ScalareReb
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
I just posted a reply to an old post, but the post was old so it wasn’t accepted. So I am starting a new feeding thread. Here is what I do with feeding my many tanks:
To me, food is the key to healthy fish. Variety seems to work best. I enjoy raising different types of live food and supplementing with some pellets, veggies, repashy, and frozen foods etc I find. I have lots of types of frozen, bbs, worms cultures, scuds, and snails for puffers. Puffers are great because if you get too many snails in a tank, Viola, the puffers are there to help. (then there is the snail shell cleanup.)
So I feed my fish depending on the tank inhabitants, with alternating food.
I feed all fry bbs and high protein phase 1 food I get sent to me from a breeder on aquabid. He taught me all about the Walter worms. Grow out fry get BBs and worms and stage 2-4 pellets.
I feed my adorable pea puffers scuds, snails, and frozen bloodworms (they are super picky.). I even went away for vacation for 10 days. Loaded the tank with pond snails and rams horn, and the sneaky little hunters were thriving when I came back. You never need to worry about snail populations, they are amazing breeders.
Speaking of vacation feeding, I bought cheap automatic programmable feeders from Freesea on Amazon and they do the trick on vacation. Just make sure batteries are good.
I feed angels anything as they eat anything. They are at risk for over feeding. Like puppies, constantly begging for food. Frozen brine shrimp, frozen bloodworms, community frozen food, cichlid pellets, even algae pellets. My juveniles love BBs still.
I feed the Cory’s and cats at night- falling pellets. If I feed them in the days my angels eat the pellets. I make repashy for them and they gobble. The snails and guppies go wild for repashy. Talk about cheap food- if you haven’t gotten repashy- order some. Amazing nutrition and it is soooooooooo cheap! (it’s funny because I bought the “ wrong” repashy from the pet store by mistake. I got the one for bearded dragons. Of course it is made with protein from insects, and by golly, the fish love it! Next time I’ll get the” right one” but think about it. Fish eat insect material too.) Raw repashy powder is also great fry food!
I feed the schooling tetras (neons, glow lights, rummy’s) mostly flakes but they love BBs, so they get a squirt of that a few time a week. They go crazy over it.
Some days it’s great to fast the fish to make sure not to over feed. I do a Sunday fast on my water change days- just makes it easy to remember.
Snails and scuds love repashy, cucumbers, squash, zucchini. I put it on a fork, and when they attach, I take it out and feed the puffers with the attached veggie, just shake them off. Scuds? Tiny crustaceans great for larger cichlids and puffers. I ordered 1 culture and that’s all you need. They reproduce like mad.
My snail and scud tanks are just little 2-5 gallon leftover tanks.
Feeding the fish is fun. Obviously I take a lot of time working with these foods and varying the diets, and I am rewarded with amazing healthy, happy fish who are spawning and super healthy. I couldn’t be happier. I learned about all this on you tube with multiple experts/ hobbyists giving their 2 cents, and trying each trick. It takes time to develop, but it’s so fun to do. The best food is definitely the BBs, as most love it and it seems to be like catnip. I keep it going and have a new batch every 2-3 days.
I pay close attention to not over feeding them and watch parameters carefully, making sure they are eating all I give them. I have 14 tanks with different species that thrive on different food. 2 tanks are for snails and scuds.
I find it just as much fun to feed them as watch them. When you have success with healthy thriving fish and they start spawning for you, you know you have created an ecosystem that is the best for the fish. I love helping them live healthy long lives. Finding out who is happy with who. And I bet these fish and inverts eat better with me than in the wild. And the fish aren’t eaten themselves because of no predation.
I really enjoy watching the night prowlers eat (blue light) such as catfish and Corys. Don’t let them just eat detritus, give them nutritious food that is made for them.
I also love finding out what fish like to eat. My betta LOVEs bloodworms, so he gets a treat once a week. He also is sneaky about eating pond snails. Easy to overfeed bettas, just a few pellets a day ,or you can kill them. Remember, fish can fast well for 4 days, so don’t over feed, that is lesson one. It’s so easy to want to feed them tons as they eagerly gobble.
So this is a big topic, but my best advice is, enjoy trying a variety of foods. Sounds expensive. Really not. I bought a large can of BBs from Aq coop once and it is lasting forever in the freezer. I buy several frozen foods at once and feed seldom, so they last and last. I propagate cultures of worms and scuds and snails. Buy once and they grow for you. I have yet to get into infusoria and daphnia- next projects. I give babies guppy grass, and they munch on the microorganisms on the grass and other plants.
Food and feeding has got to be one of the most interesting and rewarding parts of the hobby, gives you great results, is a learning experience, and is lots of fun. My worm cultures recently died/ dried out, so I am excited to try a new species from my source. He has a new worm for me to try. I can’t remember the name. Sometimes I get live worms at the LFS.
When the LFS has tanks of brine shrimp, I get it for my tanks. They go wild. That’s a splurge.
I forgot to mention my use of neocaridina shrimp. They eat detritus, and they go crazy in my tanks. They are growing and reproducing with the variety of foods they find. I am amazed they hang with the puffers and the puffer seem to tolerate them. They keep my plants clear of algae, and they are great for cleaning the remains. (I find munching them on the zucchini and repashy the most.) I put them in all the tanks except the ones with angels who may munch on the shrimp babies.)
By feeding a variety, you find out who likes what, and can personalize the foods you give. I know which pellets my snails like. I know which pellets my catfish DONT like! I know which frozen worms my puffers won’t eat. This is all part of the fun- getting to know each species’ preferences.
So I feed well, my fish reproduce, this keeping my fish buying to nil (I sell the offspring to LFS), and it all pays for itself. What a fun and rewarding hobby.
I can also teach my grandchildren about ecosystems, the circle of life, breeding, and good nutrition through feeding the fish and letting them learn about it. It is a great way to teach youth science -biology and chemistry - as well.
Advantages of fish keeping? Too numerous to count.
I love this hobby.
I think a general discussion about feeding is great especially for new aquarium enthusiasts.
Other ideas that have worked?!
To me, food is the key to healthy fish. Variety seems to work best. I enjoy raising different types of live food and supplementing with some pellets, veggies, repashy, and frozen foods etc I find. I have lots of types of frozen, bbs, worms cultures, scuds, and snails for puffers. Puffers are great because if you get too many snails in a tank, Viola, the puffers are there to help. (then there is the snail shell cleanup.)
So I feed my fish depending on the tank inhabitants, with alternating food.
I feed all fry bbs and high protein phase 1 food I get sent to me from a breeder on aquabid. He taught me all about the Walter worms. Grow out fry get BBs and worms and stage 2-4 pellets.
I feed my adorable pea puffers scuds, snails, and frozen bloodworms (they are super picky.). I even went away for vacation for 10 days. Loaded the tank with pond snails and rams horn, and the sneaky little hunters were thriving when I came back. You never need to worry about snail populations, they are amazing breeders.
Speaking of vacation feeding, I bought cheap automatic programmable feeders from Freesea on Amazon and they do the trick on vacation. Just make sure batteries are good.
I feed angels anything as they eat anything. They are at risk for over feeding. Like puppies, constantly begging for food. Frozen brine shrimp, frozen bloodworms, community frozen food, cichlid pellets, even algae pellets. My juveniles love BBs still.
I feed the Cory’s and cats at night- falling pellets. If I feed them in the days my angels eat the pellets. I make repashy for them and they gobble. The snails and guppies go wild for repashy. Talk about cheap food- if you haven’t gotten repashy- order some. Amazing nutrition and it is soooooooooo cheap! (it’s funny because I bought the “ wrong” repashy from the pet store by mistake. I got the one for bearded dragons. Of course it is made with protein from insects, and by golly, the fish love it! Next time I’ll get the” right one” but think about it. Fish eat insect material too.) Raw repashy powder is also great fry food!
I feed the schooling tetras (neons, glow lights, rummy’s) mostly flakes but they love BBs, so they get a squirt of that a few time a week. They go crazy over it.
Some days it’s great to fast the fish to make sure not to over feed. I do a Sunday fast on my water change days- just makes it easy to remember.
Snails and scuds love repashy, cucumbers, squash, zucchini. I put it on a fork, and when they attach, I take it out and feed the puffers with the attached veggie, just shake them off. Scuds? Tiny crustaceans great for larger cichlids and puffers. I ordered 1 culture and that’s all you need. They reproduce like mad.
My snail and scud tanks are just little 2-5 gallon leftover tanks.
Feeding the fish is fun. Obviously I take a lot of time working with these foods and varying the diets, and I am rewarded with amazing healthy, happy fish who are spawning and super healthy. I couldn’t be happier. I learned about all this on you tube with multiple experts/ hobbyists giving their 2 cents, and trying each trick. It takes time to develop, but it’s so fun to do. The best food is definitely the BBs, as most love it and it seems to be like catnip. I keep it going and have a new batch every 2-3 days.
I pay close attention to not over feeding them and watch parameters carefully, making sure they are eating all I give them. I have 14 tanks with different species that thrive on different food. 2 tanks are for snails and scuds.
I find it just as much fun to feed them as watch them. When you have success with healthy thriving fish and they start spawning for you, you know you have created an ecosystem that is the best for the fish. I love helping them live healthy long lives. Finding out who is happy with who. And I bet these fish and inverts eat better with me than in the wild. And the fish aren’t eaten themselves because of no predation.
I really enjoy watching the night prowlers eat (blue light) such as catfish and Corys. Don’t let them just eat detritus, give them nutritious food that is made for them.
I also love finding out what fish like to eat. My betta LOVEs bloodworms, so he gets a treat once a week. He also is sneaky about eating pond snails. Easy to overfeed bettas, just a few pellets a day ,or you can kill them. Remember, fish can fast well for 4 days, so don’t over feed, that is lesson one. It’s so easy to want to feed them tons as they eagerly gobble.
So this is a big topic, but my best advice is, enjoy trying a variety of foods. Sounds expensive. Really not. I bought a large can of BBs from Aq coop once and it is lasting forever in the freezer. I buy several frozen foods at once and feed seldom, so they last and last. I propagate cultures of worms and scuds and snails. Buy once and they grow for you. I have yet to get into infusoria and daphnia- next projects. I give babies guppy grass, and they munch on the microorganisms on the grass and other plants.
Food and feeding has got to be one of the most interesting and rewarding parts of the hobby, gives you great results, is a learning experience, and is lots of fun. My worm cultures recently died/ dried out, so I am excited to try a new species from my source. He has a new worm for me to try. I can’t remember the name. Sometimes I get live worms at the LFS.
When the LFS has tanks of brine shrimp, I get it for my tanks. They go wild. That’s a splurge.
I forgot to mention my use of neocaridina shrimp. They eat detritus, and they go crazy in my tanks. They are growing and reproducing with the variety of foods they find. I am amazed they hang with the puffers and the puffer seem to tolerate them. They keep my plants clear of algae, and they are great for cleaning the remains. (I find munching them on the zucchini and repashy the most.) I put them in all the tanks except the ones with angels who may munch on the shrimp babies.)
By feeding a variety, you find out who likes what, and can personalize the foods you give. I know which pellets my snails like. I know which pellets my catfish DONT like! I know which frozen worms my puffers won’t eat. This is all part of the fun- getting to know each species’ preferences.
So I feed well, my fish reproduce, this keeping my fish buying to nil (I sell the offspring to LFS), and it all pays for itself. What a fun and rewarding hobby.
I can also teach my grandchildren about ecosystems, the circle of life, breeding, and good nutrition through feeding the fish and letting them learn about it. It is a great way to teach youth science -biology and chemistry - as well.
Advantages of fish keeping? Too numerous to count.
I love this hobby.
I think a general discussion about feeding is great especially for new aquarium enthusiasts.
Other ideas that have worked?!
