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melev

How much food should you feed your livestock? A lot!

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At our last club meeting, Dr Ron Shimek spoke to us about what real science proves when it comes to fish eating habits. He started his talk while tornado sirens wailed outside and hail pounded on the roof above our heads. His microphone was set up incorrectly and we really couldn't hear what he was saying all that well, but the audience did what they could when they weren't fidgeting or wincing for the damage their cars were likely enduring.

Halfway into the meeting, we were told to take the emergency stairs and head to the ground floor, and to stay away from the windows. Three rotations were on the weather channel in our immediate area. 20 minutes later, things were calm again and we decided to resume the meeting and hear the rest of Ron's talk. It was very interesting.

I really enjoyed his secondary talk segment. It was fascinating to learn how much fish eat and how little the corals actually get from the tested area they measured. Here's what I remember:

They took a 1 meter wide swath of a reef, starting from the shallow point leading all the way down to the 80' depth mark. From this area, 500 fish were captured, dissected and then it was determined what each fish ate.

Total food (particulates) found in the measured zone: 1,100,000 foods found
Total food eaten by fish in the measured zone: 1,200,000 foods ingested

The fish ate more food than was actually present in the area. The question is then how the corals get anything to eat at all.

He then showed the types of food they ate, which varied based on fish type and location found in the area. Foods were in three overall types: meaty, algae, and gelatinous. Gelatinous was the most widely consumed, overall but very unlikely for us to be able to obtain.

The food passes through the fish quickly, usually within 20 minutes of consumption. What exports isn't fully digested, which explains how corals do get some nutrition regardless of the fishes' voracious appetite.

Here's the most interesting point to me: Fish ate all day long, from dawn to dusk. Average food consumption... they ingested a bite food every 18 seconds all day long. ( Personally, I've always felt feeding small portions several times a day was more natural than once a day or once every few days. This seems to coincide with this study. ) If we could feed more often and knew what foods were best for our livestock and still maintain good water quality, we'd have incredible success in this hobby.

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Feeding

Comments

  1. fishtal's Avatar
    Very interesting stuff. I feed my broodstock and juveniles four times per day, everyday. I also feed a wide variety of foods, mostly frozen. I know of another breeder that feeds his fish ten times a day. Heavy feeding needs to be accounted for when determining your filtration, it's a lot to keep up with.

    On the other hand, I only feed my reef tanks about once a day and they seem fine with it.
  2. MarcG's Avatar
    Another interesting topic he mentioned was that what a coral or fish (in captivity) eats when it is starving is different than when it is just hungry. Just think, if you were starving you would probably eat just about anything rather than what you need to really be healthy
  3. evoracer's Avatar
    Very interesting, although not all that suprising. Fish, whether in a tank or on a reef, seem to be constantly in search of a snack.
    Was there any discussion about how much and often to feed then? The old knowledge was "as much as they can consume in 5 minutes" or similar, but this seems outdated, no? So feed a very small amount 5 times a day, or three small meals, or heavy feed multiple times per day? Or looks like there is more experimentation yet to be sure?
    And what does this say about feeding corals? Target feed or allow the fish waste from a well-fed tank to do the job?
  4. melev's Avatar
    He didn't go into coral feeding specifically, but based on the measurements they took, he asked the question himself: "where do the corals get their food when the fish eat more food that is actually present in the water column?"

    He pointed out that we could never actually feed too much to our fish, but we all know that too much food will affect water quality adversely. Feeding multiple small meals a day is definitely better since the food doesn't stay in the fish long at all and to make them wait 23 hours and 55 minutes for the next meal is really too long, imo.
  5. Jnarowe's Avatar
    Live food guys. Live food. Especially in large tanks like Marc's, there is opportunity to match fish bio-mass with reef size and allow them to get their nutrition from the reef. Unfortunately, we as humans are wired to "feeding time", and that is contrary to the animals' needs (and corals) we keep.
  6. DJ in WV's Avatar
    Interesting: Wish there was a active club close to here I feel so isolated
  7. kayl's Avatar
    Great post, Marc, thanks for sharing it!
    I've been thinking about this for a while, but this post inspired me to actually purchase an auto-feeder for my coming upgrade.

    I'm going to use the feeder to feed very small portions of pellets 3-4 times throughout the day in addition to feeding frozen foods at night. My hope is that I can come closer to replicating natural feeding habits then I currently do.
  8. Alaska_Phil's Avatar
    I got a copy of Ron's book last year, and started feeding my reef a lot more too. Would have loved to attend his talk, thanks for the synopsis Marc.

    Phil
  9. Hat39406's Avatar
    Nice info Marc! I've been feeding my fish more since reading Adam Blundell's article. http://www.reefaddicts.com/content.p...giving-special
    Updated 06-07-2011 at 10:48 PM by Hat39406