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Friday, August 14, 2009

Food and feeding aquarium fish

12:08 AM    No comments

This article answers the most common questions regarding feeding your aquarium fish, and also offers answers about food for particular species. All questions have been asked by visitors of Aqua-Fish.Net. If your questions aren’t answered on this website, then contact us and we’ll try to help you. Before you do so, make sure that you used the site search (see top-left corner on this page).

How much should I feed my fish?


In various guides you can find something like “the amount of given food should be eaten in 1-5 minutes”. The number which replaces 1-5 is usually different for each guide. Anyway, I feed my fish differently... Firstly I put flakes into the aquarium in order to feed fish which swim in the top or middle levels. As flakes sink (they float for a few seconds – up to one minute, depending on water flow), they get to the bottom levels where bottom-dwellers start eating them. At this time usually all fish except bottom-dwellers are full. Now it’s time to put some granules and tablets into the tank (foods which fall down immediately). Since bottom dwellers have to find food, they will search for it for more than one or two minutes in general (unless you keep so many fish that they eat all food very fast).

It is also good to keep snails in the aquarium since these habitants can eat all uneaten food, thus they prevent such food from decomposing and causing pH to get lower.

Always check if all fish are eating during the feeding time! In my experience 1 small Tetra can eat between 4-5 normal-sized flakes (1cm2) at once. On the other hand, foods such as bloodworms or larvae are more tasty and fish will accept more such food.

What is the best time to feed my fish?


For fish, it’s nearly always. Avoid feeding during night, or when lighting is turned off. I feed my fish in the morning (at about 0800 o’clock) and in the evening (at 1900 o’clock). If you just brought new specimens into your fish tank, they will learn when it’s the feeding time very fast; usually in 4-5 days after being introduced into their new environment.

Fish are more active when they’re fed, so if you want to see them swimming here and there, feed them. However, do not overfeed.

How and where can I buy discount fish food?


Getting discounts is very easy when you’re shopping in small aquatic shops (not big stores!). Depending on how many fish you keep, and what is the warranty on bought food (some foods must be consumed in 1 month, some in 3 months, etc.), always buy as much as possible. When you’re buying bigger amounts of something, it is likely that you can get a discount. Of course, firstly ask the seller if he/she’s willing to offer you a discount if you buy more than expected!

What is Spirulina and how it helps?


Spriulina is a great addition to algae eaters and herbivores, and is classed as a high protein diet as it consists of 60% vegetable protein that is very easy to digest and obviously contains no fat or cholesterol that is contained in meat. Since there is already an article devoted to this topic, feel free to continue reading here: http://www.aqua-fish.net/show.php?h=spirulinafishfood.

How long can fish live without food?


The answer is different for each species. Big cichlids can usually survive a few weeks, up to months sometimes. Coldwater fish such as Koi don’t need any food during Winter (although you can feed them during this season). And some livebearers will not survive a week without being fed. In my experience Angelfish, Gouramis and Bristlenose catfish can easily survive a week without food (Bristlenose catfish will probably find some algae anyway).

Bear in mind that rather than leaving fish without food, you should buy an automatic feeder. If you’re not leaving for more than 48 hours, then all fish should survive.

What is natural fish food, and what are advantages and disadvantages?


In order to make your own natural fish food, it all depends on which fish you’re going to feed. For instance, if your goal is a live food (larvae for example), then simply put some dead carp into the river for a few days. Then return and you should find plenty of larvae in the fish’ body. Your fish will love this food (if your tank’s inhabitants are carnivores or omnivores). Another way of feeding your fish is finding larvae in puddles. Of course, this is possible during Summer, not during Winter. Another way how to make your own natural fish food is having a temporary tank which you fill in with water from other fish tanks, and then just let it be for a few weeks. Add some fish food there, also some sponge from filter. In a few weeks you should get tubifex in the tank. Occasionally tubifex can be seen in already running fish tanks too. These are examples of natural live food, however the disadvantage is that these foods can bring diseases into your aquarium. The advantage is that it is relatively easy to raise these larvae, and fish love them.

For herbivores, algae is the best natural food. In order to achieve high levels of algae, it is necessary to use more lighting than recommended, and also make sure that fish won’t eat all algae at once. In simple words, algae must grow faster than they’re eaten. There are no disadvantages of using algae as fish food. Advantages include, but not limit to, allowing newborns to find an easy food source, and also algae helps to keep water chemistry within acceptable intervals by decomposing harmful chemicals.

Can too much live food cause the dropsy disease?


No. In fact, even a small amount of live food can cause the dropsy disease. Especially if fish are weak. It all depends on the fact if the food is infected. Actually, if food is infected, then any disease can be introduced into the tank.

Is leaving uneaten frozen food in the aquarium bad?


No. Generally speaking, no uneaten food should be left in a fish tank, however one cannot assure that all food was eaten at once and that no small piece fell down to the place where it won’t be found. Uneaten food will decompose and this doesn’t mean any danger at all.

In order to avoid this situation, keep snails. Ramshorn snails are cool for this purpose, although they produce a lot of excrements. If you’re not familiar to snails, keep bottom-dwellers such as Cories or Catfish.

Can be beef heart used as fish food?


Yes, although it is not recommended to use it too often. Beef heart isn’t usual food for fish in the wild, and it can also introduce diseases into the tank. Many fish love beef meat as a whole, but in general it’s similar to human. Many people like fat foods, ice cream, and whatever unhealthy. No matter how it tastes, unhealthy food is still unhealthy. Rather feed your aquarium fish ordinary foods than look how fish get fat and sick.

How do fish collect food?


Each fish’ mouth is orientated to some direction. For example, Betta fish use to take their food from surface, thus their mouths are orientated to the surface. In comparison, Cories and Catfish use to collect food from bottom, so their mouths are orientated to the bottom.

In general, fish’ mouth cannot be the only factor when you’re deciding what food size they can accept. In many cases mouths are bigger than the rest of their digestion system. It is easy to find out if food is too big; Fish spit the food if it’s too big.

Foods for particular species


Since many fish keepers are interested in exact answers about food for fish that they keep, every fish profile in our database contains (or will contain) information about food and feeding. Thus, here below are links to the most popular species’ pages. Please note that if food/feeding information are missing yet, they will be added very soon. We are updating the records all the time in order to offer you the most accurate information. The below-linked fish profiles will carry the highest priority.

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