Question about feeding

[wdozier]

I am curious as to what everyone does when they feed. I just recently put a clown and a pacific blue tang in my tank. When feeding, I have been turning off the bio-wheel filter, the skimmer, and the power-heads.

The food just kinda floats there and they eat at leisure, i leave it this way for 5 minutes and then turn the power-heads back on. I leave it this way for 5 minutes then i turn the filter and skimmer back on.

They both are eating well but have not learned that i am the one bringing the food so they are still a bit timid. The tang eats allot more when i turn the power-heads on.

Just curious as to what everyone does when they feed there fish?

Wayne

[miztahphong2]

why do you turn it off? i leave all of my stuff on. and they just get it. my maroon clown is a fast eater. itll strike at anything! my other fish eat also but nto as fast.

[wdozier]

why do you turn it off? i leave all of my stuff on. and they just get it. my maroon clown is a fast eater. itll strike at anything! my other fish eat also but nto as fast.

I have been doing alot of reading leading up to this point, and alot of what i have read says to turn off the filter. Something abou thte food that could get caught by it would start to decay and release toxins into the water. I have even made a habbit ofcleaning the filter after turning the filter back on and letting it run for an hour.

This is why i want to see what everyone else is doing. I am also curious as to what you do when feeding your corals. I have read there to turn off the skimmer for a while so that it does not remove some of the useful nutriants.

Wayne

[MikeS]

I agree, if you are feeding a fine food like phytoplankton, you probably should shut off the skimmer and filter for a bit....

Mike

[cich1]

i shut down my overflow and return pump when i feed otherwise the food just gets sucked down into the sump but i do leave the powerheads running

[Aquaman]

yup i leave everything on, my Maroon clown is a little hog!

[Speckled Grouper]

I turn everything off.
It appears as if all my creatures are trained and come out in droves when the pump goes off. The Coral Banded Shrimp come tumbling down the rocks in anticipation, the peppermints come dancing out of the rocks and the serpent star wiggle out of their hole waiting for the feast to begin. Also the shy fish appear out of nowhere. "Fish TV" is great!

[icereefer]

I don't turn nothing off, but then again I don't use a mechanical filter, and I dose my phytoplankton ever day too, that's why I don't turn my skimmer off, I need to feed every day to keep my rotifers growing. and feeding my fish and inverts, they know me so when they see me they come running, my peppermints, and fire shrimp will feed from my finger tips, yellow clown goby too. there's times when Im moving frags my YCG will come and try and perch on my glove,but they've been with me for a long time now too.

[SaltyDawg]

The only time I turn my stuff off is when I feed zooplankton, otherwise I leave it up and running. My livestock know me and are very eager when I come to the tank. Fish and shrimp alike.
Wayne

[icereefer]

Ya is'nt that sad some times wayne when your livestock is happier to see you more then the wife and kids, He,He. maybe that why some times I treat them better......... I really just did'nt write that did I........ :eek2:

[Bertsch]

I dont turn anything off when i feed the fish. They tend to be right there when the food goes into the tank. Also since the filter is running, the flow from the out jet keeps the food spread out so all the fish are not fighting for the same food. They all get their own little section of the tank. The shimp catch everything that falls to the bottom of the tank.

[MikeS]

IMO there is no right or wrong way to do this....I think the only two point s where this might be an issue is if you have some sort of mechanical filtration that is trapping a lot of solids and they become a nitrate problem or you are dosing a very fine particle food and it is being removed too quickly from the tank...

Mike

[SaltyDawg]

Yeah icereefer you are right about that one. LOL My fish and dogs are happier to seem me when I get home than the wife and kid except of course on payday then they meet me in the driveway to suck all of the green out of me. :D

[FishinInTheDark]

Come on Salty! You don't think that fish tank is sucking the green? :wink:

Conni

[MikeS]

Come on Salty! You don't think that fish tank is sucking the green? :wink:

Conni

yeah, but the fishtank always gives you somewhat of a return on the investment :-D

Mike

[FishinInTheDark]

Oh, Mike! You didn't type that!!! :shock:

I guess I better get off this computer and start earning my keep! (I have all the nasty references running through my head, but I better keep it to myself in order to preserve the wholesome nature of our forum!)

Conni

[MikeS]

that's not what I meant....geez.... :lol:

Mike