Reef food shopping lists

[NicoleC]

People always ask me what I feed and where I get it from, maybe because I really focus on the diet a lot. Everyone has a different style and habits, so I think it would be interesting to compare shopping lists.

I don't feed everything all the time, but here's my list. Mostly, I just mix up everything in my homemade food and feed that, so I don't have to mess with all kinds of different packages and deciding what to feed that day, or when the last time I fed ____ microfood was.

Microfood:
Instant Algae - Brine Shrimp Direct
Golden Pearls - Brine Shrimp Direct
Frozen Rotifers - Hikari
Oyster Eggs - DT's
Baby Brine Shrimp, when I'm hatching them - Brine Shrimp Direct
Cyclopeeze - still working on a half a block from a LLUSA group buy a long time ago
Selcon (or similar) vitamins
Live rotifers, when I'm culturing them

Macrofood:
Formula 2 flake - Ocean Nutrition
Formula 1 flake and frozen - Ocean Nutrition
VHP frozen - Ocean Nutrition (for fattening weak/new fish)
NutraFin Max pellets - I got some at a club meeting, and the scooters like it better than the Formula 2 pellets because it's much smaller
Spirulina flakes - Brine Shrimp Direct
Dehydrated seaweed - Whole Foods Market
Live adult brine (as a treat) - Fish 2000
Homemade fish/coral food made up of all kinds of fresh seafood (shrimp, mysis, squid, krill, octopus, lobster, langostino, clams, scallops, salmon, etc.) plus microfoods (no algae paste) and vitamins

What I don't buy and why:
Bottled "invert" food - Expensive, mostly water, and short on info about ingredients and preparation. A homemade food made of all kinds of different particle sizes will feed all kinds of critters.
LLUSA pumpable food - Convenient and high quality, but pricey. I use most of the same ingredients in my food.
Live phyto (like DT's) - expensive, and I get the same results with a frozen algae paste
Hikari frozen cubes (except the rotifers) and AquaYums frozen - seems to cause algae blooms. I DO buy the Hikari flat packs, which I've had no issues with and prefer above other commonly available frozen fish food.
Sweetwater Zooplankton - my fish won't eat it
Two Little Fishies Phytoplan, dried phyto - clumps up, and I've seen feather dusters spit it back out
Seaweed Selects and other "fish store" dried algae sheets - the dried algae I buy from Whole Foods is vastly cheaper, has a bigger variety, and doesn't disintegrate like the pressed sheets.
Bloodworms, Beefheart, etc. - not SW protein
Dehydrated shrimp, worms, etc. - I believe that the frozen I buy for human consumption is better quality, plus much cheaper. Although I do have more fish food in the freezer than human food...

[6V6]

....Yeah, we're runnin' a little bit hot tonight
I can barely see the road from the heat comin' off
You know what I'm sayin'
Ahh, you reach down put it between my legs n' ease the seat back

She's runnin', I'm flyin'
Right behind in the rearview mirror now
Got the fearin', power steerin'
Pistons poppin', ain't no stoppin' now.....

[clownfishcrazy]

Panama!

What does that song have to do with this thread?

[glaudds]

plus microfoods (no algae paste) and vitamins

Great summary Nicole,
What type of vitamens are you using? Selcon? I have heard of people using pediatric vitamen drops (poly visol) and I was wondering if anyone has had any input or experience with that.

[birdman204]

Frozen Rotifers - Hikari
Oyster Eggs - DT's
Cyclop-eeze

Large food, one suggestion that my fish all LOVE is the Sally's San Francisco bay plankton. It's in a beige package and hard to find. Ask your LFS to carry it. It is a very rich food (little filler in the pack) and all my fish and LPS love it. It's a great addition to Mysis and anything else you are feeding....

As a side note, about a year ago, I went to the grocery store to get some scallops and some large clams and what not to blend up and feed my fish, well, I couldn't get the clams open, so I left them out overnight. Still alive. I figured, they may be coldwater , so I tossed em in the sump hoping they'd open.... Nope, they buried themselves in the sand in the refugium... a year later, all 4 are still in there..... Go figure.

[tephanis]

Do you buy your hikari from anywhere specific? There are no local fish stores close to me that sell that brand.

and what exactly is Bottled "invert" food. they have those?

[birdman204]

Any Kent or similar bottled "food"

Hikari rotifers are at Tongs, anyone else have an outlet for them?

[NicoleC]

Jeff's in Orange has Hikari rotifers; I think Pacific Reef in FV does, too. PR carries a lot of Hikari food, including the flat packs. (They have a large selection of food; perhaps the largest around.) Jeff's carries the Hikari cubes that I'm not fond of.

I've used Selcon and the Warner Marine vitamins; I prefer Selcon. Both shops above carry it.

LOL, Birdman. I bet those clams are doing a great job filtering the water, too.

[birdman204]

Nicloe. I hope so they cost me like 3 bucks!!!!

;)

I do see them come to the surface of the sand every now and them, but I am sure my 10" squami is doing a much better job.

[jaypainter24]

How often do you feed your fish/corals? I am the mane feeder in the house since Jason has to work so much so I am always looking for any advise, I am also the shopper of the food for them. He makes suggestions when he reads on something new. Also, I heard that you should feed your tangs 3 times a day, is that true? My fish would eat all day if I would let them I think. (Still learning new things everyday)

thanks,
Michelle

[birdman204]

Microfoods, I feel, are best when feed with the lights off. Your Most of the reef animals associate darkness with feeding time.
The other foods, it depends on the fish load. I keep some Nori from the LFS rubberbanded to a rock for my tang often. And feed the rest of the tank one serving, spaced out over an hour or so, just a few pinches when I walk by now and then. Keeps the fish from getting picky.

[pookstreet]

I have heard of Golden Pearls mentioned several times but can't seem to find it. What exactly is it and who sells it? Thanks.

[tephanis]

brineshrimpdirect carries rots... is it all the same?

[NicoleC]

I feed twice a day, plus a nighttime feeding most days of phyto, oyster eggs, or the homemade mush (which has rots in it) target feeding the LPS and non-photosynthetics. You have to start slow and ramp up before you can feed a lot.

BSD frozen rots should be good. They also have Golden Pearls, Kenny.

[pookstreet]

Thanks Nicole.

[fish_fanatik]

let me know when you make your next batch Nicole...my fish loved your food.

[nicchick]

so do you make a batch once a week or a new batch every feeding? also, how do you know if you're overfeeding or not?

oh and how many fish are you feeding here?

[NicoleC]

Oh no, I make food every couple of months; cube it using eggcrate and freeze it. It takes too much time to make it every week.

Overfeeding? What's that? No seriously, I feed a lot. In the main tank there are 7 fish, two more in the goby tank (plumbed in), 2 more in the QT. But there are all kinds of shrimp and corals and anemones and critters that also eat -- so I feed quite a bit more than the fish can eat.