MORE ON FOOD:

TIPS ON BUYING and USING AQUARIUM FISH FOOD

You will find below at www.oceanreeflections.com we carry a large variety of foods to suit your fish needs!

Flake foods tend be a mixture of different foods rather than a single food.  www.oceanreeflections.com  offers many flake foods with varieties for both saltwater and freshwater fishes.

Pelletized food appeals to certain varieties of carnivores because the shape better mimics the qualities of live food than either flake or freeze-dried foods. Ocean Star offers Marine Pellets .

The closest to a Natural Food offered by  www.oceanreeflections.com  are the Julian Sprung's Sea Veggies . These seaweed products have been freeze-dried, but they have undergone less processing than other freeze-dried foods. Vegetarian fishes, such as tangs, angelfishes and certain damselfishes and blennies love dried seaweed.

An excellent choice for your soft and stony corals, anenomes, feather duster worms, clams, sponges, tunicates and other filter feeders is Marine Snow  and also PhytoPlan .   We also carry a large selection of Kent Marine Food Supplements for all different fish needs. 

Freeze-dried foods and frozen foods can be fortified with Selcon a highly unsaturated fatty acid that includes stabilized vitamin C and vitamin B12.

Feed your fish a wide variety of foods. As with humans this will help to insure they get the range of required nutrients.
Freeze-dried and flake foods should not be the staple diet of marine fish, but should be used to supplement fresh and frozen foods. 
Opened flake food may lose food value or even develop mold or bacterial growth. Only purchase food in quantities that can be consumed within a couple months. Store food in the refrigerator. A normal and common question is "what am I supposed to feed my fish  It is impossible to give one overall answer because different species of fish have different diets according to their habitat and their body structure. Lionfish are slow moving carnivorous predators and gulp their food whole. Triggers, with there sharp teeth are built more for tearing and ripping their prey. Herbivores such as tangs and some blennies, have mouth parts adapted for picking or scraping algae from rocks. As you can see different fish need different foods. It is always wise to research the needs of a fish "before buying". (This includes knowing what their natural diet and feeding behavior is before buying) so that it can be duplicated. Commercially prepared frozen foods are available to meet the needs of herbivores and meaty foods are available for carnivores.  To illustrate the importance of behavior, Lions and triggers might only need one large feeding everyday to maybe two or three days, while more active plankinovores (Chromis, Wrasses, Anthias) could be fed small amounts several times a day. 

For fishes that enjoy more meaty food there are plenty of different foods out there. Squid, mysis shrimp, krill, clams, mussels, Cyclopes and crab all make excellent food for most fish that eat meatier foods. Brine shrimp should be avoided because of its poor nutritional value, but it can be used as a treat.  Even live brine shrimp is a poor choice for frequent use, but can be used to try to get new additions or finicky eaters to eat. When it comes to meaty foods, frozen is best as it retains most all of the nutrients in the food. Freeze dried foods are less desirable because they retain less nutrition. Fish with such as triggers and puffers that have teeth designed for cracking shells should be provided food with a shell or hard outside. Crabs legs with the shell and unpeeled shrimp not only provide the stimulation of natural feeding behaviors, but they also help prevent the dangerous overgrowth of these fishes teeth.

For fish that eat more plant-based material there are plenty of seaweed and plant based foods that can be purchased. Some fish will also eat algae growing on rocks and equipment in your tank and a culture of hair algae can even be kept for herbivores. Some human foods can be used such as lettuce and cucumber but should not be the only part of the fishes diet. Not much preparation is needed but I would wash of the vegetables in water before putting them in the tank.  As mentioned before, foods of there marine origin are better if they are available.  Dried seaweed products are available from fish stores, and asian grocery stores often stock a variety of nori, kombu and other dried algae products (be sure they haven't been seasoned!) There are many different clips you can for a few dollars.

Selcon is probably one of the best and most expensive, It contains Fatty Acids, Lipids, Vitamin C, and B-12. It also leaves traces in the tank for filter feeders. Many aquarists have reported good results using multi vitamin preparations like vita-chem .  Just like human nutritional supplements, care should be taken not to overdose such additives. Garlic is also used and can be purchased as a marine aquarium supplement from most online retailers. Garlic helps to induce and entice good feeding response and is some aquarists believe that it boosts their fish's immune system. Also a vitamin C supplement will help in aiding immune systems also.  For large predatory fish that eat larger pieces of food,  supplements can be directly injected into the piece of meat. 

Proper storage and handling of fish food is often neglected.  Even the most nutritious foods will lose value if abused.  Fish food just like human food is best if kept in the refrigerator. Be sure it is stored tightly to avoid freezer burn -  Ziploc bags work well for this. A good rule of thumb is to get rid of food about 6 months after you open it to be sure that your fish are getting fresh food.  If your food is past its expiration date (If it has one), it is obviously a good idea to throw it out and pick up some more, just be sensible would you eat something after being in the freezer more then 6 months?

Most important feed your fish a good variety of different foods every day and don't overfeed it's better to feed small portions 3-4 times a day then one or two huge portions.