Make your own food

[Marc Levenson]

Hi guys,

I updated my webpage with the recipe of home-made food I
make for my tanks. Hopefully it will be helpful to others.

http://www.melevsreef.com/food.html

Marc

--
Personal Page:
http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
Marine Hobbyist: http://www.melevsreef.com

[Richard Periut]

Marc Levenson wrote:
> Hi guys,
>
> I updated my webpage with the recipe of home-made food I make for my
> tanks. Hopefully it will be helpful to others.
>
> http://www.melevsreef.com/food.html
>
> Marc
>
Marc,

Thanks for your fantastic devotion.

Do you feed your corals with a turkey baster?

Regards,

Rich

--
"Dum Spiro, Spero."

As long as I breath, I hope.

Cicero (Ancient Rome)

[Marc Levenson]

Sometimes, when feeding the suncoral.

http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0604/suncoral.html
http://www.melevsreef.com/video/sun.wmv (3.8 megs)

Marc


Richard Periut wrote:

> Marc,
>
> Thanks for your fantastic devotion.
>
> Do you feed your corals with a turkey baster?
>
> Regards,
>
> Rich
>

--
Personal Page:
http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
Marine Hobbyist: http://www.melevsreef.com

[j]

Nice sun polyps Marc!

I too am the proud owner of these easy to keep corals. I keep mine out
under full metal halides with no adverse effects. The first one I
purchased when I first started the tank. It was a very small frag. At
first it was very challenging. The tissue was receeding. The polyps
weren't extending. Then I got smart. I started feeding it regularly.
I built a feeding dome for it and started feeding it every day, which is
very time consuming, but it greedily took everything I threw at it. And
it started growing. So much so that I had to epoxy the frag to a larger
rock where it continues to sprout more polyps and the soft yellow tissue
continues to encrust the rock/epoxy. One thing that I found with these
corals is that growth is almost 100% linked to feeding and not much else
(other than the obligatory "good water") . Now I just feed once a week
with the dome - I have some voracious feeders amongst my livestock. I
give it a very healthy portion at each feeding and it continues to grow.
I have yet to see the coral reject any food offerings. While I feed
the other fish, I also give the sun coral a squirt or two as a snack. I
like these corals so much that I purchased another. I find that
whenever they "smell" food in the water the polyps extend, day or night.
So just before feeding I drizzle some meaty juice in the water and out
they come!

P.s. I am very jealous of your dedication to the hobby and your success
as a reefkeeper!

Rock on!


Marc Levenson wrote:
> Sometimes, when feeding the suncoral.
>
> http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0604/suncoral.html
> http://www.melevsreef.com/video/sun.wmv (3.8 megs)
>
> Marc
>
>
> Richard Periut wrote:
>
>> Marc,
>>
>> Thanks for your fantastic devotion.
>>
>> Do you feed your corals with a turkey baster?
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Rich
>>
>

[Marc Levenson]

Thank you j! I still feed mine about 2 or 3 times a week,
and only at night when the fish are asleep. I too have done
the dome thing many times. It would be nice to train it to
open during the daytime though, but my fish are relentless.

My mandarins are doing well to get a meal!

Marc


j wrote:

> Nice sun polyps Marc!
>
> I too am the proud owner of these easy to keep corals. I keep mine out
> under full metal halides with no adverse effects. The first one I
> purchased when I first started the tank. It was a very small frag. At
> first it was very challenging. The tissue was receeding. The polyps
> weren't extending. Then I got smart. I started feeding it regularly. I
> built a feeding dome for it and started feeding it every day, which is
> very time consuming, but it greedily took everything I threw at it. And
> it started growing. So much so that I had to epoxy the frag to a larger
> rock where it continues to sprout more polyps and the soft yellow tissue
> continues to encrust the rock/epoxy. One thing that I found with these
> corals is that growth is almost 100% linked to feeding and not much else
> (other than the obligatory "good water") . Now I just feed once a week
> with the dome - I have some voracious feeders amongst my livestock. I
> give it a very healthy portion at each feeding and it continues to grow.
> I have yet to see the coral reject any food offerings. While I feed
> the other fish, I also give the sun coral a squirt or two as a snack. I
> like these corals so much that I purchased another. I find that
> whenever they "smell" food in the water the polyps extend, day or night.
> So just before feeding I drizzle some meaty juice in the water and out
> they come!
>
> P.s. I am very jealous of your dedication to the hobby and your success
> as a reefkeeper!
>
> Rock on!
>
>
> Marc Levenson wrote:
>
>> Sometimes, when feeding the suncoral.
>>
>> http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0604/suncoral.html
>> http://www.melevsreef.com/video/sun.wmv (3.8 megs)
>>
>> Marc
>>
>>
>> Richard Periut wrote:
>>
>>> Marc,
>>>
>>> Thanks for your fantastic devotion.
>>>
>>> Do you feed your corals with a turkey baster?
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>>
>>> Rich
>>>
>>

--
Personal Page:
http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
Marine Hobbyist: http://www.melevsreef.com

[Dave Town]

Hey Marc - I just read your blog... tell me about your "mandarin
diner". One of your concoctions ? What do your mandarins eat. I was
under the impression that they only ate "live". Do tell !

Dave Town

On Sat, 15 Jan 2005 23:50:06 GMT, Marc Levenson
> wrote:

>Thank you j! I still feed mine about 2 or 3 times a week,
>and only at night when the fish are asleep. I too have done
>the dome thing many times. It would be nice to train it to
>open during the daytime though, but my fish are relentless.
>
>My mandarins are doing well to get a meal!
>
>Marc
>
>
>j wrote:
>

[Marc Levenson]

I really need to do a webpage on that as well, as everyone
has been asking me that same question.

For a long time, my blue mandarin was a very happy fish in
my 29g, and would eat prepared foods, much to my delight.
Since that was the case, I never worried about it. However,
in the 280g reef, it was actually being starved to death due
to stress by the other mandarins harassing it as well as the
voracious Tangs that would circle around it and get every
morsel off the sand.

That is when I remembered it was able to eat on its own in
the past, but this necessitated some alone time. So about
2.5 months ago, I started putting food in a spaghetti sauce
jar, and lowering that into the tank. The mandarin could go
in and get some Formula One *small* pellet food, or Formula
Two, when it was interested.

You can read and see the details here:
http://www.melevsreef.com/archives/2004_11_01_archive.html

The problem was that the other fish liked that food too, and
the smaller tangs would fold up their fins and slip in to
get the food and back right out again. I watch my huge Naso
Tang hover in front of the mouth of the jar, and wave its
fins back and forth to create current which would wash the
pellets out into the open where it could get them. He was
very adept at this, as I saw him to it often.

So after a month of this, I finally picked up an olive jar,
as that would limit the size of the fish entering the Diner.
I took a piece of acrylic, heated it and wrapped it around
the jar to act as handle for easy reach on a daily basis.

I even tried feeding her some newly hatched baby brine
shrimp, but that really didn't work out so well. I never
bothered trying it a second time.

http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/1204/feeding_bbs.jpg
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/1204/mandarin_pellets.jpg

I've continued to use a mixture of the two pellets every
day, and the mandarin is almost back to its original plump
self. Keep in mind that I feed newly hatched brine to the
tank every day, with the pumps off. This allows the smaller
fish the opportunity to eat, and the larger fish just wade
through the food like whales.

Other fish still go in the Mandarin Diner, including my Six
Line Wrasse, the Lawnmower Blenny, Blue Damsels... but the
tangs can only hover near the opening hoping for stray
pellets to accidentally come out.

Various snails and hermits go into the Diner at night, and
each morning I refill it for the new day, with about 1 tsp
of pellets. If there is too much food in the jar, it tends
to rot and ferment, and an airbubble collects in the jar.
That is a good indicator of overfeeding. I will dump that
in the sink and rinse the jar out with tap water, and use
less food.

I have four Mandarins in my tank, but the Blue ones are the
ones that are near it constantly. They travel the tank, but
know the food is at the Mandarin Diner daily. There are
times I've lifted the diner with fish in it, dropped in more
food and let it back down. Other times I'll put the food
down on the substrate, and within 10 seconds the mandarin
goes right in.

I'm really glad this has worked out so well.



Dave Town wrote:
> Hey Marc - I just read your blog... tell me about your "mandarin
> diner". One of your concoctions ? What do your mandarins eat. I was
> under the impression that they only ate "live". Do tell !
>
> Dave Town
>


--
Personal Page:
http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
Marine Hobbyist: http://www.melevsreef.com

[Marc Levenson]

Webpage up. http://www.melevsreef.com/mandarin_diner.html

Marc :)


Marc Levenson wrote:

> I really need to do a webpage on that as well, as everyone has been
> asking me that same question.
>
> For a long time, my blue mandarin was a very happy fish in my 29g, and
> would eat prepared foods, much to my delight. Since that was the case, I
> never worried about it. However, in the 280g reef, it was actually
> being starved to death due to stress by the other mandarins harassing it
> as well as the voracious Tangs that would circle around it and get every
> morsel off the sand.
>
> That is when I remembered it was able to eat on its own in the past, but
> this necessitated some alone time. So about 2.5 months ago, I started
> putting food in a spaghetti sauce jar, and lowering that into the tank.
> The mandarin could go in and get some Formula One *small* pellet food,
> or Formula Two, when it was interested.
>
> You can read and see the details here:
> http://www.melevsreef.com/archives/2004_11_01_archive.html
>
> The problem was that the other fish liked that food too, and the
> smaller tangs would fold up their fins and slip in to get the food and
> back right out again. I watch my huge Naso Tang hover in front of the
> mouth of the jar, and wave its fins back and forth to create current
> which would wash the pellets out into the open where it could get them.
> He was very adept at this, as I saw him to it often.
>
> So after a month of this, I finally picked up an olive jar, as that
> would limit the size of the fish entering the Diner. I took a piece of
> acrylic, heated it and wrapped it around the jar to act as handle for
> easy reach on a daily basis.
>
> I even tried feeding her some newly hatched baby brine shrimp, but that
> really didn't work out so well. I never bothered trying it a second time.
>
> http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/1204/feeding_bbs.jpg
> http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/1204/mandarin_pellets.jpg
>
> I've continued to use a mixture of the two pellets every day, and the
> mandarin is almost back to its original plump self. Keep in mind that I
> feed newly hatched brine to the tank every day, with the pumps off.
> This allows the smaller fish the opportunity to eat, and the larger fish
> just wade through the food like whales.
>
> Other fish still go in the Mandarin Diner, including my Six Line Wrasse,
> the Lawnmower Blenny, Blue Damsels... but the tangs can only hover near
> the opening hoping for stray pellets to accidentally come out.
>
> Various snails and hermits go into the Diner at night, and each morning
> I refill it for the new day, with about 1 tsp of pellets. If there is
> too much food in the jar, it tends to rot and ferment, and an airbubble
> collects in the jar. That is a good indicator of overfeeding. I will
> dump that in the sink and rinse the jar out with tap water, and use less
> food.
>
> I have four Mandarins in my tank, but the Blue ones are the ones that
> are near it constantly. They travel the tank, but know the food is at
> the Mandarin Diner daily. There are times I've lifted the diner with
> fish in it, dropped in more food and let it back down. Other times I'll
> put the food down on the substrate, and within 10 seconds the mandarin
> goes right in.
>
> I'm really glad this has worked out so well.
>
>
>
> Dave Town wrote:
>
>> Hey Marc - I just read your blog... tell me about your "mandarin
>> diner". One of your concoctions ? What do your mandarins eat. I was
>> under the impression that they only ate "live". Do tell !
>>
>> Dave Town
>>
>
>

--
Personal Page:
http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
Marine Hobbyist: http://www.melevsreef.com

[[email protected]]

HELLO
MR Marc Levenson
Thanks for Information ,But i want more !!pls
Do you feed your corals with a turkey baster?

[Marc Levenson]

More?! Here are two more pages for you:

http://www.melevsreef.com/food.html
http://www.melevsreef.com/feedings.html

I do use a turkey baster when necessary. It is a handy
method to drizzle food over corals, when the pumps are off.

The Mandarin Diner article is featured in
www.reefkeeping.com this month (Feb 2005).

Marc


wrote:
> HELLO
> MR Marc Levenson
> Thanks for Information ,But i want more !!pls
> Do you feed your corals with a turkey baster?
>

--
Personal Page:
http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
Marine Hobbyist: http://www.melevsreef.com