Under feeding my fish?

[ashleynicole]

I feed daily on the days I dont work. On days I work I skip feeding and I work 3 days a week. I feed omega one flakes, omega one veggie rounds, omega one shrimp pellets, and frozen foods like brine shrimp and bloodworms. I like to toss in a couple of crumbled wafers with normal feedings and then a couple of whole wafers after lights out. I also do zuchinni a couple times a week.

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[Luananeko]

I rotate through a variety of food over the week... The "Freshwater Multipack" frozen food that Petsmart and Petco carry is great at diversifying the frozen part of their diet without relying too heavily on bloodworms. Every other day they get frozen, then on the non-frozen days they get a mixture of spirulina flakes and New Life spectrum pellets. I have a variety of fish sizes, so I have both the regular community pellets as well as the large fish pellets.

Variety is the spice of life

 

[Keflan]

Well I am visiting the pet shop tomorrow and enquire about flake food. What brands would you suggest? I am in the UK so I might not be able to obtain some flakes that Americans use.

I read up saying that some fish eat earth worms? Also that some eat live food. I'm not sure if any of my fish would eat live food.

 

[Brookster123]

Omega one if possible.

 

[Luananeko]

Well I am visiting the pet shop tomorrow and enquire about flake food. What brands would you suggest? I am in the UK so I might not be able to obtain some flakes that Americans use.

I read up saying that some fish eat earth worms? Also that some eat live food. I'm not sure if any of my fish would eat live food.

I've yet to find a fish that wouldn't eat live blackworms or live brine shrimp. Mine always go nuts for them

Earthworms are better for large fish like ciclids and oscars, as they're too big for smaller mouthed fish to eat.

Omega One and New Life are both good flake food brands, but I don't know if they're available in the UK.

 

[Keflan]

What do you have to do to keep the black worms alive? If the shop sells any.

 

[Luananeko]

What do you have to do to keep the black worms alive? If the shop sells any.

I usually only feed live once a week at most, and since I'm at the fish store once a week selling plant trimmings I just buy what I want to feed that day. I believe you can keep them for a while in the fridge though if you're saving for multiple feedings. Once in the tank any immediately uneaten blackworms usually bury themselves in your substrate and help aerate it until the fish manage to catch them later. You end up with a little worm head garden in shady corners because they stick their heads out to filter feed, which is how the fish catch them after they've buried. It's a great way to give your fish something to indulge in their foraging instincts. They'll also tend to breed in your substrate if left alone long enough, which gives a somewhat self replenishing food source until the fish manage to eventually catch them all.

 

[venymae]

Earthworms are better for large fish like ciclids and oscars, as they're too big for smaller mouthed fish to eat.

My father used to cut earthworms up into little pieces for our fish As for flake food, the brand is not too important as long as you look at the ingredient list. THe first ingredients should be good high quality ingredients (like whole fish, shrimp, seaweed/algae, with fillers low on the list), not fillers or low grade protein (such as fish meal, wheat, potatoe protein, etc).

 

[Keflan]

The black worms seem decent enough. Especially if they are burying and reproducing plus it gives the fish something a little more entertaining. They will feel like being in the wild having to hunt their food

 

[gilpi]

I would think small feedings more often are better than "all you can eat" once a day or every two days. Of course our lives cannot evolve around a fish tank so we have to feed sometimes when we can once or twice a day, also more feedings equals more water changes. As a rule, I feed juvenile fish often, adults once a day with a variety of frozen, flakes and pellets.

 

[Keflan]

I couldn't get any live black worms. They didn't sell them. I managed to get some frozen brine shrimps. For flake food they sold 2 different brands. One was called Tetra and the other called King British. I got a tub of King British Tropical Flake Food.