Protein Level
Because of a long and complicated line of cause and effect, the protein content of the food appears to be the most important contributor to a fish’s health. The more protein, the clearer the water. The clearer the water, the healthier the fish. When I buy commercial food, I always buy the proteiniest food I can find, regardless of the fish species.
Note that labeling food as specific to a particular type of fish, i.e., “goldfish food,” is just a pointless marketing ploy. Fish food is fish food. And the recommendation for high protein content applies regardless of fish species. Bloat is NOT caused by high-protein foods. Bloat is caused by foods high in carbohydrates.
Fish Food
The ingredients in fish food appear to have a relatively insignificant DIRECT effect on fish health. Almost any fish food is fine for almost all fish. What is important is the quantity of fish food. Feed only the volume of two fish eyeballs per day per fish (six fish = 12 eyeballs of dry food). Overfeeding is probably the most common cause of fish death in beginners.
Fish Food in a Little More Depth
The amount of fish food to be added used to be very important in the hobby. When I started the hobby many years ago, all the little guides I bought in my aquarium store, the little “Your First Aquarium” books, emphasized that the beginner should only add once a day what fish could consume in one minute. They emphasized that overfeeding killed fish.
The guides I see online now do not make that caution. Since this is extremely important, I find that somewhat confusing. If I had not taken that caution early to with, I think I would have lost a lot of fish and probably would not have stayed in the hobby.
The biggest mistake beginners make is overfeeding their fish. The directions on eating are ridiculous. ” two to three times a day an amount they can eat in two minutes ” is FAR too much food. Fish are cold-blooded creatures and only need small amounts of food once a day. They should be given an amount equal to one fish eyeball once a day. This is not a lot of food!
Also note that if one feeds fish something other than commercial food, keep in mind that commercial food contains little moisture, whereas something like shrimp from the freezer or frozen fish fillets contain 80% water. So the amount of shrimp and fish fillets one can feed is five times that of the commercial food. If you feed shrimp or fish fillets, do five eyeballs a day.
Uneaten food in the aquarium produces bacteria. Bacteria produce toxins. And those toxins can kill fish. Go to this link for more information on how much fish food to feed:
3.3. Amount of Food to Feed
What is not important is what food to feed. Most commercial food made for fish today is excellent, so it is hard to go wrong when feeding fish, contrary to popular mythology.
The one trick most experienced fish keepers use is to give ALL fish some roughage at least once a week. That roughage can be whole vegetables like “zucchini a la fork” or it can be the chitin from something like dried krill. Like humans, fish seem to need roughage to keep the digestive tract healthy.
Food Myths
There are a large number of myths circulating on social media about fish food. Some of these myths are:
- The type of food fed to fish is critical to success in the hobby.
- Different types of fish (herbivores, carnivores) can’t be kept together because they require different foods.
- Feed fish only what they can consume in five minutes twice a day (or two minutes three times a day).
- Mbuna get “Malawi bloat” when fed high protein food.
- “Just like us, fish enjoy a varied diet”.
- Live foods are the best foods for tropical fish.
- Animal protein has an inferior nutritional content compared to plant protein.
- There is such a thing as “high quality” and “low quality” protein.
- Chicken, tilapia, and beef are bad foods for fish.
- Fat is bad in fish food
- Krill, bloodworms, and tubifex worms are bad for fish.
- Mbuna are herbivores and eat only plants.
- Lots of fish require live foods.
- Vitamins are required to have good fish colors.
- Wheat, corn, rice, oats, and potatoes are good foods for herbivore fish.
- Fish will starve before eating a fish food they don’t “like”.
None of these myths are true
3. Fish Food
For more on fish food you can click on this link:
Startpage Aquariumscience
Source: Aquariumscience.org – David Bogert
The author, David Bogert, is a certified chemist, something that is only useful in the sections on chemicals such as conditioners and fertilizers. He has about 43 patents, mostly in the medical device field, which only helps with some DIY designs. But he also spent much of his life as a scientific researcher working on literature research, data analysis, statistics, and a little-understood field called “experimental design.” This experience is very applicable to ALL fishkeeping science. The author has been keeping all kinds of aquariums and all kinds of fish for over 54 years. He currently has ten large and many small aquariums. But note that he is not an “expert” in all aspects of aquarium keeping. The ecology of an aquarium is far too complex for anyone to be a true “expert” in all the different aspects. One can only search the journals and books for relevant research in each individual subject.
