What Should I Feed My Fish?

In their natural surroundings, it is common for fish to eat only when they are hungry. Whenever there is an abundance of food, fish eat much food however, when there is not much food they can go for several days without eating. This trend has made fish to become opportunistic in that whenever they get much food they make sure they have eaten to their full.

The type of food fed to fish depends on whether they are herbivore, carnivore or omnivore. Before getting the fish, it is important to find out from the pet supplier what type of fish they are.
If the fish resembles a catfish, then it is likely that they are fresh water fish meaning they feed on fish flakes, wafers as well as algae pellets.

For fish that resemble a catfish the best food for them will be wafers, algae pellets and fish flakes as they belong to the fresh water fish category. Saltwater fish on the other hand like veggie clips as well as sea weed due to their herbivorous manner of eating and hence the above kind of food will have to be in the tank always. To supplement the herbivorous food some kind of plankton as well as emerald can be used.

Carnivorous fish species require different types of meat which should be chopped up into small pieces. This includes chopped fish, shrimp and clams. Frozen food can also be given to the carnivorous fish such as mysis and brine shrimp. All of these foods can be purchased from various pet stores.

Young fish such as guppies and mollies should be given fish food which pet stores sell as well. The food is just the right size and can fit into the fish's mouth comfortably. If flakes are the food of choice, crushing will be needed for the correct size to be obtained.

The diet favored by goldfish is very specific and it includes flakes or pellets of high quality as well as veggie diet consisting of zucchini, cucumber green peas, water lettuce, shrimp pellets, bloodworms and duckweed. Tropical fish should not share an aquarium with goldfish.

A reason for this is they have different kinds of diet which do not complement the different nutritional needs they have. Gold fish are also known to release ammonia in high amounts which tropical fish cannot handle. To establish the amount of food to be eaten by the fish try and find out the amount they can handle within five minutes and this will give you the needed amount.

There is no set frequency for the feeding of the fish but they may be fed up to five times a day. It is important to note that it is not just the amount but also the quality of food that matters for fish.

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