In this MarineAndReef.com Budget Tank Build Series episode, I explain why I use certain fish foods and avoid others. We briefly talked about fish food when we picked out our fish because the number one rule of picking out fish and starting to feed them is to feed the fish whatever they're already eating at the store. It is far more important that the fish eat something than they eat the best, most healthy thing. Ensure that the fish are getting some nutrition, have full bellies, and have some weight on them. That will mean your fish are much less stressed and give them a much better chance of survival. Once you are sure your fish are eating, you can slowly introduce new foods.

What I want my fish to eat, and my preferred favorite food in the long run, is pellet food. What I like about pellet food is it easily fits in automatic feeders, so it's easier for me to automate the feedings later. I also find it is less messy than flake food. Every time I feed a fish flake food, I put it in, and it just explodes into a zillion pieces and makes a big mess, whereas the pellet food stays together.

The pellet food I've been feeding, and also use at home, is the New Life Spectrum Marine Fish, Regular Pellet, 1mm-1.5mm. They have a variety of blends. I'm just using their general marine fish blend. This is a combination of both meat and veggie foods for omnivores, carnivores, and herbivores. It's just a general food. It comes in a few different pellet sizes.

Not all fish are going to eat pellets, and not all fish are going to eat pellets right away. Most of the fish in this new tank have started to take to the pellet food, but some of them are still not quite eating it. I'm using the small size, which is the right size for most people.

Though this video series is about building a reef tank on a budget, the New Life Spectrum food is not cheap. However, this Marine Fish, Pellet Food might last six months, so it isn't going to break the bank.

What I like in particular about this New Life Spectrum brand over some of the others is New Life Spectrum years ago released some videos about their pellets, showing very finicky fish such as Moorish Idols and Regal Angels eating their pellets. These are fish I never thought would ever eat pellet food, and they were eating it. For that reason for a long time I have fed this food, and I find that a lot of fish do eat it that may not otherwise eat pellets.

As we're going to put a variety of fish foods in, and we don't want to overfeed these guys, I just take a small pinch. Rather than drop it on the top, where it could get sucked into the filter, I put my fingers just below the surface and then release it down under the surface. The Damselfish and Clownfish are going for it, but some other fish seem not as interested. The Coris Wrasse and Filefish haven't taken to the pellet foods yet. For that reason we're going to offer a couple other things to the fish in this tank.

The next food I feed my fish is the Sera Marin Spirulina Grazers, XL. If you have a Tang (we have a big Chevron Tang), they are primarily herbivorous fish. They eat a lot of veggies and it's important to offer them some kind of veggie. You could clip seaweed onto the glass or offer a veggie pellet, but I prefer the Sera Spirulina Grazers. They're just a lot of fun. They come as a disc and I push it onto the glass, and the fish can kind of nibble on it throughout the day. It replicates the natural grazing behavior. It's fun to watch them nibble at the disc.

The last thing I want to mention is frozen food. We don't sell frozen food, so when I recommend it, it's not to get sales. There are a lot of fish that will not eat anything other than frozen food. The fish in my tank I've selected to be a little bit easier to adapt to dry foods, but fish like Butterflyfish, and a lot of Gobies, will likely never eat anything other than frozen food. I would still keep offering them dry food because it'll make your life easier if you don't have to do it frozen. I just thaw out a hit of frozen Brine Shrimp in tank water and add it to the tank. Lastly, you could add a food additive such as a Selcon or a Vita-Chem to enrich the food.

How often should you feed your fish and how much should you feed your fish? For most common fish I recommend you feed once a day. There are some fish that will require more frequent feedings. If you get those fish just make sure to ask wherever you're purchasing them from what's appropriate for them. But generally, once a day is going to be pretty common, and how much should only be whatever the fish eat. If you ever notice the fish aren't eating all the food, and some of it is sitting on the bottom and rotting, that's not doing anybody any good. So, you should feed less than that in general. It's better to feed less food more often rather than more food less often. If you're worried your fish aren't getting enough food rather than feed them more you may want to feed them twice a day. Say, before work, and at the end of the day.