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Saltwater Aquarium Fish Compatibility - Part 3

Aggressive Food Competition Behavior (Continued)

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Omnivores - Meat and Algae Eaters
    Included in this group are Angelfishes, Anthias, Blennies, Box and Cowfishes, Butterflyfishes, Clownfishes, Damselfishes, Filefishes, Goatfishes, Gobies, Jawfishes, Mardarinfishes or Dragonets, Moorish Idols, Parrotfishes, Seahorses, Spade or Batfishes, Sweetlips, Wrasses and Hogfishes.

    Omnivores have a combination diet consisting of both meaty fares and algaes. Some species prefer to eat greens, others zooplankton (tiny substrate and bottom dwelling copepods, amphipods, shrimp, mysids, and many types of fish and invertebrate larvae that float or drift in the water column before settling on the reef), small motile crustaceans and invertebrates such as crabs, shrimps, snails and worms, and sessile types such as clams or other bivalves, tube worms, sponges, soft and stony coral polyps.

    Now although some fishes in this category primarily eat meaty fares, and others algae, while picking their food preferences from the reef they also incidentially injest the opposite foods in the process.

For more in-depth information and a breakdown of the major fish families and what they prefer to eat, refer to our 11 Primary Foods Groups of Marine Fishes Table

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