Service company and feeding, automated  - 7/2/08 Good evening WWM! <Mike> I just skimmed over the feeding section, primarily on the use of automatic feeders. I enjoyed Steven Pro's article, however this seemed to be more of a review of several feeders on the market rather than the fishes reaction to "dried foods". <I see> I own and operate a very small, (two clients) setup and service company. The smaller of the two is a very basic 110G community FOWLR, equipment list includes an Eheim 2229, Coralife Super Skimmer 220, Marineland HOB for chemical, two Koralia 2's, and two Maxi-Jet 1200's with rotating deflectors. Approximately 70lbs. of LR, two inch fine sand bed. <Mmm, there are some folk who would suggest deeper, shallower> It's been a great setup so far and the stock list is, six blue green chromis, two schooling Bannerfish, maroon clown, bluespotted goby, and a teenage raccoon butterfly as the star of the show. <Heee!> Now finally the reason for writing, I am able to get over to the tank whenever needed, (it is close by) and I've had an Eheim auto feeder since day one. <I use two of these...> It's the twin feeder, #3582. I don't have any problems with the feeder itself, it was easy to setup and hasn't failed to work properly. The issue is the fish are not too enthusiastic about what it drops. <Ahh!> I've tried just about every style/type of food. At the moment one side has freeze-dried mysis (everyone's favorite in the frozen form) and freeze-dried plankton, the other has freeze-dried brine, formula 1 and 2 pellets. The clown, Bannerfish and chromis will eat decently, but the B/F doesn't show interest. He/she definitely has an appetite, frozen food proves this, but I've actually witnessed it take a bite of the freeze-dried and spit it out. This is in an office and I am not willing to trust the secretary's to perform this simple task properly. Am I stuck visiting my customers aquariums twice/three times daily to feed? <Mmm, no> Or is it a matter of being patient until the fish realize that's what they're gonna get? <Actually... a matter of changing to another brand...> I see the Dr's offer a small feeder for frozen food, (it's hooked to an air pump and claims to dispense frozen food over the course of several hours, do you have any opinions on that device? <No... have no first or other hand experience re> Also any other opinions/ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for the help and keep up the great work. To all, but especially Bob, I commend you for continuing to do this, providing help and input for so many, for so long. I can only imagine how frustrating it probably gets at times, answering the same questions over and over, and usually over again, yet you all continue to do so, for the love of the hobby, which in my opinion deserves much praise. Mike Troolines <A pleasure to serve... assist your efforts Mike. Do try Spectrum pellets (of smallish size) here Mike. Pablo Tepoot's product/New Life is (to me) amazing in its palatability, and entirely nutritious. Like a few products (oh don't I wish we owned Boyd's Chemipure, PolyFilter and Kold-Steril, Emperor Aquatics "socks"...), this one is superlative. My further praises here: http://wetwebmedia.com/foodsppt1.htm Is what I feed (exclusively) and have for years. Cheers, Bob Fenner>

Automatic live food feeders, e.g. for seahorses   8/3/07 Hi Wonder if you can help- I'm desperately trying to find an automatic feeder to dispense live food. I'm hoping to keep captively bred sea horses but need something to dispense food when I'm away. Hope you can help thanks Anber <Mmm, you might be able to devise something like this yourself (DIY), but otherwise I would add a live sump/refugium... with a DSB, macroalgae, LR... and perhaps a "starter kit" of useful crustaceans and worms to get all going. Please read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/refugrationalefaqs.htm and the linked files above. Bob Fenner>

Food and Feeding Hi Crew! <Aaron> Thank you for all the info, and your dedication to the science, I've learned a lot, but I'm still a little thick I guess. <You're in good company> On food and feeding - I keep 6 Dispar Anthias, they are comprised of a male and 5 females, four of which are quite docile, but eat very well. I have been feeding them many times every day - probably about 7 or so, I give them a cube of Mysid in the morning, which everything devours.  I also have 6 Banggai Cardinals (they tend to be out during the evening, and give the aquarium some eye candy for the late hours).  So the cardinals, Anthias, Midas blenny, scooter dragonet and palette surgeonfish all eat the mysids - then throughout the day I feed a pinch of crushed Prime Reef Flake, when the halides go off, I through in another cube of Mysid.  Now, this seems like an awful lot, but they eat all of it - I've had some spawning behavior among the cardinals and neon gobies (not together!) and they seem happy.  I can pull off about 1/2 gallon of pretty nasty skimmate weekly, and my water parameters are in check: no ammonia, no nitrite, no nitrate, pH goes from 8.17 to 8.32 during a 24 hour period, ORP is 450 to 490, SG is 1.025, temp is 76.7 to 77.3. I have a little spot of slime algae in a low circulation spot, I think it will dissipate in time, but other than that, no algae. I worry that they (Anthias) don't get enough food - they always eat every last bite in the tank, be it flake, frozen. Should I feed them more? <You could... but several times a day sounds fine... do they appear thin? This is the best guide... their appearance, behavior> A second question is this: I setup a large refugium for the main display, it's a 3 year old reef tank with all the corals taken out, about 45 lbs of old live rock and couple inches of aragonite sand.  I covered the rocks with hair grass, Caulerpa, kelp, and something I can't identify, might be Halimeda? I get some type of planktonic life filling the tank once a month or so, the fuge empties to a 30 gallon sump and is sent to both the fuge and the display.  Are these planktonic life forms getting into the main display? <Very likely so> There are no sponges (cleaning sponges) in the setup at all, and I was hoping to provide zooplankton to the palette surgeonfish and Anthias' in this fashion from time to time, but is it reasonable to assume that some of this life ends up in the display and is eaten? <Yes> Or should I manually transfer directly to the display via a dosing pump or such... <No> ...live plankton really makes a difference to my corals, will it help these delicate fishes? <Yes> I really don't have a problem getting them to eat, but nutrition wise, I'm always concerned - it's so much easier to keep them healthy than to make them better. Anyway, thanks and take care. Thanks, Aaron <Sounds like you're doing fine. Bob Fenner> 

Automatic Feeder Hello Robert. <Hello Greg> I have been reading your website for a while and have found it to be very helpful in the setup of my tanks (220 Mostly Fish some LR) I am looking into purchasing an automatic feeder mainly for the weekends when I'm out of town (I generally feed my fish frozen when I am around) and was wondering which type you would recommend, if any have known problems that should be avoided? I currently have 2 Eheim filters attached to the tank (2260 and a 2229) and have been very happy with them, I saw they also offer a feeder wondered if that would be my best choice. <I use the Eheim products here as well> Thanks in advance Greg BTW I am attempting to design a very large tank (in the few thousand gallon range) for my new home and I may be dropping you a line with some questions on that too :) <Please do so. Bob Fenner> Thanks Greg

Re: Automatic Feeders know any good vendors for eel feeders? I got one but it is primarily for dead food which my eel doesn't seem to be accepting. he wants his grass shrimp. <Have seen some home-made devices that were very inventive... but no commercial made ones> I need something with doors on the tube that swing both directions or something like that <Design and build it is my advice. Bob Fenner>