With the many options in fish food, how do you know what’s right for your fish?
Determining what’s right for your fish will partly depend on what type of fish you have, or more importantly, what type of diet they have: herbivore, omnivore, or carnivore. This will help in selecting food.
Additionally, while dried food is the most common and prevalent, we often recommend fresh or frozen food. Just like the food we eat, fresh is best and frozen fish food is frozen at the peak of freshness.
Live Foods
If you have omnivore or carnivore fish, live foods will help engage their hunter instinct. Think brine shrimp and blackworms for saltwater fish and insects or earthworms for freshwater fish. Your pet store can supply these. Keep in mind, however, live foods don’t always have all the nutrients fish need, so you may want to supplement with frozen or dried foods.
Frozen Foods
Similar to live foods, frozen shellfish, krill, clams, plankton and others will taste delicious to your fish. Do not buy these foods in the normal grocery store however, as your pet store or aquarium vendors will have a better and fresher selection. Stick to the foods specifically blended for your fish. Frozen foods are a great way to get many of the benefits of live foods, but have the food conveniently stocked in your freezer.
Dried Foods
What most of us are used to seeing is the dried flake or pellet food variety. These do not offer the same nutrients that frozen food can, but are a good supplement to the live and frozen food diet. Be sure to figure out which dried food is best for your fish, as they are not all the same. Your bottom feeder fish won’t get to the food that’s designed to float on the top.