WRR Aquatech - Fish Food


		Fish Food
		When it comes to feeding your fish, you have to be careful on how much you feed, and what you feed. Usually fish aren't to picky about what they eat, but here are some tips and suggestions an how much you should feed your fish and what you can feed your fish. Feeding Your Fish A major problem with feeding is that if you overfeed them you will notice that water quality becomes more difficult to maintain as uneaten food accumulates in the tank and decays. Fish have small stomachs and can't eat much to begin with. Also, in nature most fish tend to nibble all during the day rather than consuming one large meal. More frequent but smaller feedings are better for the fish and minimize the likelihood of overfeeding. The rule of thumb is to feed only as much as the fish will consume in five minutes or less at each feeding. Bottom-dwelling fish need to have enough food reach them, so we have found that leaving on your filtration will move the water and fish food around, which will cause some of the food to fall to the bottom. Although some catfish are sold as scavengers that will consume uneaten food, they will only eat small amounts themselves, leaving most of the food untouched. Feeding Groups There are three groups of fish and what type of food that they eat, like other animals, they can be either carnivores, herbivores, or omnivores. Carnivores, such as Needle fish, Jack Dempseys, and Bettas, are meat eaters. These predatory fish may only eat meaty foods such as brine shrimp, freeze dried foods, frozen foods, or live feeder fish. Herbivores, such as Plecostomus, African Cichlids, Pacus, Silver Dollars, and some Mollies are plant eaters. You can feed these fish vegetable flakes, algae wafers, and some even eat algae, such as the Plecostomus. You can also feed these fish lettuce, spinach, zucchini, or green peas. Omnivores are both plant and meat eaters. Almost all aquarium fish are omnivorous. Some examples of omnivorous fish would be mollies, catfish, crayfish, and goldfish. Fish foods are designed around the way fish eat. A fishes mouth is specially designed to either eat from the top of the water, bottom of the water, or middle. There are 3 different types, top, midwater, and bottom feeders. Top feeders have scoop-like mouths for gathering floating food. They like to feed off the surface, but can also eat food as it falls through the water. For example, Mollies and Platys. Midwater feeders have mouths at the very tip of their snouts to gather food as it falls through the water. For example, Silver Dollars and Danios. Bottom feeders have mouths on the underside of their snouts to come in close contact with the bottom. For example, Catfish and Corys. Fish foods are designed for these three different feeding levels of fish, although many fish will feed outside their preferred area when hungry. Food is designed to either float for top feeders, sink slowly for mid-feeders, or sink quickly to the bottom for bottom feeders. Below are some examples different types of food that you can feed your fish. Fish Food Types The type of fish food you buy can be important. There are many foods out on the market, frozen, freeze-dried, flakes, pellets, and more. They all have different categories, and offer different advantages, some are for colors, growth, health, and treats. They are also made specially for different types of fish, such as Cichlids, tropical, freshwater, Oscars, Guppies, and Betta's. You want to make sure you get a food that suits your fish best. Usually the better quality foods produce less fish waste, and generally may have more benefits than the generic brands, but both do the job just fine. You may want to give your fish a variety of foods, such as frozen, and freeze-dried, foods as a treat. No matter what type of food you get, your fish will probably eat it, and if not, then simply try a different kind. For more information on different types of fish foods visit Tetra's web site, the producers of several types of quality fish foods. Click below!