Small Shrimp & Crustaceans
Reef tanks will often develop a population of amphipods, shrimp, crabs and small shrimps after a period of time when live rock or sand have been added. These are natural sources of live food for your marine fish and other inhabitants in your aquarium. Of course bristleworms are undesirable and should be removed and eradicated from the tank immediately if found. Triggers and most Wrasses in particular love to eat crabs and shrimp. Providing them with these foods in their diets immensely aids the health of the fish. If you are going to feed your fish small crabs or shrimp it is good to give them a 2-3 minute bath before placing them in the tank. It not only helps to avoid transfer of possible marine diseases, but it stuns them to allow the fish to snatch them up before they can run for cover and get away. Triggers and Wrasses also like to eat urchins. The Triggers strong jaw and teeth allow them to pick the spines off to get to them, but with Wrasses you can crack the urchin open and place it in the tank exposed for them. Other fish will dine on this meal too.
Live Plants
For Tangs/Surgeon Fish in particular, most of these fish are algae eaters. You can provide them with live cultured caulerpa's or limu (a form of seaweed). Indo-Pacific Sea Farms in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii offer Certified Farm Cultured items like their Limu Plate and Tang Heaven-Natural Red Macro Algae Diet. Visit our Inverts & Plants Livestock Suppliers NetLinks to locate other live plant sources on the Web.
Tubifex Worms
This form of food has always been popular with freshwater aquarists, but can apply to marine fish feeding too. You can form a small pressed ball and stuff it firmly into a crack or a coral head. Sometimes difficult to feed Butterfly fish are attracted to the movement of the worms and will start to pick and feed. Be careful when using this live food as it will foul a tank quickly if you overfeed and any loose, dead or uneaten worms should be removed from the tank. This is a food source that should not be a main diet source, but used as an occasional treat.
Other Sources
To find out more about feeding and caring for your marine animals visit our Saltwater Fish & Creature Care.
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