Live food, Phyto and Rotifers

[WildPraire]

Now that the refugium is set up, I've put several ricordea, my little sun coral and a small piece of xenia in it. I'm feeding live rotifers and phyto directly into this tank and it's obvious from the feeding responses that they love it. I'm also seeing the xenia pulse more in the refugium where I am putting the live food, than in the main display right after I feed. The ricordea extend feeding polyps more fully than I've noticed before, and of course the feather dusters extend fully. The sun coral is also extending more than I've ever seen, although it doesn't happen nearly as quickly as with the other creatures, I think it still much prefers meatier chunks. How many of you are feeding live food and what do you notice?

Sue

[JnS]

cyclop-eeze, brine shrimp, mysisis all I feed. all frozen.

[Soltaker]

I feed cyclop and mysis, angel diet, and algae....all frozen. I also feed live baby brine shrimp.

[Dwayne]

Oh, y'all knew I was jump on this one.

Personal Rant

Live food is the answer to alot of our problems. I was able to grow SPS with Ca readings under 200. I had sea squirts, sponges, and feather dusters throughout the tank. The only possible explanation is live food. While the Ca readings was under 200, the corals still got there Ca intake. I believe they got it through the live food they took in. I like to equate this to people taking vitamins vs. eating vegatables. You get a greater efficiency from the vegtables than from vitamins (Ok, now some doctor type needn't argue the vegtable statement. Its just an analogy, even if poor). This and some other 'things' I noticed in my tank have convinced me that we are really missing out by not properly feeding our tanks. Even feeding LPS or anemone shrimp or fish from the grocery store or today's frozen cube choice just isn't cutting it. We aren't feeding the same oils and unprocessed nutrients our tank critters get in the wild. It's the little things that are preventing us from seeing the color, growth, and, maybe even, spawning that happens in the wild.

Look at a silverside from a frozen package. Its insides have exploded from the freezing process. The minerals and oils are in the 'ice'. Most people throw that part out. Even if you put it in the tank, how do you know LPS or anemone get any of it?

Brine shrimp, unless freshly hatched or gut loaded, are like ordering steak and getting a rice cake. Frozen brine shrimp is a rice cake minus the rice.

Cyclop-eze - I won't comment on, as I haven't used it. I have heard it is great for color and great for raising fish.

End of Rant

Build yourself a Geosapper or something like it. You'll will see positive results if you feed live food. But it needs to be continuous or daily at the least.

FWIW

[Graham]

It depends about 99.9% on the type of animals you're keeping. You'll have better results if you keep animals with similar requirements and treat them accordingly.

I can't argue with Dwayne's results, but from my own personal experience, lots of food equals lots of problems. SPS don't need to be fed - that much I do know.

Reef tanks are a real poor representation of natural systems. I personally have given up trying to make my reef tank "natural". I find that "natural" methods ironically require intervention sooner than later. Of course, I could just suck at "natural methods". They aren't easy...

I find that eliminating variables and knowing the nature of the animals you keep are the best tools in your arsenal. Looking outside the hobby is a real good way to really learn about your animals.

[Dwayne]

Originally posted by Graham
lots of food equals lots of problems.

Lots of the wrong food equals problems. I guess there is a point where you could have excess of the correct food, but that excessive point is easier to obtain when providing the wrong food. Simply because nothing is eating it.

I find that eliminating variables and knowing the nature of the animals you keep are the best tools in your arsenal. Looking outside the hobby is a real good way to really learn about your animals.

[Graham]

D,

Unless there are superior strains of nanochloropsis, rotifers, and BBS, I guess I don't know what you mean.

If I feed live again, I would probably do BBS and rotifers, but never phyto ever again. Ever.

[Jive Turkey]

To most of my corals, including SPS, I feed a mix of the three smallest sizes of Golden Pearls and frozen Cyclops-Eeze soaked in some Selco. I have never fed live foods, and stopped using phyto because of the short shelflife and the diatom blooms it causes.
Since beginning with the GPs 6 weeks ago, I have seen some promising results. More so than with just the CE and my food mix.

I feed the GP/CE mix every other day, opposite the normal tank feeding. Every third GE/CE feeding is done in the middle of the night. I also target feed this mix to some zoanthids, LPS and ricordia.

Joe

[civil]

I haven't fed anything specific, just the normal fish food, for almost a year. I have good growth, what I think is good color and don't plan on feeding live food. What works for some may not work for others, that is the fun part of this hobby, for me at least.