Have you ever been apologetic for serving the food obliviously to your pet fish that live in your aquarium? All Right…. This is not only you. However, you must know the Fish Food Guide, so you know that you’re feeding the right food to your fish is as significant as to your other pet animals like dogs, Rabbits, Cats, Birds to name some.
There should be all essential nutrients available in the food of your fish. This food must be high in quality as simply flakes do not qualify for it.
Fun fact: 11.5 million people have freshwater fish while 1.6 million have saltwater fish as a pet in the USA.
Fish food guide
The essential thing to determine the quality food for your pet fish is to find out what kind of Eaters they belong to: There are different types of fish as they can be Omnivorous, Carnivorous, or Herbivorous…. So, they need food accordingly.
After that, you do need to infer where your fish mostly live as some live on the Top, Some in the middle, and some at the bottom of the aquarium. This deduction is necessary as it determines the texture of the food they need.
When you find out the answers to the above simple questions, it is easy to choose the food as there is a lot of variety of food you can opt for your scaly pet. However, you must remember one thing, the quantity of food should be enough for their 3-5 minutes feeding as overfeeding can be harmful to them.
Fish food types
Depending upon the different habitats of fish, there are different types of fish foods.
Following are some fish food types:
Flakes and Crisps
Fish flakes and Crisps are the most abundant dry food for fish available in the market. These both contain macronutrients, trace elements, and essential vitamins for your fish. These help them to cut the amount of moisture which enhance their shelf life.
There are some brands like Nutrafin and Tetra which available in tropical food fish variety. These are prepared in such a way that does not gather in the tank and maintain the quality of the water. Such food is healthy for Gold Fish, Cichlids, Betta fish, and multifarious tropical Fish.
With respect to the habitat of the fish in the tank, you can deduce that Flakes are best for Top Feeders, i.e. the fish which swim to the surface of the tank and Crisps are suitable for Bottom Feeders Such as tetra, gourami, and angelfish. However, both Flakes and Crisps can be used for middle feeder fish.
Sticks, Pellets, and Granules
Similar to other dried fish foods Granules, Sticks and Pellets are prepared in such a way that removes the moisture from the shelf surface. These sticks, pellets, and granules are more efficient Flakes and Crisps with respect to dryness (which enhances their life) and to their packing. Moreover, these denser dry foods are less sticky to the surface of the tank, and also, they decompose at a slower rate.
These (Sticks, pellets, and granules) are suitable for Pleco, Corydoras, and Loaches (the Mid and Bottom Feeder Family of Fish). Specifically, Koi: which belongs to the floating variety, have to swim on the surface to eat its food needs type food.
Wafers
We can’t complete this fish food guide without discussing wafers.
Fish belong to the category of herbivores that need a plant-based diet that includes vegetable enriched constituents along with an additional number of algae. It helps to maintain the quality of your water tank and also provides a delicious taste in the food of your fish. For these reasons, Wafers are an excellent choice.
Unlike crisps and flakes, these (wafers) are more reliable. Because of their solidness, they do not scatter in the tank speedily and so do not spoil the water of your tank.
Crumbles
Like the sound…they crumble and dissolve most easily among all other fish food…they are the best option for all habitats of fish. They are equally available for top middle and bottom fish. As they sink slowly, they provide time to have bites for the fish swimming on the surface and to the middle also.
Remember that the best time to feed a fish is morning.
Conclusion
Now you can see that there are a lot of choices for your pet fish. As mentioned in this fish food guide, you just have to care about the habitat as where mostly in the water tank they live and which category, i.e. Omnivores, Carnivores, or Herbivores they belong.
Once you find out these answers, there is ample and best quality of the food which ensures a healthy and long life to your pet fish.
Ankita is a passionate pet lover and head of content at Pet Food Brands. With her extensive knowledge and research, she provides pet owners with top-quality information on dog food and nutrition. Her dedication to improving the lives of dogs makes her a leading voice in the industry.