Proper Nutrition For Your Fish

It may seem that sprinkling some flake food into the tank twice a day is good enough, but sometime it's much more complicated than that to keep your fish healthy. While dried food may be "good enough;" it may also leave your fish susceptible to diseases because they're not getting appropriate nutrition. This is especially true if you're not using the correct food for your fish. With a little research and work, you can have fish than are much healthier and likely to live longer and happier.

While dried foods can be very nutritional for your fish, you must first make sure they're getting the right dried food for their needs. They need food that feeds at the appropriate level. When looking at your fish, you may notice that different fish have different mouth placements. This is dependent on what level they feed at; if a fish is built to feed at the surface, they can't eat food that sinks to the bottom and vice versa.

You also need to be aware of your fish's nutritional requirements. Fish, like land animals, can be herbivores, carnivores, or omnivores. While many aquarium fish are omnivores, you should find out what your fish would eat in the wild and select an appropriate food. If you feed a herbivore animal based food, it may eat it but will not be able to properly digest it. Be sure to read the label and select well known, quality brands so you know what your fish are getting.
While your fish need appropriate nutritional content, they also need the appropriate amount of food as well. While many people may not think so, fish are great actors and can be very persuasive. They will beg and plead trying to convince you that they haven't gotten enough food. Don't believe them. While it is bad to underfeed fish, it's unlikely your fish aren't getting enough food. It's also much worse for their health to be overfed. It's not only bad for your fish; it can offset the chemical balance of your tank, causing more serious problems. These include increased ammonia, nitrogen, bacteria, and mold. Be sure not to feed your fish more than they can eat in two to three minutes.

You should also be sure to feed your fish at an appropriate time. If they're nocturnal fish, they should be fed at night and the lights should be off when they eat. However, fish that eat during the day cannot find food in the dark and will leave it uneaten if they do not have light to find it.

While dried food has all the nutritional content your fish need, they can get bored by eating the same thing every day. It's good to add some variety to their diet. This can be done by occasionally adding live or frozen food. Your fish will love it and it will add essential nutrients to their diet. It's best to give them fresh or frozen food about once a week. Be sure to be safe and not accidentally introduce any harmful toxins or diseases. Buy food from a reputable source. If you choose to get your own wild food (i.e. earthworms or insects) be sure to keep them in a clean enclosure with clean water for several days to cleanse their systems of potentially harmful chemicals.

If you don't feed your fish fresh food, they may begin to develop a vitamin deficiency. These problems may develop slowly over time, so be sure to watch your fish for unusual behavior.

The last thing you must remember is that different fish have different food requirements. If you have more than one kind of fish in your tank, you must be sure to provide different food for the needs of different fish. This may require a bit more effort, but it will help keep all your fish in good health.