Feeding Your Freshwater Fish

There are basically two types of food for your fish, dried foods and live foods. In a broader sense, the latter includes a fresh frozen food now generally available. While the former includes all those prepared foods abundantly represented in containers, which can be had from your fish dealer. Since it is likely that different types of fish will have slightly different food requirements is a good idea to feed your aquarium fish a variety of foods. A combination of live food, granular food, and frozen or freeze dried brine shrimp fed alternately will give good results. Depending on where you live, the most common available live foods are daphnia, tubifex worms, live brine shrimp, and blood worms.

Any of these are excellent foods for fish, closely approximating types of food wild fish what eat. A feeding of any of these at least once a week would be appreciated by most fish.

This should be fed at least twice daily. In the case of dryer frozen foods only give as much as can be eaten in about 10 to 15 minutes. With live food from freshwater, more can be fed as the excess will stay alive until eaten. Brine shrimp live about a half day in freshwater any amounts to be fed should be judged accordingly.

A portion of tubifex as purchased usually contains enough for several feedings. Extra worms may be kept alive under a slowly running cold tap or in the refrigerator in a covered dish with barely enough water to cover the ball of worms. At daily intervals until the worms are used up, the ball of worms should be rinsed thoroughly with fresh cold water. Kept in a covered container and rinsed daily the worms can be kept in the refrigerator and are not offensive.