Feeding Scavengers

[szaijan]

I've recently added hermits, a pair of stars, a conch, and several scavenging snails to my new tank, but the fish won't be added for another 2 weeks. I have some frozen omnivorous marine food I can give them, but I'm unsure of how much to feed and whether I need to supplement this with something else until fish are added and begin providing detritus naturally.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

[Matt Rogers]

Michael if you have some algae by now along with that live rock and sand I wouldn't worry about it.

What kind of stars are they?

[karlas]

i agree with not worring about it to much but if you want you can get a cheap flake food and just throw a little in there that they can scavage up they are not picky eaters at all

[szaijan]

[quote author=Matt Rogers link=board=Inverts;num=1088881982;start=0#1 date=07/03/04 at 23:08:42]What kind of stars are they?[/quote]

Brittle and Serpent. Very cool, but rarely seen.

One problem I have is that the protein skimmer sweeps up most floating foods before they can become water logged and sink. Should I use pellet? I'm thinking of getting a trio of Green Chromis or Damsels to serve as cycling fish as well.

[karlas]

ACKKK *

dont use damsels and chromises for cycling. the cycle can be very hard on them it will kill most fish and even if they live can do damage to the ones that make it. get some peel and eat shrimp from the grocery store maby 2-3 shrimp and throw them in the tank to kickstart your cycle. this is a much better and humane way to cycle the tank over using live fish and or other critters. as the bacteria builds the shrimp will dissapear.

[szaijan]

[quote author=karlas link=board=Inverts;num=1088881982;start=0#4 date=07/04/04 at 14:45:52]ACKKK

dont use damsels and chromises for cycling. the cycle can be very hard on them it will kill most fish and even if they live can do damage to the ones that make it. get some peel and eat shrimp from the grocery store maby 2-3 shrimp and throw them in the tank to kickstart your cycle. this is a much better and humane way to cycle the tank over using live fish and or other critters. as the bacteria builds the shrimp will dissapear.[/quote]


My tank has already been through the entire Nitrite, Ammonia, Nitrate cycle. I had no fish in it during that time, only live rock. It's just that it's still young and I do not want to put delicate fish into a new tank. I have been told that chromis' and damsels are very tolerant of newish aquarium setups. Anyone else disagree?

[JohnO]

[quote author=szaijan link=board=Inverts;num=1088881982;start=0#5 date=07/04/04 at 17:06:55]


My tank has already been through the entire Nitrite, Ammonia, Nitrate cycle. *I had no fish in it during that time, only live rock. *It's just that it's still young and I do not want to put delicate fish into a new tank. *I have been told that chromis' and damsels are very tolerant of newish aquarium setups. *Anyone else disagree?[/quote]

Damsels certainly are very hardy in that respect, although quite aggressive. My opinion would be just to add one fish every two weeks or so. That way you can be assured that the bacteria numbers will be increased enough to handle the extra bio-load.

It's often forgotten that the Nitrogen cycle is a continuous thing and that everytime you add fish, take fish away, feed etc you affect that cycle.

If you have gotten past the initial cycle, then I see no problem with adding livestock, just do it one fish at a time, gives you a bit of time to study your next purchase too :-)

JOhn

[karlas]

ok sorry that was my bad i misunderstood your other post. i took it as you havent cycled your tank yet . yes chromis and damsels are very hardy and a good beginner fish i just took it as you were going to use them to cycle your tank. live rock is another good way to cycle fishless. i have the green chromises myself they are a good scooling fish and get at least 3 or more a single does not do very well by them selves. but they do look pretty when they are schooled together

sorry for the misunderstanding