Feeding a mostly coral and rock pico tank????

[Brian60077]

Just started my pico tank last night, and I got to thinking that since this tank will be mostly rock and corals, maybe one fish, or one anemone, or a hermit crab and shrimp.... since corals are live, rocks are considered live, and the others are not really fish..... what should I use to feed them and how often? its easy to feed a fish only tank or even my dog, he is probably the easiest to feed.... he will let you know when he is hungry especially if you feed him a few minutes late, he starts barking until he is fed.

 

[JTP424]

Are you looking for what or when/how often?
If what, it depends on the livestock, I.E. fish require different foods depending on the species. That size tank you're limited, so any frozen saltwater mix would probably do. A tiny tiny amount daily. I've got a 15 gallon with 3 fish and a bunch of inverts, and I feed a 1/4 x 1/4 x 1/4 cube of frozen with a super tiny does of other food I have stock of, (think of mcdonalds coffee spoon back in the day) Corals, again depends on what you are keeping, mainly need a light suited for their food, but a weekly dose of "reef chili" or something similar would be beneficial.

 

[Brian60077]

Thanks

 

[landlubber]

welcome to the site.
The alarm bells in my head go off when I hear the words Pico and Anemone in the same sentence. Not to dash your dreams but be prepared as Anemones require fairly strong lighting which is not typical of Pico tanks. The other piece of bad news... Anemones are a very large coral! They typically stay small for about a month and once they get comfy can expand to 14" in diameter.
However... if you were to consider something more appropriate like Rock Flower Anemones you could really make something colorful and interesting.
Just something to consider

 

[snorklr]

no fish at all...40B...LRS frozen nano reef...small piece in 1oz cup to dissolve, then target feed the duncan , the hammer ,rock flower anemone and florida ricordeas with a long eyedropper...probably a piece under 1/8 per head...used to do the candy cane the same way after dark when its tentacles were out, but that thing's so big I don't bother any more...I pour off the cloudy remaining liquid from that into another cup(leaving big solids behind) and add Reef Roids to that, and target everything else ( zoas, chalice,montis,cyphastrea etc )with the eyedropper...I do this at least once a week , try to do it every 3-4 days but don't always get around to it...my theory (which could be wrong) is that everything will survive if lighting is correct, but just in case it isnt this gives them another nutrition source

 

[lil sumpin]

The most successful pico reefs I know of feed once a week before water changes and dont house any fish. You should create a solid plan before getting fish or livestock and manage expectations. There are very few fish that can be housed in these small systems. I started a two gallon jar a month ago and while it's tempting to throw everything in there all at once I'm gonna take things slow and low in an effort to avoid crashing and burning. I would recommend revising stocking ideas and then posting so you can get better feedback on how to feed your pico

 

[Brian60077]

It’s going to be mostly coral, was only thinking about one fish just to have some movement in the tank

 

[ravila101]

No fish, I believe the tank you have is a 2.5 aqueon tank. Which stores like Petco sell for bettas, if being used for saltwater I wouldn’t recommend fish since even smaller fish require a good amount of space to move around.

 

[SantaMonica]

All-coral tanks are great. I was even going to to an all-coralline tank.