When feeding tropical fish, it is essential to understand their specific dietary requirements. Some species are herbivorous while others have carnivorous appetites or can even be considered omnivores.
An effective approach for feeding fish is to feed until their bellies become slightly distended, this will reduce overfeeding which leads to wasted food, higher levels of nitrates and decreased pH in aquarium water.
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Feeding Schedule
As with most tropical fish, flake food should serve as the mainstay in feedings for most tropical varieties. But to ensure optimal health and vibrant colors for your finned friend, supplementing their diet with other food can also be essential. This will provide your finned friend with all of the required vitamins to ensure it thrives and stays vibrant!
As a general guideline, only feed your fish as much as they can consume in five minutes to reduce waste and any dangerously rising ammonia/nitrite levels in your tank.
Most fish require one feeding per day; with the exception of catfish which should be fed shortly before turning off the lights at night. Don’t overfeed, as leftover food may rot and produce harmful toxins that could harm their health.
Dry Food
Your fish has many dry food options available to it. Many are freeze-dried foods like bloodworms and daphnia that contain one protein source that can be fed either whole, floating in the tank, or crumbled up into smaller pieces. Frozen crustaceans such as brine shrimp and tubifex worms also make an excellent choice, being gut-loaded with nutritious food before being flash-frozen to maintain flavor, original appearance, vitamins, and enzymes.
Avoid foods containing non-aquatic ingredients as their first few ingredients, like wheat and soy, because fish do not possess the ability to digest these types of foods and their nutrients are usually passed unabsorbed through their system. Instead, look for options with both meaty and veggie sources as the main sources.
Frozen Food
Frozen foods can make an excellent supplement to live food and are eagerly devoured by most tropical fish species. Frozen treats simulate what they would find in their natural environment and may help increase appetites, promote healthful growth and stimulate breeding.
Some fish keepers recommend thawing frozen food in a jar of tank water for half an hour before adding it directly into their fish tanks, in order to reduce the likelihood of it spoiling quickly. Others use a turkey baster directly from their freezer to feed their fish without touching anything in the water and thus avoid overfeeding their aquatic friends.
One of the best choices is frozen brine shrimp, which can help fish that don’t eat at mealtimes and promote vibrant colors by providing essential fatty acids, astaxanthin and protein to support vibrant color development. This food also boasts excellent color enhancement.
Live Food
Live food provides a natural and nutritional alternative to processed foods, often encouraging natural hunting behaviors in fish. Furthermore, live foods help break up monotonous diets for more balanced nutrition.
Daphnia (water fleas) and marine copepods are an ideal protein source with a well-rounded fatty acid profile that can easily be enhanced through the addition of active baker’s yeast or Tetraselmis green alga. Many commercial flake food contains these ingredients in addition to fillers such as wheat meal, soybean meal and oatmeal; although these fillers increase overall protein intake but lack the flavor and nutrition provided by foods containing shrimp or other seafood as the main protein source.
Supplements
Many tropical fish require vitamin supplements in order to thrive, like vitamins. Vitamin supplements contain nutrients formulated into liquid form for easy administration with their food; some contain multiple kinds of essential vitamins like multivitamins while others focus solely on one nutrient like vitamin C.
Add bacteria supplements or starters to their aquarium water when making large water changes, or after treating the aquarium. This may help increase their bacterial population.
Bacteria supplement products come in both freshwater and saltwater varieties, and they can reduce the risk of new tank syndrome by seeding your aquarium with beneficial bacteria. They should be added regularly or after cycle crashes to minimize ammonia and nitrite production.
