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75 gallon tank

Rod's Food "problem"

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6 Comments
by
blakew
, 07-25-2012 at 10:09 PM (9490 Views)
Calling it a problem is really over stating what's going on, but I'm looking for opinions none the less.

As you may know if you've followed along, my little 29 gallon has gotten healthier, but I've lost several fish to jumping and am now down to 1, a Flameback Angel.

Everytime I feed the angel, he fixates on the large pieces in Rod's original mix, most of which are too large for him to eat, grabbing them and then spitting them out and then grabbing them and then spitting them out over and over again. All the while the smaller food, including the seaweed and vegetables in the mix (which are better for the angel anyway) drift to the bottom and get lost in the gravel. I've tried leaving 1 powerhead on to keep circulation going, hoping that would keep the food suspended long enough for the fish to see it prior to it sinking to the bottom, but he/she just keeps trying to eat the big chunks.

I tried to use my wife's hand held blender to break up the chunks into smaller pieces. Unfortunately, not only did it not work, but my wife was pissed.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Blake

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Categories
‎ Feeding , ‎ Questions - Need some input

Comments

  1. cyano's Avatar
    remove the larger pieces and don't even drop them into the tank. rod's has some food particles within that are going to be too small for your angel to even pay attention to as well so another option to solve this problem is to get more fish
  2. Electrobes's Avatar
    It's either that, feed less and he'll be forced to hunt for the smaller pieces, or maybe change foods. I'll be honest with you, I feed spectrum pellets because I hate dealing with the mess that comes with those other types of food. I'm sure they are better in every way, but not at the cost of the tank. I do throw some freeze dried cyclopeez every now and then.
  3. melev's Avatar
    I too woud avoid feeding the larger chunks as some fish might even choke to death. You can use a strainer or put a plastic knife across the opening of the thawing dish you use, limiting what can pour out. The bigger stuff can be minced and tossed in next.
  4. blakew's Avatar
    Thanks guys, I guess the "messy" solutions are the one's that work the best. I'll start trying to separate it.

    Do mushroom and ricordias eat meaty foods...that all I've got in the way of corals in the tank...hate to waste the food.

    Electrobes...I quit feeding pellets...I used to feed Sally's frozen foods and then when that ran out and my lfs was out I got some of the pellets and flakes...my tank turned to hair algae city within months of feeding flakes and pellets...just my experience...I know Melev feed's flakes from an automated feeder, pretty cool and his tanks usually look awesome, even when he doesn't think so...so it might have been something else, but since I quit feeding flakes and pellets my tank has cleaned up...granted, I changed my cleaning/waterchange schedule...and I'm sure that helped, but never had a problem with hair algae under the old cleaning regiment when I was feeding Sally's and don't have problems with Rod's so far.
  5. Electrobes's Avatar
    I would never feed flake, haven't done so in years, I do believe it just rots out too quickly and dumps the funk out quick. Pellets on the other hand don't, and I love Spectrum.. so do the fish. I also don't feed a ton, literally it's just enough for the fish. How much were you feeding?
  6. blakew's Avatar
    I had three fish in a 29 at the "peak"...(1) 3"+/- Flameback Angle, (1) Ocellaris 2.5 - 3", and (1) Wheeler's watchman goby 2"...I fed a pinch (small pinch) of flake at noon (never sank deep enough in tank for the goby to get any) and maybe 10-15 pellets (formula #2) at around 7pm (sank quickly to bottom so goby got some)...

    feeding a small squirt out of a dropper of Rod's now once a day...not a massive amount of food for an angel, even a dwarf angel, but he picks at the rock all day and I occasionally hold a small piece of seaweed in for him to pick at for 5 or 10 mins