Neptune, did you see the size of the clam I am using. It is probably a quarter of a pound and the fish would have a very hard time eating all of that in a day. It would rot way before they ate it. If you are getting the small clams, you can put those in whole. The large chowder clams are also much cheaper. I can feed them live or fresh, and when I first buy the clams I put some in there that way if it is time to feed.
I target feed all of my fish. If I put a clam in there, the copperband would eat the entire thing and the other fish would not get any. After I shave off tiny pieces of clam, all the fish and corals get some. I have pipefish, clingfish, mandarins and many other slow, small fish that need to be target fed.
I need to squirt food at one side of the tank and when the fish go there, I hit the other side. Healthy fish eat very fast and fight to out eat the others.
As for freezing, I only do that to preserve the huge clams I have as I am not afraid of pathogens and as you heard me say, I like them. They are the reason my fish are immune and I never had to quarantine. Sterile food equals sterile fish with no immune system.
Freezing does not kill the bacteria which is the reason food would rot if it thawed out. It just goes dormant. I also don't keep them in the freezer for long. I buy them live and after a week or two, they are gone.
Remember I also give the fish live worms every day and hatch brine shrimp so not having enough live bacteria is not a problem. I use no dry, sterile foods.
None of the food I use is wasted as it almost never gets a chance to hit the substrate. If it did, the hundreds of bristle worms would go nuts as would the numerous hermit crabs of all different sizes and the thousands of amphipods that inhabit my tank. All of those things contribute to the life in a tank and they all have a purpose. If they are all alive and breeding, all is well. If I look close I also have hoards of tiny tubeworms growing under rocks and all through my gravel. The reverse undergravel filter ensures that there is water low through the gravel and those tiny feather dusters filter out any left over particles of clam that the corals don't get. That is a healthy, thriving, self sustaining ecosystem and is what I strive for.
I have been feeding this way since the tank was started and so far, never had a disease or parasite problem.
Here is a video of some of my fish eating live worms. Normally there would also be clams fed but I was just showing worms here. All of the fish in this video, except the copperband are spawning and none were ever quarantined including the 25 year old fireclowns, clown gobies and mandarins.
