How to pick food for aquarium fish?

This question could be important to both new and experienced aquarists. Even though the second group may have an easier time making a choice because they know more, the number of ready-made foods in stores can be overwhelming. So how do you choose what to feed your fish?

What fish need to eat to stay healthy

Before buying food for aquarium fish, you should know what they need to eat. Most fish that can be bought in stores are omnivores, which means that they eat both animals and plants. Herbivorous species, mostly cichlids from Malawi and Tanganyika lakes, make up the second large group. The third group is made up of meat-eating species, many of which won’t eat ready-made food or won’t eat it at all. An aquarist must also use frozen or live food to make sure the fish get what they need to eat.

On the labels of Tropical foods, it says if the product is a multi-ingredient food for omnivorous fish, a high-protein food for carnivorous and omnivorous fish, or a high plant-based food for herbivorous and omnivorous species.

Types of food for fish

There are different kinds of food for aquariums. When you know what kind of food you need, you can decide how to get it. How the fish eats and how big it is will tell you. You must remember that different fish live in different parts of the water where they live. Some species live close to the bottom, while others live in the middle of the water or near plants. There are also species that like to stay just under the surface of the water. Most of the time, the shape of a fish’s body and where its mouth is can tell you where it lives and help you choose the right kind of food.

The different shapes make it possible to make the perfect product for each type of fish, both in terms of how big the pieces are and where and how the fish eats them.

Flakes

The most common type of food for fish in tanks. Fish can eat from it in all aquarium zones. Because of how fragile it is, it floats on the surface of the water at first and then slowly sinks. As it goes to all parts of the tank, it is a great way to feed less active fish and fish lower on the food chain. To get smaller pieces of food, all you have to do is break up the flakes.

Granules

Concentrated feed ration that comes in granules of different sizes: granules (1.4-6.0 mm), mini granules (0.8-1.2 mm), and micro granules (0.1-0.2 mm) (0.5-0.7 mm). These are sinking or slowly sinking foods that fish can eat both in the middle of the tank and at the bottom. Most of the pores on the surface of Tropical granules are closed. So, they slowly take in water, which is why they have a very high hydro stability and only release a small amount of nutrients into water. There are also “bites,” which are irregularly shaped granules, in the Tropical offer. These granules soften more quickly, which makes them perfect for fish that are sensitive or don’t like to eat granules.

Chips

A type of grain that looks like a flat disc. They sink quickly and are very stable in water. They are mostly made for fish that are bigger. When smaller fish eat it, it gets nibbled and torn apart piece by piece. It makes it harder for fish that eat a lot to quickly swallow small granules.

Pellets and sticks

Foods that float for fish that get their food from the surface of the water. Pellets that look like balls come in sizes S (3.5 mm) and M. (5-6 mm). There are sizes M (4 mm) and L for the sticks (6 mm).

Wafers

This kind of food is made for fish and crustaceans that eat things on the bottom. They fall quickly to the bottom, making it easy to put them right where the bottom fish usually feed. They can also be taken right to the place where shy species hide. The wafers take in water slowly, so they keep their shape for a long time in the aquarium. Their shape and structure make it easy for fish in the family Loricariidae to eat naturally, since their mouths have a suction cup and teeth that can grind food off of different surfaces.

Tablets

With sinking, sticky, and flat-convex tablets, you can feed bottom fish and crustaceans as well as midwater fish, like fry (adhesive and flat-convex tablets). The flat, round, and sticky tablets are stuck to the glass of the aquarium. All tablets that get wet break up into small pieces.

Foods for fry

Foods with fine dust are made for feeding fry. For large fry, like the fry of fish that give birth to live young, Microvit foods can be used as soon as the fry start to eat.

Organic foods

Dried or freeze-dried invertebrates, such as daphnia, gammarus, artemia, blood-worms, tubifex, and shrimp, that are high in chitin and carotenoids. The natural foods are safe for the fish’s health and add a lot of variety to their diet.

Soft foods

Soft products are foods that come in the form of different granules but have a soft texture because of new and advanced ways of making them. This makes them more appealing to fish and easier for them to eat.

Useful tips

• The best types of food for small fish or fish with small mouths are flakes and mini and micro granules.
• Large fish that get their food from the surface of the water can be fed chips, pellets, or sticks.
• Depending on how big they are, you can feed bottom fish flakes, pellets, mini granules, tablets, or wafers.