Live foods are essential components of an aquarium diet, providing necessary vitamins that may otherwise be lost in processed commercial flakes and pellets.
Tubifex worms, earthworms and red wigglers are readily available at reptile stores and can be cultured easily in your own home. Daphnia (water fleas) are another viable choice that can be cultured easily at home.
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Ants
Ants as aquarium food may be dangerous. Ant bodies release toxins which could have adverse side-effects for your guppies, and even when offered they might not actually consume it!
Wild fish infants consume freshwater plankton such as infusoria for sustenance when first hatching out, making home culture of infusoria simple and straightforward. Just add old tank water from your tank as well as filter mulm from your filter; watch for any swarming activity to indicate when your infusoria are ready and waiting to feed your newborn fish!
Other live foods to feed your fish include brine shrimp, daphnia, micro worms and vinegar eels. Daphnia are relatively easy to culture without polluting the tank like mosquito larvae which must be cultured in a cool basement or wine cooler.
Insects
Veteran fishkeepers of any experience level will agree that nature offers nothing beats live food to enhance aquarium environments and encourage hunting activities. Not only is this premium food delicious and nutritionally dense, it also encourages hunting activity while enriching aquarium environments beyond anything that flake food could ever achieve.
Popular live food options for herbivorous fish include mosquito larvae (an excellent source of protein and healthy lipids), bloodworms, white worms and micro worms. If your pet prefers aquatic creatures over land creatures then infusoria (freshwater plankton culture) culture could also provide excellent nourishment.
Pet stores with reptile sections frequently stock wingless fruit fly colonies that provide easy and accessible food sources for aquarium fish. You can cultivate them yourself at home using dechlorinated water and using cotton swabs or Popsicle sticks to harvest worms for feeding purposes.
Rocks
No doubt that commercial fish foods provide most of the nutrition for freshwater aquarium fish, yet live foods may provide essential vitamins and minerals lost through processing of commercial flakes and pellets.
Bloodworms (Artemia cysts) and daphnia are an easy, fun, and highly nutritious way to feed fish. Rich in proteins and lipids essential for carnivorous species.
Freshwater plankton can be found everywhere in nature; for instance, when turning over rocks or bricks or searching for dead trees and piles of leaves. Aquarium hobbyists also frequently cultivate infusoria as food source for newly hatched fry.
Sidewalk Bricks
An enjoyable stroll through a city park with a pond or river, through woods or along the beach can yield many sources of live food for aquarium fish. Look carefully among rocks, sidewalk bricks and leaves for signs of life like worms, larvae or insect eggs – then collect them all to be put into a jar filled with water for later consumption by your aquarium fish!
Pet stores also sell supplements for your fish’s feeding. A mixture of cereals and molasses provides added protein and carbohydrates required by fish for growth and maintenance activities, but must have low fiber content to be digested by them easily. It should be stored safely in bins or crates to prevent the contents from spoiling.
Fruit
Your fish will enjoy eating a wide range of fruits and vegetables from your aquarium, but before adding any to the tank it is crucial that they are thoroughly washed first. Blanching vegetables first is best as this brings them up to a slow boil in water before being removed just when softening occurs.
If you want an easy and quick way to feed your fish while you’re away from home, try purchasing slow-release feeding blocks. Your fish can eat them easily while polluting less in their aquarium environment.
Many pet stores sell wingless fruit fly colonies as live food for aquarium fish, providing protein, amino acids, fatty acids and other vital nutrients. Furthermore, these insects can even be cultured at home!
