Feeding frozen food

[Mark Henry]

Hello everyone!

I've got several freshwater tanks, so I'm used to feeding everything
from flake, to pellet, to fresh (brine). Now, however, I'm trying to
learn how to deal with frozen foods for my two new Clownfish.

What I'm doing now is to thaw 1/2 a cube on a flat plate. Once it's all
thawed I simply scrape the food into the tank. The problem I'm having is
that with a 3 powerhead wavemeaker, the overflow intake, and the return
line the food tends to be whipped all around the tank and the two little
guys I've got in there are having a heck of a time chasing it down.

Is there a better, easier way for me to feed these guys? Should I maybe
turn off the wavemaker during feeding to reduce the currents in tank?
Anything else I should be doing (or not doing as the case may be) to
make sure they get enough to eat?

Thanks,

mark h

[Billy]

Sounds like you've already worked out the answer yourself! <g> Many
people shut off pumps\circulators\skimmers during feeding time.

billy

--
¼á
"Mark Henry" > wrote in message
...
> Hello everyone!
>
> I've got several freshwater tanks, so I'm used to feeding
> everything from flake, to pellet, to fresh (brine). Now, however,
> I'm trying to learn how to deal with frozen foods for my two new
> Clownfish.
>
> What I'm doing now is to thaw 1/2 a cube on a flat plate. Once it's
> all thawed I simply scrape the food into the tank. The problem I'm
> having is that with a 3 powerhead wavemeaker, the overflow intake,
> and the return line the food tends to be whipped all around the
> tank and the two little guys I've got in there are having a heck of
> a time chasing it down.
>
> Is there a better, easier way for me to feed these guys? Should I
> maybe turn off the wavemaker during feeding to reduce the currents
> in tank? Anything else I should be doing (or not doing as the case
> may be) to make sure they get enough to eat?
>
> Thanks,
>
> mark h
>

[Roy]

I alwasys shut of pumps for filtration and the powerheads when I feed.
Sometimes I shutdown the skimmer other times I let it run. After its
all cleaned up I turn everything back on....
I have always fed my freshwater tanks the same way...
On Sun, 15 Jan 2006 23:23:23 GMT, Mark Henry >
wrote:
>><>Hello everyone!
>><>
>><>I've got several freshwater tanks, so I'm used to feeding everything
>><>from flake, to pellet, to fresh (brine). Now, however, I'm trying to
>><>learn how to deal with frozen foods for my two new Clownfish.
>><>
>><>What I'm doing now is to thaw 1/2 a cube on a flat plate. Once it's all
>><>thawed I simply scrape the food into the tank. The problem I'm having is
>><>that with a 3 powerhead wavemeaker, the overflow intake, and the return
>><>line the food tends to be whipped all around the tank and the two little
>><>guys I've got in there are having a heck of a time chasing it down.
>><>
>><>Is there a better, easier way for me to feed these guys? Should I maybe
>><>turn off the wavemaker during feeding to reduce the currents in tank?
>><>Anything else I should be doing (or not doing as the case may be) to
>><>make sure they get enough to eat?
>><>
>><>Thanks,
>><>
>><>mark h

--
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( @ @ )
-----------oOOo(_)oOOo---------------


oooO
---------( )----Oooo----------------
\ ( ( )
\_) ) /
(_/
The original frugal ponder! Koi-ahoi mates....

[DrC]

In addition to the above in my experience you need to make sure none of
the water from the melted food enters the tank. The liquid that came
off mine sent the phosphate test off the scale when just one drop was
added to 12ml of water. I dab it with a tissue until it is a paste,
rather than a liquid suspension.

[Kevin& Donna Sanders, M.D.]

I made a timer using a 60 minute timer from Home Depot Model FD60MW to power
a 125VAC/10A DPDT Plug-In Relay Catalog #: 275-217 from Radio Shack which
turns OFF a 120V electrical outlet receptacle for up to 1 hour. That way I
cannot "forget" to turn the pumps back on. I could provide info on how to
actually wire it by scanning a schematic if you would like. Works great
for anything you don't want to forget to turn back on


Kevin

"Mark Henry" > wrote in message
...
> Hello everyone!
>
> I've got several freshwater tanks, so I'm used to feeding everything from
> flake, to pellet, to fresh (brine). Now, however, I'm trying to learn how
> to deal with frozen foods for my two new Clownfish.
>
> What I'm doing now is to thaw 1/2 a cube on a flat plate. Once it's all
> thawed I simply scrape the food into the tank. The problem I'm having is
> that with a 3 powerhead wavemeaker, the overflow intake, and the return
> line the food tends to be whipped all around the tank and the two little
> guys I've got in there are having a heck of a time chasing it down.
>
> Is there a better, easier way for me to feed these guys? Should I maybe
> turn off the wavemaker during feeding to reduce the currents in tank?
> Anything else I should be doing (or not doing as the case may be) to make
> sure they get enough to eat?
>
> Thanks,
>
> mark h
>

[Pszemol]

"DrC" > wrote in message oups.com...
> In addition to the above in my experience you need to make sure none of
> the water from the melted food enters the tank. The liquid that came
> off mine sent the phosphate test off the scale when just one drop was
> added to 12ml of water. I dab it with a tissue until it is a paste,
> rather than a liquid suspension.

This is good method if you have a fish-only tank...
Murky water/juice from the frozen food does no good
for your fish and just adds to the waste in the tank.

In other hand, when you have a reef tank, this juice
from frozen food is very good food for filter feeders.

Also, I would turn of skimmer and all filtration (if
you have any socks, etc) for the time of feeding.
But I would not turn off the powerheads. They
tend to spread the food all over the reef and all
fish have the chance to get a bite, instead of only
the strongest one when you feed in stagnant water.
Also, a lot of food particles can be caught by
polyp corals, anemones etc... Fish SHOULD have
to be swimming to catch the food - this is what
they do in the nature... You do not want to spoon
feed them - lack of sport/activity is not good for
you, so for your fish as well. Nobody is turning off
the wave action in the ocean to let the fish pick up
the plankton particles suspended in the water...
Let them excercise for their health! LOL!

[miskairal]

I turn off the main pump but I also bought a plastic feeding ring and my
new baby clowns worked it out within a day or two to start looking for
food in that area.

Mark Henry wrote:
> Hello everyone!
>
> I've got several freshwater tanks, so I'm used to feeding everything
> from flake, to pellet, to fresh (brine). Now, however, I'm trying to
> learn how to deal with frozen foods for my two new Clownfish.
>
> What I'm doing now is to thaw 1/2 a cube on a flat plate. Once it's all
> thawed I simply scrape the food into the tank. The problem I'm having is
> that with a 3 powerhead wavemeaker, the overflow intake, and the return
> line the food tends to be whipped all around the tank and the two little
> guys I've got in there are having a heck of a time chasing it down.
>
> Is there a better, easier way for me to feed these guys? Should I maybe
> turn off the wavemaker during feeding to reduce the currents in tank?
> Anything else I should be doing (or not doing as the case may be) to
> make sure they get enough to eat?
>
> Thanks,
>
> mark h
>