Invertebrate Feeding with phytoplankton, how much & what kind?

[drfu]

I have added some cool invertebrates to my tank & now think i need to feed them something else besides what is in my water column. I'm just asking what all of you feed your system with that have some of the same livestock that i have, here is what i got:

1) various snails, imo don't need to be fed anything besides what they scavenging?

2) feather dusters, pink & hawaian, again water colum is fine?

3) flame scallop, needs phytoplankton, what kind and how much?

4) pink coco worm, needs phytoplankton, again what kind and how much.

5) blue lincka starfish, no clue what to feed it?

 

My lfs says i should do a mix of live phyto, rodifiers & copepods?mtheir reasoning is this, as the phyto multiplies, it gets eaten by the rodifiers, as they multiply they get eaten by the copepods creating a self sustaining cycle that will constantly feed your tank? Since i have not seen much in the forumns about this i was wondering if its even true or nessessary? Some help with this subject would really help.

 

Im also planning on a maxima clam down the road as well fyi, thanks in advance for everyones help!

[Tamberav]

1) most likely not unless your tank is really sterile. I feed my mexican turbo snails nori.

 

2) I feed marine snow and reef roids to the water column which seems to be working well for my feather dusters.

 

3) "flame scallops are specialist filter feeders that quite simply require a lot of planktonic food of the correct particle size. However, these animals do not simply filter any passing particles. They must also be of the correct size and flavor for the flame scallops to collect and ingest the particles. The majority of food by weight in the gut of flame scallops I collected from the wild appeared to be phytoplankton in the range of 5-40 micrometers..." . ect... I would read this entire article, it has A LOT of information I can't sum up here. http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2002/7/inverts

 

4) Use LIVE phyto, not dead for these guys.

 

5) You most likely can't feed this guy, he will live... or he will die based on your tank. "best of my knowledge there has never been a single scientific study on the natural diet or nutritional requirements of these stars.... Based on their behavior in the aquarium, these sea stars appear to feed by grazing surface films off live rock or similar substrate. It is widely known that these stars often reject any attempts at artificial feeding in the aquarium, and will typically crawl off pieces of fish, shrimp, squid or prepared food. Because Linckia stars appear to derive the vast majority of their nutrition from surface films, and are known for actively rejecting attempts to feed them, they are unlikely to do well in a tank that is recently, (within 6 months) set up, or one in which there is not enough live rock for them to continually find new surface films from which to graze. Therefore, they are not really recommended for reef tanks smaller than about 50 gallons or so for the long-term." Entire article: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2002/5/inverts

[gogo]

drfu, i cultivate live planktons for my dt. i have many ' featherdusters ' multiply because of it. i highly recommend its use.

scrapping algae from the sides will feed your feather dusters. using a turkey baster to blast out detritus from behind rock work will feed them. reef roids is a good feed too.

your flame scallop will eat lots of different phytos. all day everyday. you'll need at least three different species live phyto, plus...

a lot of us have tried... without success. green water is not enough. yeast based foods are a good addition, as well as fish oils emulsified with lecithin. with added vitsandmins. which leads to problems with water quality. your feather dusters will compete with the flame, so put any drip you setup near the scallop. if you've got expensive plumbing, set your inverts at the other end. the worms will thank you. you can try to cage the scallop with rock work so it settles in. setup a drip right away. i learned that most clams and oysters cannot go without feeding for very long.

with these kinds of inverts, 'dirty' water is a good idea. not nitrate laden water, but a buffet of micro foods 24 7 is a key to success.

as for the starfish, 9 x9 inch pieces of plexi setup in a tankwastewater container set under 24 7 lights can be added to your dt for your starfish to find. they will grow over with algae and bacteria. you can cultivate phyto in this area as well.

hope this was helpful.