In order to understand how many times a day you need to feed aquarium fish, you should understand the peculiarities of their nutrition in their natural habitat. All types of fish borrowed their taste preferences and diet from their natural ancestors. What do all fish usually eat?

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Fish feeding methods

1. Herbivores - these fish have a long digestive system, which indicates the habit of eating small meals frequently. In their natural environment, they eat algae, plants, fruits and seeds.
2. Carnivores have large stomachs, so they eat a lot, but not as often as herbivores. In nature, these fish eat dead animals, small fish, insects, invertebrates, birds, and amphibians.
3. Omnivores - these fish eat several times a day; they prefer both plant and protein foods.

See how to prepare plant food for aquarium fish.

According to the diet and diet, you need to give your aquarium fish the food that suits them. Typically, pet fish are fed live, frozen, dry, plant food, which is sold in stores. It is important that the diet is varied and rich in healthy vitamins and microelements.

Live food should be given to carnivorous and omnivorous fish. These are bloodworms, tubifex, daphnia, coretra, ciliates, rotifers, gammarus. They need to be stored in the freezer as they spoil quickly. Fish fry need to be raised on live food; due to protein, they become resistant to diseases. Also, as live food, fish are served veal heart, minced fish, minced chicken and liver, invertebrate meat, and chicken eggs. Plant food is necessary for herbivorous and omnivorous fish - these can be vegetables, fruits, algae, plants, cereals.

Once a week, the fish are given a fasting day, or mini-hunger strike. This cleanses the intestines, eliminates the consequences of overeating, and helps to improve the health of sick fish. In their natural environment, fish can live for a long time without food, so a one-day hunger strike will not harm them.

About the feeding regime in captivity

You need to feed the fish so that they do not overeat and are full of food. The diet directly depends on the age of the pet and the characteristics of its digestive system. Adults usually eat 2 times a day, which is enough for them. Fry 1-2 months old should eat 4 times a day. And fry up to one month old need food every 3-6 hours. During the spawning period, it is correct to give the fish less food, sometimes without feeding for the first few days after breeding. Two weeks before spawning, on the contrary, it is correct for producers to give more live food.

No matter how many fish you keep, you need to feed them all at the same time. Start in the morning, an hour after turning on the lights. The last feeding should occur 2 hours before turning off the lights. The question for beginner aquarists is: how much food should I give, and how often? Give enough food so that they can eat it in 5 minutes. Do not feed frequently, but rather in small portions so that they swallow them completely. Uneaten remains can be removed using a net to avoid rotting.

The grains of food depend on the age and size of the fish. Juveniles should eat food that is no larger than the size of their eye. It is recommended to grind dry food in the form of granules, flakes and tablets into dust. Adult fish like to capture larger particles of food; they do not eat dust. To ensure that all residents of your home pond are satisfied with feeding, install special feeders for dry and live food in the tank. The food does not spill out of them, and pets can eat it calmly.

See how to properly feed aquarium fish with dry food.

How to feed fish

There are general feeding rules for all fish that must be followed at all times:

• Correctly feed the fish with the food that is suitable for them, take into account the physiological characteristics of all species living in a common aquarium.
• Do not overfeed your pets - give food not too often, in small portions.
• The best diet for aquarium fish is a varied diet.
• No matter how much food you put in the tank, remove any leftovers after eating.
• The number of meals should correspond to the size and age of the fish.
• Do not feed your fish immediately after turning on the light, or before going to bed.
• The diet of aquarium fish should contain natural food, and not just artificial, purchased food.

What should fish get from the food they receive?

How many times a week should a fish eat, and what portion of nutrients does it need to get from food? It all depends on individual calculations. Carnivorous and omnivorous fish can feed according to the following pattern:

• The first day of the week - dry food of the first type (chips or granules) once a day.
• The second is dry food of the second type, 1 time per day.
• The third is live food (for example, brine shrimp or bloodworms), once a day.
• The fourth is dry food of the first type, 2 times a day.
• Fifth - dry or vegetable food, 2 times a day.
• The sixth is live food (tubifex, daphnia) and plant food.
• The seventh is a fasting diet.

Feeding in an aquarium can be arranged differently, and you can make your own scheme. Be sure to alternate dry, live and plant foods. If the fish is a herbivore, it should only eat plant and dry food (spirulina tablets). Do not forget about the vitamins that your pet must receive to live a full life. If you buy food from well-known brands, look at the composition; it indicates all the microelements and vitamins that the fish will receive after eating.

1. Vitamin A is needed for cell division, particularly in fry and young animals. A lack of this component can cause growth retardation, curvature of the spine and deformation of the fins, and constant stress.
2. Vitamin E - plays an important role in the development of the reproductive system.
3. Vitamin D3 – necessary for the development and growth of the skeletal system.
4. B vitamins (thiamine - B1, riboflavin - B2, cyanocobalamin - B12) are needed to normalize metabolic processes in the body.
5. Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is involved in the formation of the skeletal system and teeth, strengthens the immune system, and improves metabolism.
6. Vitamin H (biotin) – required for proper cell formation.
7. Vitamin K is a fat-soluble vitamin, required for protein synthesis and ensures blood clotting.
8. Vitamin M (B9, folic acid) – develops the immune system and circulatory system. Improves the color of scales.
9. Vitamin B4 (choline) – required for fish growth, synthesizes the amount of sugar in the blood.

The only way to ensure harmonious growth and development of fish is to feed them correctly. In nature, each species feeds on a specific type of food; in an aquarium, they have to adapt to different foods and diets. Therefore, their health and life expectancy will depend on proper feeding.

In order to understand how to feed aquarium fish, you need to find out what they eat in their natural habitat. This should be done before setting up the aquarium. You need to choose fish with a similar diet, which will help avoid undereating or overeating.

Fish are conventionally divided into 3 types:

• predators, have a capacious stomach, so feeding should be carried out in large portions a small number of times;
• herbivores species that require frequent feeding in small quantities, as they have a long digestive tract designed to digest plant fibers;
• omnivores individuals are adapted to absorb any type of food.

The diet and diet are affected by the size of the fish. If both large and small individuals live in the aquarium, then it will be difficult to organize their nutrition correctly. There is a risk that large individuals will eat small ones.

How many times a day should you feed your fish?

The number of meals differs between fry and adults. Juveniles are often fed 3-4 times a day in small portions so that the food is quickly eaten and the water is not contaminated with food debris. Adults are fed 1-2 times a day, not more often.

The amount of food should be such that the fish have time to eat it in five minutes . Residues will immediately spoil the water. This can cause the fish to get sick and die. The exception is catfish, which may not leave their hiding places for the whole day.

Feeding is carried out at the same time, as the fish quickly develop a conditioned reflex.

Feeding rules

Proper feeding of aquarium fish is based on three basic rules:

• time to eat no more than 5 minutes;
• avoid overeating;
• Filter systems must be running during feeding.

You can understand that fish are overeating by the following signs:

• cloudiness of water;
• the fish rise to the surface and breathe heavily;
• the smell of mud or fish from the water;
• the appearance of algae on glass;
• bacterial film on the surface and walls of the aquarium;
• slime on aquarium plants.

What to feed the fish?

All fish food in an aquarium can be divided into four groups - branded, frozen, live food and plant food.

To maintain ideal health, it is better to feed all types of food. Yes, some types of fish eat only live food, others can only eat plant food. But for ordinary fish, the ideal diet consists of branded food, constant live feeding, and occasional plant feeding.

Branded food

Branded food - granules, tablets, flakes

If you buy real food and not a fake, then branded food can become the basis of the diet for your fish. Modern branded fish food contains all the necessary nutrients for health. Buying such food will not cause any problems, because... the choice is huge.

Separately, you should pay attention to dry food - daphnia, dried gammarus and cyclops. This is a very bad option for feeding any fish, because... does not contain essential nutrients, is poorly digestible and is an allergen for people.

Also, do not use dry food - dried daphnia. It contains very few nutrients; fish suffer from gastrointestinal diseases and grow poorly.

Live food

One of the best food for fish. Live food should be regularly fed to the inhabitants of the aquarium, but do not feed the same thing, constantly alternate.

For nutrition, 3 types of live food are most often used:

• bloodworm;
• tubifex;
• coretra.

Live food is highly nutritious, but it is very difficult to ensure the safety of fish when feeding live food. There is always a threat of introducing various types of bacteria into the aquarium. Therefore, the easiest way to keep your fish safe is to freeze the food, thereby killing some of the nasties in it.

Frozen food

Frozen bloodworm

I choose frozen food to feed my fish. Why? Because it is easier to understand the dosage, they are stored for a long time and contain the same substances as live ones. Mixes of coretra, bloodworms and brine shrimp are also sold, which is very convenient.

Plant food

Plant foods are not suitable for all types of fish. For example, predators do not eat plants at all. To understand what to feed a particular fish, read what type of food it prefers. Plant foods are sold both branded and in tablets or flakes.

BJU and vitamins

Aquarium housing deprives fish of the ability to regulate their food intake, as they do in their natural habitat. This creates the possibility of nutritional deficiencies.

The nutritional needs of different fish are very different. Some species consume minerals through the gills, while others need large amounts of vitamin C and unsaturated fatty acids. For some, the required amount of food per day fluctuates at 3.8 mg per gram of body weight (blue neons), while for others, for example, it is 25 mg.

Proteins and amino acids

To varying degrees, fish need protein and amino acids, which affect their growth and weight. In general, protein requirements for most aquarium fish range from 25 to 55%. Thus, for positive weight gain, goldfish need food containing 53% protein, red-tailed barbs - 41%, lalius and angelfish - 25-26%. Excess protein can also have negative consequences. For example, if a barb is fed food in which the protein content exceeds 50%, this will lead to significant weight loss.

It is important to consider that marine protein sources influence weight gain more than plant sources. If both species are present in the feed with a share of 45-55%, the fish develops faster.

Protein levels influence fertility, especially in species of the poeciliaceae or gambusiaceae, which are common among aquarists. A protein content of over 30% serves as a certain guarantee of the appearance of offspring. Food with a low protein content (20%) leads to low protein content in eggs.

Protein is better absorbed when fed the following foods:

• fish flour;
• beef heart;
• food with casein.

Acids

Fatty acids, an important source of energy, ensure normal growth and survival of fish. Freshwater fish have the greatest need for linolenic acid, the source of which is vegetable oils. Linolenic acid also improves reproductive function.

Feeds high in fatty acids:

• beef liver, heart;
• mosquito larvae;
• tubifex;
• earthworms;
• bloodworm;
• Moina.

The leader in the level of fatty acids from the list is beef heart.

Minerals and vitamins

Most fish require vitamin supplements. Their choice depends on the type of fish, size, food, health. Ascorbic acid is most often added to the diet. Vitamin C is responsible for the removal of foreign chemicals from the body and the production of enzymes involved in metabolism.

Lack of ascorbic acid leads to decreased weight gain, curvature of the spine, bulging eyes, and color changes.

Ascorbic acid loses its activity over time, so food supplements containing it should always be fresh. Fish can absorb minerals through their gills and intestinal epithelium.

The following minerals are considered the most important for aquarium inhabitants:

• magnesium;
• calcium;
• phosphorus;
• copper;
• iron;
• magnesium;
• selenium.

The concentration of phosphorus in water is the lowest, so it is found in many feeds as an additive. Lack of phosphorus causes curvature of bones and loss of appetite.

Carotenoids

The color of the skin and muscles of fish depends on the amount of carotenoids in the diet. In addition, they affect reproduction, the immune system and overall development. Fish cannot produce carotenoids on their own, so they must obtain these elements from food.

Natural sources of carotenoids are:

• spirulina;
• Chinese rose (petals);
• calendula (petals).

Chlorella, which is a unicellular green algae, has the greatest influence on color intensity.

Watch a video about proper feeding of fish:

Feeding the juveniles

The most difficult part of organizing nutrition is feeding the fry. A constant change of food types is required over a period of 2-3 weeks.

Fish larvae that have just hatched from eggs are fed with compound feed, which includes algae, yeast, beef heart, and liver. Single-species foods are also popular - algae, artemia larvae (nauplii), and rotifers. The fry have a small mouth, so they are regularly fed with dry milk, powdered food and small plankton, rarely crushed egg yolk.

In the first seven days of life, the juveniles are fed powdered food with added vitamins and live food (chopped bloodworms, carriage).

They produce small granules, which, unlike flakes, are quickly eaten by fish and thereby prevent the loss of their nutritional value in the water.

In a multi-species aquarium, the food should be varied and each type of food should be added consistently and in portions. It is difficult and impractical to provide nutrients to different species of fish living in the same aquarium. Therefore, many aquarists use universal food for feeding.

Do you know what the very first desire arises in a person who has just installed an aquarium at home and introduced his very first fish into it? I really want to feed them! Yes, yes, because, of course, the fish want to eat!

And besides, if the fish accept food, this means (according to the understanding of their owners, of course!) that they are comfortable in the aquarium and everything is done correctly. But we will not now touch on the correctness of such conclusions, since in this part of the Beginners Manifesto we will only talk about feeding fish.

Undoubtedly a good appetite in fish it is the first sign of their well-being. However, we have to disappoint our readers - with many serious diseases, it often happens that fish do not refuse food. However, we suggest immediately dismissing possible negative problems and focusing directly on food and feeding, initially assuming that all fish are absolutely healthy and want only one thing - to eat!

It would seem that the simplest process called “feeding aquarium fish” actually deserves the closest attention and certain skills, which we will discuss further. But first, we list four main questions that quite often lead newcomers to a dead end:
- What should you give?
- How should you give?
- How much should I give?
- When should you give?

Of course, you need to give food. But what, how, for how much and when - we will try to tell you about this in detail and clearly. In short, the optimal fish diet- one of the main conditions for the safe maintenance of the aquarium and its inhabitants.

Theoretically, fish eat anything that is edible. Some particularly desperate aquarists try to test this axiom on their own fish, giving them for lunch from ordinary bread to freshly cooked pilaf. But this can hardly be considered a reasonable action. Any food offered to fish should be intended only for them and only for them (you won’t feast on a worm yourself, will you?!).

The range of food preferences of aquarium inhabitants is truly huge: from microscopic crustaceans for small fish such as nenas to newborn mice or day-old chicks for huge arowanas or piranhas. It can also be various plants, fruits, algae, beans, and grains. It can also be various cooked porridges, curdled milk, bread, and confectionery.

You see how easy it is to feed your pets! However, do not rush to rejoice - feed aquarium fish should be done correctly, otherwise you will either feed them to death or turn your aquarium into a swamp with smelly, murky water.

Live food for aquarium fish

And yet – what should you give your fish for breakfast, lunch and dinner?

The best food is live! Fortunately, in Tashkent it is very easy to buy it at the pet market. Bloodworms, tubifex and some live crustaceans are what your fish’s daily menu may consist of. Bloodworm– mosquito larvae, tubifex – worms. Both are mined in small rivers or sewers. Therefore, they can introduce various diseases into the aquarium, and sometimes simply poison all the fish. This is the main disadvantage of live food.

Their big advantage is that live food is natural for fish, they eat it with pleasure, contains a lot of useful substances and vitamins. What to do then? Disinfect! Bloodworms, moreover, after disinfection, can (and better!) be frozen.

Disinfection involves soaking a purchased portion of bloodworms or tubifex in a fairly strong solution of potassium permanganate or methylene blue for half an hour. Then the food should be thoroughly rinsed under running water, the bloodworms should be placed in a plastic bag in the form of a chocolate bar and sent to the freezer, and the tubifex should be placed in a flat container, pour very little water into it and send it all to the very bottom of the refrigerator ( tubifex should sit in the vessel for several days, and it must be washed under running water in the morning and evening).

Ice cream and other types of food for aquarium fish

It looks like this option isn't quite right for you? Then live and frozen food is no longer necessary, and more presentable products can be recommended to you. For predatory fish, this is, first of all, lean meat (beef), beef heart, sea ​​fish fillet, bought in a store, ice cream bought there shrimps. Smaller and less toothy fish can be given porridge boiled in water, pieces of bread, low-fat cookies, omelet, scalded lettuce leaves and nettles.

A very good replacement for live or frozen food are various feed mixtures. Their basis can be minced meat, so-called “sea cocktails” (a mixture of frozen shrimp and shellfish), and porridge. We advise you to read and about feed mixture based on minced meat .

There are fish that need to be fed raw (or scalded) fruits and vegetables. They are happily eaten by catfish from the loricariid family ( ancistrus, brocade catfish, loricaria etc.), some other fish, as well as snails - ampullaries and coils. The only thing you need to do is to attach a small stone to pieces of vegetables or fruits using, for example, a fishing line, which will sink the food to the bottom of the aquarium and prevent it from floating up. Anything uneaten must be removed from the aquarium. We advise you to read about.

All fish can be fed with various imported granular, dry food, which are sold in huge quantities and variety at bazaars and pet stores. It is better, of course, to buy food from well-known companies, but they are more expensive than food supplied to us from Southeast Asia. These foods are multi-colored plates, peas, granules or tablets, which, as stated by their manufacturers, include: nutrients and vitamins. Well, all you have to do is believe in it and feed it to your pets.

But we want to warn you right away: you need to give all the food listed above to the fish very carefully, otherwise you can ruin all the living things in the aquarium. Therefore, we move on to the second question posed.

Feeding regimen for aquarium fish

First you need to understand one thing well - feeding fish is accompanied by a deliberate external influence on a closed biological system, which is any aquarium. More clearly, this means that when we give our fish food, we will definitely introduce either living organisms into the aquarium ( worms, larvae, crustaceans, ciliates, etc.), or various substances (highly water-soluble proteins of cereals and bread, dyes and preservatives of granulated feed, etc.). So, the main task of the aquarist is to reduce the amount of these external additives to a minimum.

Live food Before serving, the fish must be thoroughly rinsed under running water for at least a minute. Ice cream bloodworm it is necessary to defrost it in a cup, rinse thoroughly from the blood in a tight net and only then give it to the fish. When giving porridge to the fish, it must also be thoroughly washed so that only grains remain (for example, semolina or pearl barley).

However, no matter how you wash any food, at least a small part of it will still dissolve in water - this is inevitable. Therefore, it is necessary to install in the aquarium filter pump, which would filter out various suspended matter and neutralize chemicals. But the filter may not help if there is an excess of food in the aquarium. And this very often happens among loving fish owners. It is for them that our third question is intended.

Amount of food for aquarium fish

The basic rule has been formulated a long time ago - feed should be given exactly as much as is completely eaten by the fish in three to five minutes. When you give food, it inevitably begins to fall to the bottom (with the exception of live crustaceans, which spread throughout the aquarium), and this is very bad.

If you introduce bloodworms or tubifex, then, having reached the bottom, they immediately burrow into the ground, beginning to contribute to the biobalance of the aquarium. However, there are fish that happily dig into the soil, literally picking out living worms from it. Therefore, if you have such fish, then having a very small part of live food in the ground is even useful.

But if you give food so that the entire bottom of the aquarium is covered with it, then this is not just bad, but catastrophic! This is especially true for frozen and dry food, cereals, meat, etc. Uneaten food, falling to the bottom and falling under soil stones, immediately begins to decompose, releasing substances harmful to fish into the water. The result of this is cloudy water with a foul odor, poisoning of fish and other aquatic organisms, and, finally, their possible death.

And yet many aquarists are tormented by the question - do the fish have enough food?, which they give them? It is difficult to calculate the amount of portions given. Well, for example, there is this option: for every 100 grams of fish weight you need to give 10 grams of food. But which of you will weigh the food and, especially, your fish?!

Therefore, there is another important rule for aquarists - it’s better underfeed the fish than to overfeed. Typically, fish in an aquarium are fed twice a day - morning and evening.

Food can be placed in special feeders, or slowly scatter it with your hand in the water (warning: if you have open wounds on your hand, this cannot be done!).

All fish should get food, at least one worm or piece. In this regard, feeders are not very good, since strong individuals usually hang around them all the time, not allowing weaker neighbors to eat.

For small schooling and young fish, it is highly advisable to increase the frequency of feeding to three to five times a day. It is very good to organize fasting days for your fish (only adults!) once a week or two, when food is not given at all.

Well, now we can move on to our last question.

What time of day to feed aquarium fish

In fact, the answer to this question is quite obvious: when it is convenient for you. For example, you leave for work in the morning and stay there until the evening. This means you can feed the fish in the morning, before leaving, and in the evening, after returning home. However, morning feeding is not so safe.

I remember several cases when fish were given food in the morning, their owner went to work, and in the evening, when he came home, he discovered that all the fish were dead. This can very well happen in overcrowded or small aquariums when the electricity in the house goes out for some reason in broad daylight.

As a result, the compressor or filter pump that saturates the water with oxygen stops working. And then the fish that have eaten begin to choke, so much so that they can die from suffocation. Therefore, morning feeding of fish should be thought out from the point of view of possible force majeure circumstances.

In general, adult fish, especially predatory, you can limit the supply of feed to one time - either in the morning or in the late afternoon. It is also better not to feed the fish late in the evening, since they must have time to digest and assimilate the food they eat. However, there are exceptions here too.

Aquariums often contain not only daytime, but also nocturnal fish (for example, various catfish). These fish become active in the dark, so they need to be given food before turning off the lights in the aquarium.

And finally, they are available for sale automatic feeders, which greatly simplify the process of feeding fish in the absence of their owners. Some models allow you to program feedings several days in advance. However, here everything depends on the design of the feeder - if it is powered by the mains, then if the voltage in the socket is lost, the set feeding program will be reset, and no food will be given to the fish.

Almost all the fish we keep in the aquarium are predators. They develop well and reproduce only when they are given live food. Only some aquarium fish, gourami for example, very love to eat plants- green algae. You have fish, but you couldn’t get food. What should I do? Not difficult make food for aquarium fish with your own hands at home.

What do aquarium fish eat?

For starters, regular meat, well dried and finely scraped with a knife, will help. The fish eat it willingly, but you just need to carefully remove its remains from the bottom before evening. For large breeds, for example, for goldfish, porridge (without salt and oil), well washed and boiled, is quite suitable. A loaf of bread crumbled into small pieces will also work.

But this is all just for the first time, what can you feed aquarium fish. “According to science,” the fish should be given, first of all, daphnia and cyclops. They are caught with a net covered with cellular fabric (knitted fabric) in ponds, where they stay off the coast in windward places from early spring to late autumn. The net is slowly moved near the surface in a circular motion, and the caught crustaceans are lowered into a jar of water. At home they are placed in a basin and taken later as needed.

Caught daphnia can be dried - and then the fish will be provided with nutritious food even in winter. They are dried on thick fabric stretched over a wooden frame in a windless place, preferably under the rays of the sun. In winter, before feeding, add 5-6 drops of fish oil to a matchbox of dried homemade food.

A little more fiddling with the bloodworm. This red worm, a mosquito larva, likes to burrow into the mud. Bloodworms are the most nutritious food, and they must be given to fish before breeding. The sludge is thoroughly washed using a mesh. Store the bloodworms in water, in a cool place, preferably with drinking tea. You can also dry it for the winter and make fish food at home.

What to feed aquarium fish in the summer without buying food?

In the summer, large fish are fed with chopped earthworms and tubifex worms - these live at the bottom of ponds. They are very mobile, quickly make their way through the holes of the floating feeder and climb into the sand. They are usually stored in a plate with water.

If there is no pond nearby, put a few daphnia in a barrel of water in the summer and regularly add one or two tablespoons of milk. In a week the fish will be provided with food.

Give bloodworms and daphnia for dessert, and grow the main food at home in a small box - these are potworms, white mobile worms about a centimeter long.

Take a box about 30 cm long, 20 cm wide and 15 cm deep. Fill it with good garden soil and drop in a few worms. Make a groove in the ground and place white bread soaked in milk in it. There should not be too much bread, mold on it will kill the worms. Fill the groove and moisten it slightly. Cover the top of the box with glass. The temperature should be room temperature. After just two weeks, there will be enough worms to feed 20 - 30 medium-sized fish.

They cannot be placed in the aquarium with soil. Take a handful of earth, place it on the glass, and heat it from below with an electric lamp. To escape the heat, the worms will crawl up and gather in a heap.

In the first days, it is best to feed the fry ciliates. It is not difficult to breed them yourself at home. To do this, put a banana peel or a little rotted hay (you can also put rotten roots of plants from an aquarium) in a three-liter jar of boiled water and add a few drops of milk. In three to four days there will be so many ciliates that the water will become cloudy.

If the fry were born suddenly and there are still few ciliates, at first you can get by with drops of yogurt or hard-boiled egg yolk rubbed through a strainer. Usually after a week to ten days the fry can already be fed with cut bloodworms and small crustaceans.

In summer, you should not neglect any insects - for example, those that flock to the light at night. Aquarium fish themselves will choose from them what they love to eat.

It is important to remember: neither live nor dry fish food should be left in the aquarium overnight. After feeding, be sure to remove all leftovers. From time to time you should arrange “hungry days” for the fish - let them eat the greenery that has grown on the walls and leaves of plants, this is very useful for them.

It is better to underfeed than to overfeed.

Proper and rational nutrition of fish is the key to health and longevity not only of adults, but also of future offspring. Let's talk a little about nutrition, volumes and feeding regimens. What food is better to use, can you give your pets homemade food or is it better to buy it?

Natural nutrition

In order to understand how to feed aquarium fish, you need to find out what they eat in their natural habitat. As a rule, these are completely different products for different types of fish.

So what do fish eat? Let's consider this issue in more detail.

Herbivores have a long digestive tract, which indicates the need for frequent feeding in small portions. The diet of such fish in their natural environment usually consists of a variety of algae, plant particles, fruits and seeds.

Carnivorous species They, in turn, have a pronounced large stomach, which means they must take large amounts of food a small number of times. Under natural conditions, they usually feed on live or dead small animals, insects, birds, invertebrates, and amphibians.

Omnivores. Even based on their name, it becomes clear that such species prefer any acceptable food.

What to feed aquarium fish at home

Existing food for aquarium fish is divided into the following varieties: frozen, branded, live and plant-based. Keeping these pets requires the use of all varieties in the diet, as the appearance and health of your pets will depend on it.

However, some types of fish eat only live food, while others eat exclusively plant food. For common species, the best diet is one with the following components: branded food, constant feeding with live foods and periodic feeding with plant foods.

How to properly feed dry fish food

It would seem that feeding the fish with dry food is very simple: open the jar and pour in as much as you need. But in reality this is far from the case.

Nutrition in the form of tablets

Tablets and tablet forms are food that gradually sinks in water and falls to the bottom. It is better to give them to bottom fish that live in the lower layers of water and other aquatic organisms (shrimp, snails). When the tablets fall into the aquarium water, they do not remain on the surface, but immediately go to the bottom, so other fish will not take it away. Consequently, bottom-dwelling pets will not remain hungry.

Tablet types of food are a large and dense substance, which is why the fish is not able to swallow such food completely. She will have to bite off bit by bit, or grind off. The tablets consist of natural ingredients and vitamin complexes. If you are leaving home for several days, a few large tablets will form the main diet for your fish. The food will stick to the wall of the aquarium, the fish will gather around it, and will bite off a piece as often as they need.

It is generally accepted that dry foods spoil aquarium water, and this opinion also applies to tablets. The only disadvantage of such food is that fish that swim in the upper layers of water will not be able to feast on it. If you have a species aquarium with exclusively bottom-dwelling fish, then such feeding will always come in handy. Another point is that the tablets seep heavily into the coarse soil, so it will be impossible to get it out even with a siphon.

Food in the form of flakes and chips

The flakes are fragile in structure, so they quickly get wet and fall apart. This food can be fed to all types of fish, but not large ones. Perfect for fish with an upper mouth that takes food from the surface. Some of this food will settle on the bottom, so it will also reach the bottom fish.

Cereals and chips do not have much nutritional value because they contain high concentrations of agar, gelatin and gluten. Such feed leads to cloudiness and contamination of water. It gradually decomposes and breaks up into microparticles that settle on the bottom, plants, and filter. For this reason, feeding such food should not occur too often, but only in exceptional cases (during the fish owner’s vacation).

Chips have a similar texture to cereal, but they have fewer defects. Their structure is more dense and does not disintegrate as quickly. It gets wet slowly, so small fish won’t be able to enjoy it as they should. Chips can easily be eaten by large aquatic organisms that can grab a large piece of food.

Feeding in the form of sticks, granules and microfeed

The sticks are a granular substance that is smaller in size than flakes. However, there are many types of pellets that are suitable for specific types and sizes of fish. There are two types of granulated food - floating and sinking. The granules have a high density, due to which they slowly disintegrate, and you can promptly remove the excess portion from the aquarium without overfeeding your pets.

There are expensive and cheap sticks for feeding fish. It is better to buy expensive food, since it is less harmful to the digestive tract of the fish. In cheap food, the shell is digested, and the rest of the contents gradually rot, causing inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract of pets. Another feature of granules is that they expand several times in water. It turns out that the fish eats a portion of food, and after that it will begin to increase in its stomach, causing fermentation.

If you notice that after feeding such food the fish has become bloated, lost coordination, hung upside down, and has inflammation in the anus, this is a clear symptom of a gastrointestinal disorder. If you feed your pets little by little and not so often, problems can be avoided. Once a week, give the fish a fasting day and create an optimal menu.

Dry microfeeds are small food particles ground into dust. Excellent for young animals and fry. Adult and large fish simply will not see microfeed. Its main drawback is that it quickly pollutes the water, so watch the dosage and avoid overfeeding. It is not a complete replacement for live dust. If you want to raise healthy fry, feed them live, natural food. Liquid microfeed can be used to feed fry. They contain artemia proteins, egg yolks, and vitamin complexes. Grains of such food float in the water column, and the cubs take it from time to time. Liquid microfeed also spoils water.

Live food for aquarium fish

Live food is very popular with fish and is considered one of the best. However, there is no need to feed the same type on a constant basis, since fish need a varied diet. The most common types of live food are: bloodworms, tubifex and coretra (Figure 2). However, it has the following disadvantages:

• Diseases can be introduced into the aquarium;
• Poison pets with a low-quality product;
• It is not recommended to carry out very frequent feedings of bloodworms, since they are poorly digested.

The simplest and most accessible disinfection for any aquarist is freezing, which can destroy some of the pathological microorganisms in it.

During spawning, live food is very necessary for fish. After receiving a good portion of any type of live food, individuals are more willing to spawn. Fry raised on such a diet are distinguished by good health and strong immunity in the future.

Note: Today there is a lot of information about the dangers of the tubifex, but these data are greatly exaggerated. The tubifex can be cleaned by washing 2-3 times a day for one week. After it has acquired a pink tint, it can be fed.

The tubifex can be stored in the refrigerator on the bottom shelf, but it should be placed in a container with low sides and a small amount of water, which must be changed daily. Bloodworms should be stored between two napkins placed in a phyto cuvette.

How to feed frozen fish food

Before answering this question, you need to know what frozen live food is? Which aquatic organisms are suitable for freezing and which are not? And when purchasing frozen food, be able to determine its freshness and suitability for feeding to fish. Why is this so important?

The fact is that pet store employees are, as a rule, not aquarists and they don’t really care whether you buy sick or healthy fish from them, as well as high-quality or low-quality food. Therefore, in order not to throw money away, and also not to spoil the water and undermine the health of your fish, you need to have some knowledge.

Why is live food frozen at all? Live food is frozen in order to preserve its nutritional value and essential amino acids, which are so important for the fish’s body. But that is not all!

When feeding frozen live food to fish, they instinctively feel that this food is intended for them by nature and eat it with pleasure. And the higher quality the frozen food, the more useful it will be and the fish will like it. Frozen live food is significantly inferior to non-frozen live food, but frozen food is always better than dry or artificial food.

What live foods are suitable for freezing?

In case of mass catching of live food, it can be stored for quite a long period of time using freezing. All food items are suitable for freezing, provided that they are suitable as food for aquarium fish.

Of the most well-known live foods that are suitable for freezing: the larva of the peristous mosquito - coretra, the larva of the bell mosquito - bloodworm, the larva of the mosquito - culex (“devil”), etc. Among the copepods is Cyclops, and among the cladocerans are Daphnia magna, moina, ceriodaphnia, etc.

The tubifex (a type of oligochaete worm of the family Tubificidae) is less suitable for freezing. After freezing, tender tubifex worms significantly lose their original appearance and turn into a porridge-like mass.

Ciliates and rotifers are very easy to breed at home, so there is no need to freeze such food items.

How to properly freeze live food

The easiest way is to freeze the coretra. For example, I do it this way: I keep the caught larvae in a net for 15 -20 minutes to allow the water to drain completely. When frozen, excess liquid will turn into ice and squeeze the contents of the larvae out, leaving only one shell of them. Such food is considered a waste and is eaten very poorly or not at all by the fish.

Next, I place the larvae in specially prepared plastic jars in a layer of 10-15 cm and place them in the freezer. You can make plastic jars from the cut off bottom of plastic bottles. It will be more difficult to freeze bloodworms, as well as copepods and cladocerans. For high-quality freezing, it is necessary that the water content in them is minimal.

For this purpose, the bloodworms and crustaceans must be dried well, kept for some time on any thick material and, in a semi-dry, dehydrated form, placed in plastic molds or jars and placed in the freezer. Before feeding the fish, frozen food must be thawed.

How to defrost food correctly

Note: Remember that repeated freezing significantly reduces the quality of the feed! All prepared frozen food is never completely defrosted. When re-frozen, it not only loses its natural appearance, but also its nutritional value.

If you purchased a briquette of frozen food, you need to break off a small piece from it and place it in a net, hold it under the tap, washing it with cold running water until it is completely defrosted, and only then feed it to the fish.

If you have defrosted too much food, you need to place it in a separate container, store it in a cool place and feed it little by little to the fish. If the food is frozen in a plastic jar, you need to place the jar in a net and place it under a small stream of running water. As the required amount of defrosted food accumulates in the net, defrosting should be stopped and the jar of frozen food should be placed in the freezer.

This method of defrosting live food is good because it is thoroughly washed, and its defrosted amount can always be controlled. To ensure that the food is always eaten by the fish, it is necessary to add it in small portions using tweezers or a measuring spoon for hygienic reasons. Floating feeders for frozen food are not needed since the defrosted food does not spread over the surface, but falls to the bottom.

How to determine the quality of frozen live food

You can determine the quality of frozen food visually. If you have a briquette with frozen coretra or bloodworms in your hands, take a closer look: are the larvae themselves clearly visible, as well as their correct shape and shell structure? If everything is hard to distinguish, refuse to purchase such food.

When transporting frozen food, avoid defrosting it. To prevent this from happening, frozen food must be transported in a thermos specially designated for this purpose.

Plant foods, how to feed them correctly to fish

For most existing species of aquarium pets, plant food is desirable in the diet, but at the same time, it is difficult to find an individual that has never eaten plants. The only exceptions are predatory species.

Note: What type of food is needed for your pets can always be checked with sellers in specialized stores. Herbal products may be in the form of tablets or flakes, and may also be branded.

Cereals can be used as a vegetable element of the diet, but before direct use they must be poured with boiling water and cooled. Many representatives of catfish, carp and cichlids eat semolina with great delight.

What to feed?

If you're not sure what vegetables you can feed your fish, here are some basic options.

Green peas are suitable for almost all types of fish, and they eat them with pleasure, as they help their intestines work. And slightly boiled green peas are generally extremely necessary for goldfish. Since they have a compressed, deformed body, their internal organs are also compressed, and this leads to constipation and illness.

If you need a universal solution suitable for all fish, including catfish, then cucumbers or zucchini are suitable. Just cut them into pieces, boil them a little and give them to the fish.

As I already said, fish also eat herbs well, such as simple ones like dandelions and nettles. The principle is the same, scald and put in water. Only for me they start eating on the second day, when the dandelions get wet. But they eat very greedily. By the way, both cucumbers and dandelions are very fond of snails, such as ampularia and marise. In the summer this is a cheap, nutritious, accessible feed for them.

How to load?

The most common problem is vegetables floating. And aquarists begin to come up with various clever solutions, but the simplest thing is to chop a piece of vegetables on a fork and... that’s it. Doesn't float, doesn't rust, fish eat it. It’s no longer that easy with herbs; they stubbornly refuse to inject themselves. I tied the dandelions to a fork using an elastic band, not an ideal solution, but it worked. The angelfish still tore off entire layers from them and carried them around the aquarium.

Vegetables and, in general, any greens are an excellent solution for those who want to diversify the diet of their fish. Vitamins, healthy gastrointestinal tract, no constipation, availability and low price. I think the choice is obvious.

What do different types of fish eat?

Absolutely all fish differ from each other in the food they eat and their behavior during feeding. Predatory fish species can set up some kind of ambush when hunting their prey or freeze in anticipation of approaching prey. However, other predators may pursue their prey in the desire to overtake and capture the prey.

Herbivorous species primarily feed on living or decaying plant tissue. Aquarium fish get food by biting off parts of plants or can swallow them whole. However, among herbivorous fish there are species that eat only algae.

Herbivores

Herbivores or herbivorous fish They have a small stomach and long intestines, so one meal is not enough for them. Some herbivores, such as cleaner fish, spend the entire day “grazing” on aquarium plants and eating small algae. The protein content in the diet of herbivorous fish is 15-30%.

The diet of herbivorous fish can be made up of specialized food and scalded vegetables, for example, zucchini, cucumber or lettuce.

Carnivores

Carnivores or predatory fish feed mainly on protein foods. Protein in the diet of such fish is more than 45%. Predatory fish have a large stomach. Typically, they are fed once a day. There are species of fish that swallow food fish whole and then digest it for several days.

The diet of predatory fish can be made up of specialized dry food and live or frozen food.

Omnivores

Omnivorous fish the most common inhabitants of aquariums. Protein in the diet of omnivores is about 40%. These fish are the easiest to feed; you can offer them any type of food, just don’t forget to vary their diet.

How many times a day should you feed aquarium fish?

Overfeeding fish shortens their lifespan. Unfortunately, novice aquarists neglect this rule, thinking that by pouring food more often, they are making the fish feel good. It is during the meal that the owner communicates with the swimming pets, watches them and harms their health.

Excessive feeding, moreover, turns the aquatic kingdom into a fetid swamp. And its residents, having become fat, can completely forget about active movement. Every time the owner approaches the water house, the fish can swim up to the front wall, and it seems that they are hungry and asking for reinforcements. But in reality this is not so. It’s just that the more they eat, the more often they want to do it. There are species of fish that are genetically prone to gluttony, for example, cichlids. But you can’t explain to them that gluttony is harmful to health.

So, it is recommended to feed adult swimming pets 1-2 times a day. If we are talking about fry, then this must be done 3-4 times a day so that the offspring develop healthy. As for the amount of one serving of food, it should be eaten within 2-3 minutes. It is advisable that no food gets to the bottom of the fish house at all.
If we talk about the nutrition of those inhabitants of the aquatic kingdom who are accustomed to plant foods, that is, herbivores, then they can eat algae around the clock. There is no need to worry about them.

What to feed aquarium fish if there is no food

There are times in life when you suddenly run out of special food and you need to look for an urgent solution to the problem. However, there are ways to feed your pets by using the following tips:

• Earthworms: Large aquarium specimens are very willing to eat earthworms, but they must be thoroughly washed and crushed before dispensing. You should give the fish only the amount they need to completely satisfy their hunger.
• Raw meat without streaks of fat can be eaten in the absence of live food. Raw meat should be scraped off with a knife and given to aquarium pets only in this form.
• Cereals, especially buckwheat or semolina, as well as wheat porridge, are very readily eaten by all types of carp and labyrinth fish. However, such products should only be given as a last resort. The cereal must be boiled until it becomes a thick porridge, then rinsed under a stream of cold water and only after all the mucus has disappeared, strain through a sieve. You can store it in any cool place.
• Non-live food. This includes: dried daphnia, egg yolk, bloodworms (cut, dried and frozen), raw or dried meat, porridge, etc. Such feeds must be used with extreme caution, as they quickly decompose and begin to spoil the water.

Is it possible to feed fish with bread?

It is no secret to any aquarist that each fish needs special nutrition. Depending on the diet in nature, lifestyle and habits, the diet of pets differs markedly. Some fish need to consume as many carbohydrates as possible, while others will benefit from a diet that is high in protein.

Therefore, you should not equate all fish according to one template - nutrition for each individual type of fish should be calculated separately, consulting with specialists and friends, as well as reading specialized literature.

Gourami and cichlids especially need carbohydrates. As you know, bread contains a large amount of carbohydrates. Of course, aquarists often wonder: is it possible to feed fish with bread? Some are sure that this will only be beneficial. And others protest against such feeding.

The fact is that bread, when it gets into water, turns sour quite quickly. Because of this, the water begins to stink, and it is difficult for the fish to stay there even with the compressor constantly on. You can get rid of this only by completely replacing the water in the aquarium, which is very undesirable.

On a note

That is why most experts still consider the answer to this question to be unambiguous - under no circumstances should you feed the fish with bread and crumbs!

If you need food rich in carbohydrates, then it is better to use semolina soaked in water - it does not turn sour much longer, but at the same time perfectly satisfies the carbohydrate needs of the fish.

But even in this case, it would be better to have catfish and snails, which can pick up fallen grains of semolina, not allowing them to turn sour and spoil the water in the aquarium.

If you are wondering whether it is possible to feed your fish only dry food, the answer will also be no. Yes, fish can live their whole lives on such food, but they will not become as large and beautiful as they could be. Therefore, at least once every few days it is advisable to feed them with live food, meat or plant food - depending on the habits and needs of the fish. Then your pets will always be healthy and beautiful.

How long can you not feed aquarium fish?

When animals are introduced into the house, many owners ask questions about how long a particular pet can live without food. After all, sometimes there is a need to go to the country for a day or two, or go on a business trip. For example, you can take a cat with you to the village. What about the fish? How many days can these waterfowl live without food?

It is difficult to unequivocally answer the question of how long they can live without food. After all, different fish have different food needs. The more active and nimble they are, the more densely they should eat and the less time they can live without food. For example, all varieties of barbs are real comets in an aquarium. Accordingly, they should eat more often and get more calories. Leisurely catfish and cockerels do not need frequent feeding; they can live longer without food. Also, the possible period of starvation depends on the fatness of the waterfowl. If the fish have fat and are well-fed, they can survive longer without food. Some species of fish that lead a measured and quiet lifestyle can fast for two weeks. In any case, when you leave home for three days, you don’t have to worry about the waterfowl’s health deteriorating. Some aquarists quietly leave their charges for five days, after feeding them heavily (but only if we are talking about adult pets). If these are fry, then you cannot not feed them for more than two days. After returning, it is better to give the fish not dry food, but live food. You also need to take into account that after a starvation diet, the portion of food must be increased gradually so that the fish do not overeat.

If you need to leave home for a week or even more, you need to ask someone you know to take care of your floating pets. Tell us what, how and how much to feed your charges.

Feeding rules

Basic feeding rules:

• feed suitable food for this type of fish;
• do not overfeed;
• provide a variety of foods;
• remove leftover food with a net;
• the number of feedings should be commensurate with age;
• do not feed before bedtime;
• The presence of natural food in the diet is mandatory.

When bringing any living creature into your home, it is important to always remember that this is not only joy, but also a great responsibility. Without proper care, any living creature will not live long. Fish are no exception. Therefore, while watching your diet, do not forget about your little friends. And then they will delight you with their beauty and playful attitude for a very long time.