Feeding question?

R

racerX

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Jan 10, 2004
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I have recently gotten a sailfin tang. Hes small but looked like the best quality one at the LFS. Nice and fat with very good color. My question is the Marine Fishes book says to feed pretty much everything in my tank three times a day. So i do. But they all eat different things. I have pellets for the chromis which they seem to love. I have some formula one frozen for the clowns which they also love. And I got some spirulina formula frozen for the tang when i got him. But should i feed all this at once? Kinda seems to confuse the tang. He takes a mouth full of everything before he finally gets some of his spirulina. And by the time he gets to it most of the rest is tucked around the rocks. I know i should only feed what can be eating within a few minutes according to The Conscientious Marine Aquarist, but also i try to hand feed a small piece of the formula one to the star and put enough pellets in at once that some get to the bottom for the crabs. Is this right or should I just drop it in and let my small piece of nature take its course.

Thanks as always,
Shane
 
First of all Marine Fishes book, I think that is the biggest problem with it, that it says to feed so much. I feed my fish 1 time every other day generally and I haven't had a single problem for about 2 years.

So what I would do, is feed the veggies in the morning and the meat in the evening. And that is it. Everyone will get what they need. For the veggies, get a seaweed clip and put it in the morning so the tang can graze on it during the day. Then feed your Brine, Mysis Shrimp, or other frozens at night before you shut off the lights.

The real key is to make sure you feed only what they will eat. you don't want food getting uneaten and adding to your waste/bio load when it just sits and rots.
 
'Tang Police' time
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I also disagree with Scott Michael's feeding recommendations and feed my tank only once per day, but I do agree with his tank size recommendations. And, since you have the book, you've almost certainly seen that he recommends a tank about 2 and a half times bigger than yours for a sailfin tang. So, do you have plans to buy that 135g tank in the near future?
 
No, no plans on the 135gl. but i did find a 180gal in the classifieds of my grandparents news paper about three weeks ago and bought it. But it will be well into the summer before i can afford to load it up with the necessary equipment. Is that going to be too long? Will he grow that fast? Hes only about two or two and a half inches now. and he seems to like the room i have left in the front of my tank for swimming room. I was aware of the tank requirements when i got him but he was the most colorful and healthy one i have seen since I got started, plus his small size I was hoping it would be maybe atleast six months before he needed the bigger tank up and cycled. If not the LFS does do in store credit on return fish.

Thanks for all the help,
Shane
 
The huge whopping price of $325 with a stand that is reinforced with steel inners. but no hood or anything. It is drilled thought.
 
Yeah I got the paper at about five in the morning when i was goin to get my grandparents to bring them back here for my mothers birthday. You know old people they have to leave to go somewhere before sunrise. I seen it in the paper and waited till six to call. I thought I would be waking the guy up but no it was an old guy too. He said It was left in a rental house he had and the guy didn't pay the last months rent before he move so he was selling the tank for what was owed. So I went by there and paid the man. And then i had to come back my trailer that I haul my motorcycle in cause there was no way of getting it in my car. lol. but now im really intimidated by the size of it. And the cost of getting it running. It might have to be a FO tank for quite some time.

Shane
 
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