"What do the sharks eat?" and "What do the sea turtles eat?" and "What do the fish eat?"
People often wonder how and what we feed our animals. We feed four times a day: twice in the morning (10:00am and 11:15am) and twice in the afternoon (2:30pm and 3:30pm). You can plan your visit to watch us dive in the tank using the daily schedule.
Shark Food
Here's our typical shark diet, which is supplemented with vitamins daily:
The sharks are the first ones to be fed in the morning and the last ones to eat at night. This helps us ensure that they won't "snack" on anything overnight. They get large fish and squid which is offered on a long stick to keep our hands away from those sharp teeth!
Myrtle Food
This is what Myrtle eats:
A lot of people ask about Myrtle's food too. She is a green sea turtle so she would normally eat a large quantity of sea grasses (she'd also get an occasional crab or fish while foraging). We give her a wide variety of greens, some protein (shrimp, clam, squid, or small fish), and nutrient-packed turtle gel (the green square in the upper right corner of the photo). She also eats broccoli, cabbage, romaine lettuce, green pepper, zucchini, and Brussels sprouts (her favorite). She also gets daily vitamins.
Other Sea Turtles Eat ...
The other sea turtles (Kemp's ridley and loggerheads) eat a mix of protein based on what they eat in the wild. They get a variety of capelin, squid, herring, smelt, shrimp, clam, and silversides. They also get vitamins and are fed using a stick so we don't get accidentally bitten (they have really strong jaws).
Fish Food
Here is what we feed some of the fishes:
We have many omnivores that like to chomp on peas and corn (the bottle pictured on the right). Little fish that tend to hide get fed krill (the bottle pictured on the left). We also bring heads of romaine lettuce in the tank and are instantly mobbed by angelfishes and blue tangs. They love eating greens. We also give them little bunches of mint and parsley which has good nutritional value.
Our Food Fridge
Here's a picture of inside the fridge after morning food prep:
The tupperware on the top shelf is filled with fish for surface feeding (porcupinefish, barracuda, needlefish, and cobia). Two of the yellow buckets on the bottom are filled with a variety of fish for the tarpon and permits. The other yellow bucket is filled with de-tailed shrimp (so we don't stab our hands--those tails are really sharp!) The stingrays love the shrimp feeding at 2:30pm. We encourage the rays to feed against the windows so people can get a great view of them eating.
People often wonder how and what we feed our animals. We feed four times a day: twice in the morning (10:00am and 11:15am) and twice in the afternoon (2:30pm and 3:30pm). You can plan your visit to watch us dive in the tank using the daily schedule.
Shark Food
Here's our typical shark diet, which is supplemented with vitamins daily:
The sharks are the first ones to be fed in the morning and the last ones to eat at night. This helps us ensure that they won't "snack" on anything overnight. They get large fish and squid which is offered on a long stick to keep our hands away from those sharp teeth!
Myrtle Food
A lot of people ask about Myrtle's food too. She is a green sea turtle so she would normally eat a large quantity of sea grasses (she'd also get an occasional crab or fish while foraging). We give her a wide variety of greens, some protein (shrimp, clam, squid, or small fish), and nutrient-packed turtle gel (the green square in the upper right corner of the photo). She also eats broccoli, cabbage, romaine lettuce, green pepper, zucchini, and Brussels sprouts (her favorite). She also gets daily vitamins.
Other Sea Turtles Eat ...
The other sea turtles (Kemp's ridley and loggerheads) eat a mix of protein based on what they eat in the wild. They get a variety of capelin, squid, herring, smelt, shrimp, clam, and silversides. They also get vitamins and are fed using a stick so we don't get accidentally bitten (they have really strong jaws).
Fish Food
Here is what we feed some of the fishes:
We have many omnivores that like to chomp on peas and corn (the bottle pictured on the right). Little fish that tend to hide get fed krill (the bottle pictured on the left). We also bring heads of romaine lettuce in the tank and are instantly mobbed by angelfishes and blue tangs. They love eating greens. We also give them little bunches of mint and parsley which has good nutritional value.
Our Food Fridge
The tupperware on the top shelf is filled with fish for surface feeding (porcupinefish, barracuda, needlefish, and cobia). Two of the yellow buckets on the bottom are filled with a variety of fish for the tarpon and permits. The other yellow bucket is filled with de-tailed shrimp (so we don't stab our hands--those tails are really sharp!) The stingrays love the shrimp feeding at 2:30pm. We encourage the rays to feed against the windows so people can get a great view of them eating.
I bet the vitamins are Flintstones kids.
ReplyDeleteThats awesome!!!
ReplyDeleteTo ensure that your fish are living as comfortably as they possibly can, you need to make sure that you are about to purchase or did purchase the correct size aquarium. The wrong size aquarium, especially if it is too small, can have dangerous and deadly consequences for your new pets.
ReplyDelete