Who could resist the temptation to feed these guys?
Did you know that a majority of fish sicknesses can be avoided by proper feeding? If you’ve kept fish for any amount of time you know that fish get sick, and it is no easy task to nurse them back to health. Walk into any pet store and take a look at the fish medication isle and you’ll notice that there are multiple medications for the same illness! So what should you do? The best method is prevention, and one major factor that is often overlooked is proper feeding. Not only is quantity important, but the quality of food is also important. Proper feeding will allow you to reduce the time you spend on maintenance, keep your fish healthy, and give you more time to enjoy your fish.
Now we’re just talking about the dietary requirements of fish, not corals or other invertebrates. Within the category of fish, there is a huge variety of different types of fish, but this article will only be limited to commonly available freshwater aquarium fish. The majority of fish need 2 different types of foods, one to provide protein, and the other to provide vegetable matter. Some fish require more of one than the other, but for the most part a combination of the two will give your fish a well balanced diet. There are the “all in one” foods that are available which can be good depending on what brand of food is used. So the following information is based on my experience and does not mean that I am promoting one food over the other, but I have found that O.S.I. foods and Omega One foods are good staple fish foods. The Tetra brand food is readily available at many pet stores, but I prefer the O.S.I. and the Omega One foods. These foods are good for most livebearers, barbs, tetras, and most other community fish.
Now that you have an idea about what to feed, you have the power to feed whenever you want as much as you want. This is the area where most aquarists will go wrong at least once in their fishkeeping careers. If the fish are looking at you and are coming to the glass, following you from one corner of the tank to the other; this does not mean that they need to be fed. This is what leads to overfeeding, and some fish in some aquarium will eat 8-10 large meals a day with plenty of leftovers on the bottom of the tank. Fish will not eat until they explode, rather they will stop eating altogether. The leftover food will start decaying which will spike the ammonia and then nitrites. This will stress the fish, and unlike people, when fish are stressed they will stop eating. So rather than feeding your fish whenever they come to the glass, feed them small portions at regular intervals once or twice a day. A good rule of thumb is that a fish’s stomach is about the size of their eye, so only feed them enough food that will fit into that space. Needless to say, unless you have a fishroom, a small can (not a tiny can) of fish food will last about a couple of months.
Keeping fish can be less difficult if proper feeding schedules and routines are kept. This is just one of a few important things that are needed to keep fish. A proper setup, regular feeding, and routine maintenance is all it takes to keep fish.
