How to Choose the Correct Nutritional Feed for Baby Ornamental Fish?
A vital component of giving your fish a healthy environment is what you feed them and how much you give them. Offering a baby ornamental fish the right diet involves much more than simply dropping a few flakes on top of the water a few times each day.
Selecting the Correct Food
For a new owner, the pet store's fish food aisle can be intimidating. Learn more about your fish species first, starting with whether they are carnivores (species that consume meat) or herbivores (species that don’t consume meat). Then, the following alternatives are available:
- Dry Food: Flakes come to mind when you think about fish food. The most popular choice for feeding a tankful of baby ornamental fish is dry fish food, but there are many options for specialised species, granules and pellets, sinking and floating kinds, and other forms. While adding vegetables to the diet will assist vegetarian animals to have less bloating and swim bladder issues, dry fish food may be lower in fibre. Sheets of dried spirulina or nori algae, which are excellent for herbivorous fish to chew on, may also be available in pet stores.
- Frozen Food: Certain baby ornamental fish will eat food that is frozen, such as bloodworms, prawns, krill, or mussels. Frozen spirulina cubes are frequently available at pet stores for use as animal food.
- Freeze-Dried: You may buy freeze-dried cubes of foods like tubifex worms, mysis shrimp, and other things. They are excellent for carnivorous fish and very nutrient-dense.
- Live Food: Choices include feeder fish, live brine or ghost shrimp, insects, and worms.
- Greens: If your baby fish enjoy munching on aquarium plants like anacharis, you should also feed them greens. Spinach, lettuce, cucumber, and zucchini are available choices. The greens should be fastened to the substrate or clipped to the tank's side, but any leftover vegetables should be changed out within 24 hours. Fresh greens are a favourite food of fish like plecostomus.
Different fish have varying nutritional needs due to their biology. To guarantee that your aquarium's inhabitants are getting the nourishment they require, employ a range of diets, such as floating foods, slow-sinking foods, and rapidly sinking foods.
How much food to give
More often than not, fish owners overfeed their baby fish, which results in additional waste building up in the tank. This is not simply the waste that is left over when fish don't finish their food, but also the waste that fish produce when they consume more than is necessary. You're probably overfeeding the fish if you notice that the tank is becoming dirty and the levels of ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate are rising.
As a general rule, feed the baby fish no more than what they can consume in five minutes. You are feeding your pet too much if there is food left over (apart from the fresh greens) after that point. One exception is for baby fish that feed at night (nocturnally), in which case you should add the food to the aquarium in the evening before turning out the lights so the baby fish can consume it overnight.
Don't base how much food is required on the size of the tank. The amount of food required for five fish in a large aquarium is the same as for five fish in a small aquarium; just distribute it evenly throughout the aquarium so that everyone can easily get it.
At Intan, we are here to provide you with premium fish feed. Our feed is tailored to meet the specific needs of each species. Every feed can spark positive change and create a future promoting quality, resilience, and well-being. We aim to serve the needs of hobbyists and breeders for the best quality of each species’ unique requirements. To know more about us, check out our Instagram page or find us at our nearest out spot.
We are not just a brand; we are stewards of the underwater world. We believe in the well-being of our friends and their mental health. Understanding and addressing the stressors that affect fish is not just a concept for us, it's a commitment. Through our dedication to research and innovative products, we aim to ensure that fish everywhere can lead happier, healthier lives.