Filter and Fish Food Questions

M

mrjohnston

AC Members
Feb 2, 2008
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I know there are lots of food questions everywhere, but I can't find a thread talking about what foods are safe for a variety of fish. I don't want a war over preference, just to make sure I am not abusing any of my guys especially as I intend to breed most. I also am wondering if most of these guys would be fine in 10 or 20 gallon aquariums with only a sponge filter, and if so how often to water change or gravel suction.

I will have bn plecos, endlers, RCS, snails (MTS, ramshorn), and likely some white clouds and glass fish later. I want everything to be healthy and have been looking at foods better than the basics I have now.

I have been to ken's, which a lot of people seem to like and is cheap (which is good because I am a poor teacher). My issue is I intend to buy 3 food types to try and meet all my fish's need. I will also supplement with cucumber slices, etc., and hopefully some live foods periodically.

So out of sticks, wafers, flakes, pellets and egg, shrimp, spirulina, veggies, and such which is overall my best choices to keep all my creatures happy and healthy? I am especially interested given most of my creatures small size it seems like people are largely anti-flake, but I don't know if they could eat the others.

Thanks
 
Which class of food would you recommend for the fish? By this I mean are flakes my best bet except for the plecos, or should I try a more solid type? I see pellets, bits, wafers, and sticks and am curious if they would work for my fish or if I should stick to flakes.

Also, would egg yolk and/or earthworm foods be better for my fish, especially if breeding them, versus a more traditional flake or food? I don't want to get any if it basically has no effect.
 
I have a 40, 4 20's and 2 10's. No overcrowding here :) Just trying to keep everyone fully filtered and fed.
 
Im not an expert, but I believe if your plan is to breed fish, then your best bet is to mix things up, make sure your fish have a variety of different foods, make sure to throw in some veggies like cucumber/zucchini, peas, etc.

I dont know if this applies to all fish, but I think certain types are more likely to spawn if you set up the tank params a certain way before you want them to reproduce, and I believe that also involves changing their diet, but I may be wrong.

For specifics there are several very useful stickies scattered around these forums, and most people here seem to be very knowledgable!

Good luck !
 
I personally prefer flakes over pellets. For one, flakes soak up less water and bloat up less, reducing the chance of bloating your fish. Secondly, flakes will slowly sink after a while and will be available to fish who prefer to feed in the middle or bottom of the tank, while pellets pretty much never sink. Lastly, flakes can be easily broken into little bits by your fish, but pellets, on the other hand, may get caught in a fish's mouth (I've seen many a fish wander around my tanks with pellets stuck in their mouths, refusing to spit it out, but not being able to swallow it either).

Also, supplement their diet with high protein foods such as freeze dried bloodworms. Try to avoid live and/or frozen food unless you made/bred/raised it yourself or its a good, trustworthy brand, such as Hikari. Veggies such as cucumber, zucchini, peas, and squash should be supplemented to herbivorous fish. Don't feed egg yolk to adult fish, it should be fed to fish fry. You could also use beefheart, but make sure to trim and freeze it first. Many DIY recepies work great for fish, you can find many on AC.

Algae wafers work well for algae eating species such as otocinclus if there is not enough natural algae present in the tank to eat. BNs will probably just eat any leftover bits of food that float to the bottom (note: BNs will NOT eat old, smelly, rotting food bits; those are for snails!). As for the BNs, I agree with Cory Keeper, I don't think they should be housed in a tank smaller than 30 gallons.

Some good quality brands include: Hikari, Omega One, Aquadine, and Tetra. When feeding pellets, make sure to soak them in aquarium water for a couple of minutes so they won't bloat up in your fish's stomach and cause bloat.
 
Thanks you. I will make sure my 2 plecos are in separate 20's or the 40 if together.

Also thanks for the pellet advice. I think I will stick with flakes then. I just noticed many people in food posts talked about being flake free and was wondering if I was hurting anything with the flakes. I will avoid the egg yolk stuff then for my adults, stick with a mix of normal tropical flakes, earthworm and supplementals. I intend to try raising brine shrimp, infusoria, and fruit flies for separate class projects anyway. Along with some fresh veggies I hope they will be happy and at least feel like I've done everything I can to plan things intelligently.

I have looked into some DIY recipes as well, but I intend to make my students make those (most seems to look and smell terrible, so why deal with that when I can make them do it as an assignment).
 
Using pellets is fine, just make sure to soak 'em. Thats what I do.

I wish I had a class to do my dirty work for me! LOL! :D
 
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