Live food, anyone?

nicoleah · 08/18/2009, 08:46 PM

My 29 gallon tank is still in the works, but I am curious about feeding live foods. What types of live foods are you feeding and where do you prefer to get them? (online vendor suggestions are welcome as I do intend to order pod packages online for the overall benefit to my tank.)

I'm in St. Louis, so collecting anything locally is not an option. I am only planning on a few fish (clownfish pair and probably a goby or blenny - I can't decide!) for this tank and "beginner" corals/mushrooms/polyps. I'd love to be able to supplement their diet with some live food as well.

Thanks in advance for fueling my latest "obsession!"

nicoleah · 08/18/2009, 10:11 PM

I just received an email from the LFS nearest where I live that they sell live brine shrimp & pods, so that's a start. They also sell RO/DI & premixed SW by the gallon - woohoo! I hope I like the place, it's only 2.5 miles away...

flying_dutchman · 08/18/2009, 10:15 PM

Live food for your corals or fish? I personally feed my sps phytoplankton,my rics and zoas cyclop-eez every now and then, and my fish a variety of flake and frozen foods.

Gegivet · 08/18/2009, 10:16 PM

For the fish your best bet with live food would be a brine shrimp hatchery + grow out, which would mean another tank and probably a soda bottle hatchery. As for the corals make sure you have a decent light. This means you need to decide what type of corals you want to grow as they have diffrent lighting and flow needs. As for the pods, I wouldn't bother. Just buy some good liverock from your local fish store and their will be an abundance of microfauna on it that will reproduce to a sustainable level for your system. I would also suggest using frozen "live" foods; way easier and a much larger variety than you can reasonably grow at home.

flying_dutchman · 08/18/2009, 10:29 PM

Some people feed there fish live black worms as a supplement food source:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...readid=1689890

08/18/2009, 08:46 PM	#1
nicoleah SLASH Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: St. Louis, MO Posts: 479	Live food, anyone? My 29 gallon tank is still in the works, but I am curious about feeding live foods. What types of live foods are you feeding and where do you prefer to get them? (online vendor suggestions are welcome as I do intend to order pod packages online for the overall benefit to my tank.) I'm in St. Louis, so collecting anything locally is not an option. I am only planning on a few fish (clownfish pair and probably a goby or blenny - I can't decide!) for this tank and "beginner" corals/mushrooms/polyps. I'd love to be able to supplement their diet with some live food as well. Thanks in advance for fueling my latest "obsession!"

08/18/2009, 10:11 PM	#2
nicoleah SLASH Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: St. Louis, MO Posts: 479	I just received an email from the LFS nearest where I live that they sell live brine shrimp & pods, so that's a start. They also sell RO/DI & premixed SW by the gallon - woohoo! I hope I like the place, it's only 2.5 miles away...

08/18/2009, 10:15 PM	#3
flying_dutchman Moved On Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: San Francisco Posts: 1,319	Live food for your corals or fish? I personally feed my sps phytoplankton,my rics and zoas cyclop-eez every now and then, and my fish a variety of flake and frozen foods.

08/18/2009, 10:16 PM	#4
Gegivet Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: North Texas Posts: 5	For the fish your best bet with live food would be a brine shrimp hatchery + grow out, which would mean another tank and probably a soda bottle hatchery. As for the corals make sure you have a decent light. This means you need to decide what type of corals you want to grow as they have diffrent lighting and flow needs. As for the pods, I wouldn't bother. Just buy some good liverock from your local fish store and their will be an abundance of microfauna on it that will reproduce to a sustainable level for your system. I would also suggest using frozen "live" foods; way easier and a much larger variety than you can reasonably grow at home.

08/18/2009, 10:29 PM	#5
flying_dutchman Moved On Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: San Francisco Posts: 1,319	Some people feed there fish live black worms as a supplement food source: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...readid=1689890