Tropical Fish Feeding Tips

Learn to feed your fish properly and they will reward you by being robust, colorful, and active.

How Often?

You can adjust your feeding schedule to fit your lifestyle. On days you are home try to feed your fish small feedings two, three, or four times a day. Then on busy days you can safely cut back to once a day without harming your fish. An occasional missed feeding will not harm the fish, but prolonged inadequate feeding will be very detrimental to their health.

How Much?

Observe your fish to see that all of them get something to eat. Some fish will rush to the food, others will take a little longer to feed. In a short while you will learn the feeding behavior of each fish.

Do not allow inexperienced people to feed your fish unless the portions have been pre-measured. We suggest that you assign only one family member to feed the fish.

Overfeeding

Overfeeding is the most common mistake made by beginners. Overfeeding causes extra food to rot on the bottom and pollute the water. The pollution caused by decaying food can be harmful to the fish. The most common symptom of overfeeding includes:
* cloudy water.
* white mold-like growths on the gravel or plants, (this is extra fish food)
* high ammonia level
* small "gooey" pieces of debris are seen when gravel surface is agitated. (this is decaying flake food).

If you suspect there is extra food decaying in the tank do a partial water change by siphoning 25% of the water from the bottom of the tank. Use the siphon to pick up as much debris from the gravel surface as possible.

Vacation Feeding

Going on vacation should present no problem for your aquarium. Here are some tips regarding vacation feeding:.

1. A healthy fish can sustain a fast of several days without any food. If you are going away for only a couple of days it may be best just to leave the tank alone. The most important thing to do before going away is to feed your fish very well for at least a week before. Feed them 2 or 3 times a day so that they will build up some reserves for a fast.

2. There are a couple of ways to automatically feed your fish while you are gone. An electrical feeder such as the Penn Plax Double Diner will dispense flake food twice a day. It is available for under $30.00. Tetra Holiday Food Sticks also work well. They are added to the tank, and after a few days they soften in the water and can be eaten.

3. Any time you go away add a live plant such as a group of Anachris to the tank. Many fish will nibble on plants when they are hungry.

4. If you choose to have someone feed your fish while you are gone be sure to pre-measure individual portions for them. Many inexperienced people will over-feed the fish unless the portions are carefully measured, and overfeeding can be disastrous while you are away. It is best to feed the fish less than their normal while you are away rather than risk overfeeding.

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