New Coral Food - under construction

[TimT]

Well I got to play Coral Chef the other day. I have frequently watched the LPS in my coral system go crazy when I add the Pacifica plankton to the tank. I have been target feeding the plankton directly to LPS with larger mouths and Paly's/Zoa's. I had wanted to create a food that has the benefits of the plankton but could be eaten by various types of corals and filter feeders that can't eat the plankton due to it's size. It is my idea to combine several nutritious food sources to create an easy to use Coral food.

I mixed up a trial batch of Coral food a few days ago. Here's a pic of the first batch.



This batch has Pacifica Plankton, Sockeye Salmon eggs, Nannochloropsis sp. microalgae, Pavlova sp. microalgae, Krill Oil and some RO water to help blend the plankton and eggs. At the point the picture was taken I had just added the Krill Oil and was mixing it into the green smoothie. I then quickly made some flat packs and cube trays and put them in the freezer.

This is the first attempt and so far the response has been good. After initially adding it to the tank I noticed that an Acan maxima brain opened it's mouths and released a mucous net. This is a similar way to how Echinophyllia fed as well. I noticed a few Acros doing this too.

Cheers,
Tim

[Myka]

Why are the algae in there?

[TimT]

I had a couple liters of algae concentrate from Reed Mariculture that I had purchased for making a food for filter feeders... mainly Tridacnid clams. The idea was to make a food that feeds all types of corals and filter feeders at once. This food should even work for Sponges, Feather stars and Dendronepthea.

[WarDog]

Looking forward to this Tim. Your Pacifica Plankton is some of the best available!

[TimT]

Thanks Warren!

I started to make this food to feed to my own corals and thought it would benefit other hobbyists tanks. As I have done in the past, when I find a product that is amazing I buy in bulk and offer smaller sizes to those in the hobby to help make their tanks more enjoyable. Foz Down is a prime example of this. This time I'm making it in bulk and I'm open to suggestions to other ingredients and forms of packaging. I am thinking of perhaps trying the frozen pump bottles similar to how Liquid Life sold their phytoplankton.

[dino]

Great guy to deal with and I will be trying this stuff out
Dustin

[Bblinks]

Love the food from Tim, all my fishes goes crazy for it. can't wait to see what you got cooking this time. let me know when it's ready and I'll buy some.

[maron6977]

So, do you make it in cube form ? Plankton & coral food ???
It helps me keep consistent at feeding time !!!
Mark

[Wheelman76]

Originally Posted by Bblinks

Love the food from Tim, all my fishes goes crazy for it. can't wait to see what you got cooking this time. let me know when it's ready and I'll buy some.

+1

[Myka]

Originally Posted by TimT

I'm open to suggestions to other ingredients and forms of packaging.

I would leave the alage out. Take a look at Green Lipped Mussels. When I was raising Clownfish that ingredient made a huge dfference in fecundity. If you check out health benefits of Green Lipped Mussels it's not hard to see why.