Learn the Basics of Proper Fish Feeding

When you purchase fish as pets for your home or office, it is important to understand that they deserve as much care as any other pet.  This means not only ensuring a clean environment, but ensuring that they are receiving the right nutrition as well.  Today we will take a look at some of the basics of fish feeding in order to ensure that your pets have a long and healthy life.

Each breed has different feeding requirements, but it’s not that hard.  First up, do you have a cold-water fish (goldfish) or a warm-water (tropical) fish? One of the best tips you can follow is to research the breed of fish that you have purchased.  For example, goldfish are omnivores that typically eat fish flakes.  They are fed only a pinch of flakes once daily.  They also appreciate a bit of ‘real’ greenery now and then, which you can give them in the form of live tank plants which they love to chew on. Larger pet goldfish also appreciate half a pea (unfrozen) from time to time – pinch the skin off a cooked pea and drop the two halves into the tank, then watch what your fish does. He will probably gobble it up, then look around for more. Do not feed more than one or two peas in a sitting, or the uneaten ones will drop to the bottom and foul up the water.

Tropical fish, on the other hand, may require algae, meat, plants, or a combination of these things.  There is certainly flake food for each of these things, but knowing which is right for your fish is imperative for proper fish feeding.

Some fish, such as Cichlids require fish feeding via vegetable food.  This can include small amounts of lettuce or potatoes.  This food is given once daily and must be removed at the end of the day in order to prevent decay.

Betta fish are solitary, aggressive fish which need to be kept isolated in a medium-sized tank. They generally eat tiny round Betta-fish pellets – a mature Betta should be fed no more than 5-6 pellets, twice a day. As a treat they can be given dried blood-worms instead of their regular pellets, which they will go crazy for. Be warned though – overenthusiastic owners or young children can sometimes overfeed these characteristically greedy fishes, who will then eat every last crumb, causing internal swelling of the stomach which usually kills them within a day. Moral of the story – don’t overfeed your Betta! 

Knowing how and when to feed your fish requires careful research.  There is no hard and fast rule or food that works for every fish.  With the right information and research, however, fish feeding can actually be remarkably simple.