What should you feed your fish? And how much? After the 4 weeks of dosing for bacterial growth, the first fish were added to the aquarium. As responsible fish keepers, we of course need to feed the fish. The question becomes, what to feed?
Fish in nature are picky eaters. They can select particles of food from the entire ocean's worth of planctonic morsels of goodness. As aquarists we want to mimic this, by giving the fish food that encompasses their entire nutritional requirements.
Tropic Marin offers a wonderful staple food called O-Megavital. There are three variations: O-Megavital pellets, O-Megavital Nori for alge feeders and O-Megavital Micro for juvenile fish.
Immuvit, Lipo-Garlic and Lipovit stimulate the immune system of the fish. They can also boost dry and frozen foods to help ensure the fish get the required amount of fatty acids for energy and health and carotenoids for coloration.
In this tank, the fish live on a staple diet consisting of O-Megavital pellets. The fish are fed a small amount of these multiple times a day, then every few days they are fed a frozen mix of all the foods Tropic Marin offer with some added fish and shrimp. This mix also contains coral foods. This means the entire ecosystem in the aquarium is fed. We will talk about coral feeding in another post.
The O-Megavital pellets are a great fish food for multiple reasons. A high protein content, with a optimal 3:1 ratio to fat, ensures the fish are burning fat for energy demands, and utilizes proteins for growth. How much to feed then? First, it's important to make sure the food is actually eaten by an animal. And not left to rot in the sand or rocks. Cool critters living in your rocks and sand can help with this. Second is to try and limit the amount of nitrogenous waste left in the aquarium water as nitrate. If you are feeding too much, the nitrate level rises. In this tank, the target nitrate level is 1-2. Thank you for reading. Next week we cover the second part of the cycle. Please look forward to it. Salty Salutations, Samuel