Proper Feeding of Aquarium Fish
The majority of common fish found in various aquarium shops can survive on processed food like flakes or pellets. In fact some of these fish have the capability to thrive on it. But fish also, like other animals prefer a little bit of variety in their food.
Generally food meant for fish is a little delicate in nature. If you expose the food item to direct sunlight, or leave the lid off for quite some time or if you buy a very big container which may take 8-10 months to finish off, the nutritional value of that food may be lost. Broadly speaking, fish food can be classified into five categories:
The different types of processed foods like flakes or pellets.
Freeze dried food items including blood worms, Daphna etc,
Frozen foods
Live foods and
Other fresh foods including the homemade carnivore food like beef-heart and many more.
A lot of fish keepers treat flakes like rice and they include flakes in every fish meal. Although it is a good choice and contains the necessary nutrition, yet giving others things are also important. Like almost all other fish owners you too must have heard the rule saying “feed your fish only that much which it can eat in just 3 minutes”. If you are a beginner you must be feeling terrible hearing this sermon. You may feel worried that your fish may be hungry and starving.
If this is the case then forget all the worries and concentrate on the rule. Majority of people want to keep fish in order to observe them. The best time to observe the fish when you feed them. So whenever you are feeding place yourself in front of the aquarium to watch. At first offer a small quantity of food and watch the fish consuming that. Carefully see how much they are eating and how much is sinking at the bottom. If you do not have any bottom dweller fish in your tank like corridors or loaches then see if any other fish is cleaning the bottom or not. Generally gouramis will but rainbows won’t. Again if you have loaches or any other bottom dweller observe how fast they are eating.
Watch for two minutes and if everything is clean then you can safely give them a little more. But remember, just a little, not much. But keep observing and see that they are actually eating everything. You can feed several times a day in small quantities. But normally majority of the adult fish will be fine with a five minute feeding once daily. Moreover, in a bit older and established fish tank, three minutes instead of five is better.
Another important thing that you should remember: It is possible for fish to become fat if they are regularly given rich foods like blood-worms. When you buy a fish for your tank it is a juvenile. How it will grow up into an adult fish depends primarily on your care and maintenance. You know that high percentage of nitrates can stop a fish’s growth and shorten its life and may lead to deformed bodies. Similarly overfeeding also lead to deformed bodies and several other problems. So ensure that you are offering proper food at proper quantity to your fish which are not only rich but full of nutrients and fiber.
Chintamani Abhyankar is a goldfish enthusiast and has been raising and breeding goldfish for many years. He is an expert on their care and an advocate for raising healthy goldfish the natural way. His famous digital book [http://www.goldfishcaretips.com], “Secrets on Keeping Beautiful Goldfish”, offers simple, easy to follow instruction for raising healthy, long-living goldfish. Visit his website [http://www.goldfishcaretips.com] to learn more about expertly raising your goldfish and to receive your FREE copy of his special report, “Fish-Keeping Hobby Secrets Revealed”.
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