Proper Diet Means Choosing the RIGHT Saltwater Fish Food!
Did you know that diet and nutrition is the #1 most important factor for keeping your fish healthy and preventing disease? You can also improve coloration, increase growth, and even reduce stress by providing the right nutrition for your fish.
With the sheer volume of options and the fact that every single fish, coral, and invertebrate has unique nutritional requirements, choosing the right combination of foods for your aquarium can be seemingly overwhelming. Matthew put together a list of 6 foods that when used together will accommodate 99% of the fish, corals, and invertebrates you likely have in your aquarium.
Comprehensive Fish Food Bundle
Feeding your aquarium with a combination of foods keeps your fish active and healthy. Corals will also benefit from the variety of protein sources and will not only consume the Reef Chili but also leftover bits of mysis, pellets, bacteria, and even fish waste! With the multiple foods, you will need to offer the entire variety being careful not to overfeed the aquarium. You can adjust the amount of food and frequency to accommodate your particular fish and corals. Alternating between different foods on different days is also an option, just be sure ALL of the fish are eating what they should and when they should. More aggressive fish tend to gobble up food first but even the timid fish need to eat and adjusting your technique may be necessary to ensure everyone gets a bite.
- Frozen/Pellets: Melt a portion of frozen food, add a pinch of each pellet food and feed the mixture. Feed in small doses to ensure the fish consume everything. Alternatively, just offer the pellets or frozen food at different times throughout the day.
- Seaweed: Attach to the aquarium wall using a feeding clip or rubber band to a piece of rubble rock to invite natural grazing behavior. Remove after 30 minutes.
- Reef Chili: Mix with seawater and target/spot feed corals directly using a bulb syringe or squirt bottle. It is best to feed coral during the evening after the lights have turned off to maximize food capture. Remember corals cannot swim so you have to bring the food to the corals.
Of course, turn off your filtration when feeding the aquarium, and don't forget to turn things back ON thereafter (this is a common mistake!). Using feeding stations, feeding clips, automatic fish feeders, tongs, and squirt feeders are pretty common among reef tank owners to not only reduce food waste but also ensure all of the tank inhabitants are getting food. Some species of fish only feed on the bottom or may never come out of the rocks while others will swim about above the rocks just waiting for the next feeding. As a responsible tank owner, it's up to you to provide your pet's nutrition and you can learn more about using feeding tools and accommodating different fish in Episode #37 of the Beginner's Guide below.
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