feeding with ocean nutrition marine algae

[rkemp]

So I like to keep a vegi-clip in my tank to feed my tangs and foxface some herb food. Spinach and lettuce work but I like to supplement with the Ocean Nutrition Green Marine Algae Seaweed Select you find in all the stores. When I feed them the seaweed the fish go crazy over it and seem to graze it a significant amount more. I have a few concerns however with feeding the seaweed

• The seaweed just can’t withstand the fish pulling and picking at it. This causes it comes loose or chucks come off that then become free floating seaweed. This usually then finds it way to the overflow most of the time and get gunked up in that, gets sucked into a power head and gunks that up, or if for some reason makes its way to the bottom of the tank makes for a dirty substrate.
• When I have feed exclusively the with the seaweed the fox face loves it, but cant seem to digest it. I notice that the waste from the fox face looks undigested and really looks like little chucks of the seaweed. Along with this the foxface has a significantly more waste when feeding with the seaweed.

So here is my concern. The tangs feed much better on the seaweed and all the fish seem to like it more, however with the clogging effects and the potential digestive effects for the foxface I have stopped using the seaweed. Any advice or input would be appreciated.

[cuttingras]

rkemp, I've noticed the same thing with my foxface and feeding it seaweed sheets.... I figure that's food for my snails and crabs! He does get as big belly after I feed him and poops a lot more! I think it's kinda like humans getting roughage......Mine goes thru the powerheads too. I scrub them down every now and then. He seems to pick on the outsides of the p.h.'s too when the sheets are gone.

[rkemp]

cuttingras, Thanks for the reply. It sounds like it might just be a thing with the foxfaces. I guess it is probably worth the little extra maintenance for the nutritional value.

[Jason McKenzie]

I've never noticed my Foxface having a digestion problem but I too have issues with my tang ripping the seaweed right out of the clip. If you wet it first it seems to grip better in the clip and also I hold it in the clip for a bit so that it stays. They still rip it out and then I chase it down and put it back in the clip

J

[omard]

I found some very finely shredded Nori at Asian food store - looks like something someone would sprinkle on rice or add as a flavoring to food.

...just mixed in with other flake food & let fish decide what they want to eat. Does seem to all disappear.

[cuttingras]

I took one of those big chip clip things and cut off the ends until it's about 4 inches long then super glued a suction cup to the back of it. I also played with the spring on it to give it more gripping power. It holds it in securely enough that even Big Blue couldn't rip it off. But, I don't have to worry about that anymore...the rest of them are pretty gentle.

[rkemp]

How about live\fresh seaweed? Anyone feed with it and where do you get it (since im little ways away from the ocean )

[cuttingras]

you could probably go into an oriental market, they have seaweed, I don't think I'd use it though. too many hands have been on it, plus the packaged stuff has other nutritious stuff put into it too I think....