, do not overcome their shyness and natural instincts and remain in a part of the aquarium where food doesn’t reach. In this case, once the other fish have eaten, they need to be individually fed.

Feeding will produce some level of nitrate and phosphate even if done carefully. This increase in pollutants is dealt with by routine seawater changes. The changes offer advantages in addition to the dilution of pollutants and should be done in all aquariums. Some bio-filtration methods will generally deal with nitrate, such as live rock. Nevertheless, routine seawater changes should be completed.

Feeding carefully reduces pollution increases that can only be good for the live stock, which in turn are properly and sufficiently fed. Also, that most important aspect of feeding is still present – the aquarist’s enjoyment.

(*Reference: Baensch ‘Marine Atlas.’ Helmut Debelius & Hans A. Baensch)

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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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