Fish Food

(by pix [with thanks to mak, TheAquarian, nonamethefish, Ronfishguy, and everyone else I've forgotten to mention])

Anyone who has kept fish, or any pet for that matter, will know that one of their true passions in life is food. So, it is important to provide your fish with a varied and balanced diet not only for their health, but also for their happiness. It is now easier than ever to do this as food manufacturers have realized the market for a wide variety of fish foods, and there is bound to be a food out there to suit your fish, no matter how picky they might be.

Processed foods

These can be split into two categories: artificial and natural.

The most common artificial processed food would be the traditional flake, but there are now many other types, such as granules, floating and sinking pellets, tablets, wafers, and so on. Artificial foods come in all shapes, sizes, colors and textures, and have the advantage to both aquarist and fish of having various supplements added to them during preparation. Most processed foods contain vegetable, animal, and fish matter, as well as various vitamins and minerals. This means that your fish can get most if not all of their dietary requirements through processed foods. Although these foods are vastly different to what your fish would eat in its natural environment, they can help simulate natural behavior in fish: in the wild, fish would take food from the surface (simulated by flake and floating pellets), forage round the substrate (sinking pellets and granules), and pick at foods at various levels, such as from stones and plants (which can be achieved by placing tablets in and around tank décor). Having to root through the substrate and décor in the tank will give the fish something to do after the main feeding times have passed, stimulating them by making them work for their food.

Natural processed foods would include the various varieties of freeze-dried foods available, as well as things like algae wafers. These have the advantage of providing a food that more closely resembles a fish's natural diet while being easy to store ? they save any embarrassment when a friend goes into the freezer for ice-cubes for a drink, and comes out with a tray of frozen bloodworms! There are many kinds of food available in freeze-dried form, including bloodworm, brine shrimp, daphnia, krill, river shrimp, tubifex worm, and various types of insect larvae. While the freeze-drying process might remove some of the nutritional value from the foods, they are good for introducing cheap and easy variety into your fish's diet, and, while they are far from appetizing to us, the fish certainly seem to relish them.

Somewhere in the middle of artificial and natural processed foods are new types of flake that are becoming more readily available on the market. Some companies now make brine shrimp flakes, worm flakes, and so on. While these would combine the benefits of artificial and natural, they would not make a staple diet for your fish, and would be a treat food, or could be used to encourage a fish to eat as the taste and smell would probably be more appealing than standard flake. They could also be useful in the transition of certain fish from live/frozen foods to processed foods.

Frozen foods

Frozen foods have the same kind of advantages as listed above for freeze-dried foods, but with the added benefits of retaining more nutrition, and of looking more natural, and so more appetizing, to the fish. For this reason, they are often useful in encouraging picky fish to eat. They too come in a wide variety, with the foods listed above (bloodworm, brine shrimp, etc) being available in frozen form, as well as specific mixes for different species of fish, for example, both cichlid and discus mixes are available, containing meat, fish and vegetable ingredients in the one ice-cube. The main advantage in frozen foods is that, while they might not be as attractive to fish as live foods, any disease organisms that they might be carrying are killed off in the freezing process, making them a safe alternative for your fish.

Fresh foods

Fresh foods include fresh vegetables, meat and fish/seafood. Vegetables are an essential food source for many algae-eating fish. Not many aquariums will contain enough algae to sustain an algae eater, unless they are specifically maintained to do so. While many tanks will grow algae, often in large and unwanted amounts, one or two algae-eaters in the tank, such as otocinclus catfish, will quickly polish off what algae is there. Fresh vegetables are a cheap and readily-available alternative to algae wafers, and can be prepared by blanching the vegetables for a few minutes and then attaching them to a plant weight to make them sink to the bottom of the tank. Most other fish will nibble on veggies, too, and they are a good source of vitamins for all your fish. Many aquarists know of the benefits of feeding cooked peas, in the treatment of swim bladder disease and digestive problems; peas can be fed on a regular basis as a preventative measure, with the added advantages of providing vitamins, and that most fish love them as a treat food.

Giving meat as a food would be more the reserve of the larger fish, such as large cichlids, catfish, and predators such as piranhas. This should be an occasional treat, as fish cannot cope with rich and fatty foods, which could upset their digestive system, as well as dirtying the water. If meat is to be a part of the diet, then strong filtration would be recommended.
The same applies to fish and seafood. Many types of fish enjoy munching on one of their not-so-distant relatives, and molluscs and crustaceans such as mussels, prawns and crabs also make a good treat for your fish. These can also be tough on your water parameters, both from leeching into the water and from the subsequent waste your fish produce, so strong filtration is recommended, as is making both meat and fish/seafood a treat rather than a staple of their diet.

Live foods

As mentioned above, another option for feeding your fish is live foods. The most commonly available to buy at your local fish shop are brine shrimp, bloodworm and daphnia. These are by far the favourite of most fishes. The movement of the live food can kick-start a natural instinct in fish to feed and to hunt, and are often used to bring fish into breeding condition. Daphnia is also a good treatment for digestive problems, or just as a tonic to help clear out your fish's digestive system. While there is debate as to the nutritional value of many live foods, (some say that nutritional value depends on how well-fed the live foods are) there will be no argument from your fish if you choose to feed them live foods. One thing to be aware of though, as mentioned previously, is that diseases can often be introduced with live foods. A solution to this is to culture your own. While this is not always possible, such as in the case of bloodworms (they are a mosquito larvae) so if you want bloodworms, you have to have mosquitoes too. There are many live foods that are easy to culture, some of which are listed below.

Baby Brine Shrimp:
One of the easiest live foods to raise, hatchery kits and brine shrimp eggs are readily available from many fish shops or through mail order.
To make your own: Get a plastic soda bottle and cut it into two, about 3 inches from the base. Turn the top bit of the bottle upside down and rest it in the base. Then put an airline and airstone into the bottle, so the airstone is resting on the inside of the cap. Mix the eggs with water and put them in the bottle, then run the airstone fully open - the strong water movement and aeration helps them hatch, which they should do in 24-48 hours. To harvest the BBS, simply pour the water through a fine net into a container - unhatched eggs and shells will get caught in the net, while the BBS will pass through into the container, ready for your fish. These are an excellent fry food, but will also be readily accepted by adult fish.

Whiteworms:
Again, a starter culture of these should be purchased. To culture them: a 50/50 mix of peat moss and potting soil, no fertilizer or chemicals should be present. This soil mix should be kept moist. If you don't want to use soil, oatmeal for babies, Gerber etc. also works. Food for the worms is any partially decayed vegetable matter, such as compost from the garden or kitchen. No meat should be used. The culture will be ready to use in around 30 days.

Microworms:
Starter cultures for microworms are also easily available through online companies or from places like e-bay or aquabid. These can be cultured in much the same way as whiteworms, using oatmeal or a slice of white bread as a culture medium. Again, these are an ideal fry food, but will also be accepted by adult fish.

Earthworms:
These can be collected from your garden, as long as you are careful that no pesticides etc. have been used on the soil or plants. To culture your own, order compost worms online, again there are many sources available. Fill a large tub with a mixture of 1/2 worm bedding and 1/2 plain earth potting soil with no fertilizer or other additives, and keep the soil moist by watering sparingly. Feed the worms corn meal sprinkled in a line down the middle of the dirt, leftover vegetables, coffee grounds, tea leaves, Gerber mixed cereal for babies and anything else that has no fat or oil in it. The worms can then be harvested, but will need to be rinsed to clean off any soil before being given to your fish.

Daphnia:
These can be cultured in a tub of water outside of your house. Some people suggest using rabbit or sheep droppings to start the culture, but again you run the risk of introducing diseases or parasites. Daphnia will usually make their own way to an outside tub. An indoor culture can be raised by buying a starter culture, placing them in a tub of water, and feeding them on yeast or green water.

These are just a few of the main live foods that are easily cultured at home. Other foods are available via mail order, collecting them from the wild, or from fish and reptile shops. Foods such as crickets, meal worms, etc used for reptiles will also be accepted by many fish.

A final point on live foods: none of the commonly available tropical freshwater fish require feeder fish. All but a small few can be weaned onto prepared foods. Feeder fish carry the same risks as other live foods, in that they can carry disease organisms into your tank. There will be a higher than average risk of this as feeder fish are usually kept in poor conditions at the fish shops.

The information on foods given above applies to almost every fish that the average aquarist will keep. There are exceptions, mainly with marine fish, and so careful thought should be given to whether you can meet a fish's dietary needs before purchase.
 

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