? on feeding fish

[sadie]

I've had my new fish (2 small PJ cardinals) and  a cleaner shrimp a little over a week now, and I'm noticing some things.  

1. a little hair algae in places.  I have ordered a new clean up crew that will be here Sat. (I have a few hermits and some very tiny cerith snails, but that's it right now)

2. little white worms (I think detrimus worms or something like that)  I did some reading and it said they were normal, but too many (not sure how many too many is) could be from over feeding or not enough WC.  So far I have only seen 4 little white worms.

 

I did skip last weeks WC because fish were new and I didn't want to freak them out.  I do a 2 gal WC every week (I have a 16 gal)

 

I am feeding flake food 2x a day.  I shut off all pumps and put just a pinch and kinda break it up as I sprinkle it.   They eat most of it, but not all of it.  I usually give them 15-20 min then plug everything back in.

 

 I'm not sure if I should go to feeding 1x a day or do a WC 2x a week. 

 

Any advice or help is appreciated.  thanks

[GetPsyched2124]

A little algae is normal after a week when adding 2 new fish in a nano tank. the bacteria is still catching up to the increased bioload. even more so when you skipped last weeks water change.

I've noticed, with the fish in my 20 gal, they'll get somewhat used to you doing water changes over time. mine don't freak out and hide near as much anymore when i stick the hose in.

maybe just do a 4 gallon WC this week, then go back to your normal WC schedule. i think feeding a pinch of flakes 2X a day isn't too much at all. 

[Thrassian Atoll]

You could try smaller amounts of food.  Put a little in at a time and make sure they eat it all, and then do a little more and make sure they eat it all.  I like to change up my food choices though, especially with multiple time a day feedings.  Flake, pellet, frozen.

 

What are you doing for filtration?

[banasophia]

Doesn’t sound like too much food to me... I’d just add to the cleanup crew.

 

But then again, maybe don’t ask me haha... you know I feed a ton because of all my nps corals and my mandarin! It’s a food blizzard in my tank every night. 😬😳😂 I have to do 4 gallon weekly water changes, skimming, nopox, and phosphate RX to keep the nutrients in check!

 

[sadie]

I have a tower with filter floss on top, Purigen in the middle and today I added some phosban to the bottom shelf just as a precaution.  

 

I have tried to feed the really small pellets I have, but they spit them out.  The fish are REALLY small.  I usually feed frozen  mysis shrimp (thawed in tank water) just before my WC, but with the issues I was seeing, I didn't do it this time.

 

I did cut back the amount I was feeding at one time a little, but that was just a day or so ago so I wouldn't really see any effect from that yet.  I just don't want the algae and little white worms to explode over night.  Prevention is everything.

 

Thanks

[sadie]

banasophia, your tank looks great.  Is that a chili coral on the bottom?  I love chili corals.  I had one a very long time ago, it was doing great, but it died when we moved.  😢  I was thinking of getting one fore my cave.

 

Can't wait to start adding coral again!

[banasophia]

Just now, sadie said:

banasophia, your tank looks great.  Is that a chili coral on the bottom?  I love chili corals.  I had one a very long time ago, it was doing great, but it died when we moved.  😢  I was thinking of getting one fore my cave.

 

Can't wait to start adding coral again!

Thanks! Yes, it is a chili coral!! Bummer yours didn’t make it in your move. Sometimes mine closes up for a while, but it is a very interesting coral to keep!! 

[Thrassian Atoll]

How often are you changing filter floss?  If it’s once a week, maybe up it to twice a week.

[sadie]

 

1 hour ago, Thrassian Atoll said:

How often are you changing filter floss?  If it’s once a week, maybe up it to twice a week.

I was doing like 2x a week after I got the fish, but upped it to about every other day.  

[Tamberav]

I personally never cut back feeding...I want fat healthy fish and corals... Feed what they need to stay healthy...I like to use frozen foods. I just up the filtration or water changes or add macro...etc.

[Humblefish]

Cardinals are low metabolism fish, so you really only need to feed them every other day. But instead of flake, feed them something meaty i.e. frozen mysis, LRS, Rod's, calanus, etc. They also really love live blackworms/whiteworms.

[sadie]

okay, I ordered some coral dip that should be here soon, then I'm going to the not so local LFS for some coral, so I can pick up some of the meaty stuff there.  I always have frozen mysis shrimp, but I'll grab some other stuff too.  But they are still REALLY tiny.  I am going to try the frozen mysis shrimp tonight, hoping it's not too big for them.  I can't get a picture that shows how tiny they are, I wanted one so I can look back and see how big they got.

 

Here is all I could get.  I need like a ruler in the pic.  

 

 

[sadie]

my snails came today, I got a zebra turbo (I knew they get golf ball size, but figured it would take a few years) the thing is huge!!  I named it Godzilla.  It already tipped over a tonga branch it was on.  I think my fish are running from it.

[banasophia]

Haha...  Godzilla!! That’s a big snail! 

[sadie]

yes it is.  I will probably have to trade it, but we'll see how it goes.  I had a turbo for about 3 yrs and it got too big and kept knocking my corals over so I traded it.  That snail wasn't as big as this snail, but I don't have many coral yet.

[banasophia]

Yeah I had to return my turbo to the LFS recently cuz it was getting huge. Have you seen those orange chestnut turbo snails? I kinda want one!!

 

https://saltybottomreefcompany.com/Orange-Chestnut-Snail_p_65.html

[sadie]

I haven't seen those.  It's cool and only gets 2'' that's not so bad.

[sadie]

I just fed them the frozen mysis shrimp and they ate the biggest pieces!!  I couldn't believe how much they ate.  You could see it inside of them, I thought their heads were gonna explode.  They won't eat so much they'll get sick right?  They only had like 3 pieces each, but it was like a whole piece, I was expecting them to spit it out, but they didn't.  Then they swam around eating the little floating pieces.

 

The weird thing is my cleaner shrimp hides.  With all my other ones they run on the top of the water eating up all the shrimp. This guy doesn't.  Doesn't even flinch.  I haven't had one as small as this, but it is very chill for a cleaner shrimp.  Not sure I like it, hope he gets more active as he gets older