Besides cleaning and maintenance of your aquarium and plant care, feeding fish (or other aquarium inhabitants) is one of the most important tasks of every aquarist. It is important that the food you use is adapted to the needs of your fish and that there are no deficiency symptoms. Many aquarium owners feed significantly too much food, especially at the beginning of the hobby, which can quickly become a burden on the aquarium water. But also for your fish, an overabundance of food is not very beneficial. An overabundant supply of food can also cause your fish to underutilize their natural food sources, such as algae, and thus fail as natural algae police.
Feeding fish: Less is more
1-2 times a day, you should add just enough food to your aquarium, so that it can be eaten by your fish within 3-5 minutes, without large amounts of food sinking to the bottom. In addition to the TetraMin main food, I usually add a small amount of TetraMin Granules for the smaller fish. Furthermore I add every two days 1-2 tablets of Tetra Pleco green food for my bottom fish.
As described in many books, a regular fasting day without food is not only not a problem, but even quite recommended. Even in nature, the available food is not the same every day, but is subject to great fluctuations. The animals cope with these fluctuations without problems and for many species one day per week without feeding fish is even beneficial for their health. Your aquarium water will also benefit from a day’s break a week due to less excrement from your fish.
In addition to the flake and granule food mentioned above, I also give my fish freeze-dried white mosquito larvae at irregular intervals, and for my bottom-dwelling fish such as catfish, it may also be a piece of cucumber or a lettuce leaf from time to time.
Food types at a glance
TetraMin staple food
TetraMin staple food is a mixture in flake form made up of over 40 raw materials. I have been using the flake food almost daily for over 10 years and it is very well received by my fish. The not too fast but good sinking properties of the food also allow schooling fish like the neon to pick up food below the water surface. By lightly rubbing the food between your fingers, you can also reduce the size of the flakes as needed.
TetraMin Granules
TetraMin Granules is a mixture of nutrients with vitamins, minerals and trace elements. I also use the granules to feed the fish every day. The pellets, which sink only slowly, are not only suitable for daily feeding but are also, in my opinion, the first choice for use in an automatic feeder. The hard and round design also makes it an alternative to flake food that my fish like to eat.
Tetra Pleco Tablets
Tetra Pleco Tablets are food tablets for all herbivorous bottom fish like catfish or loaches. The very hard pressed tablets dissolve very slowly in contrast to flake food and offer all bottom dwelling fish a gladly accepted food supplement. The tablets can be easily portioned when feeding fish and I prefer to use them since many years. Another advantage of the tablets are the very low turbidity properties of the tablets.
Helpful for feeding fish: The aquarium feeder
I have been using automatic feeders for a long time to feed my aquarium inhabitants. At the beginning I had the Juwel 89000 in operation for years – for every tank that was added to my home, sooner or later I also bought a new automatic feeder. In the meantime I have experiences with machines of the manufacturers Dennerle, Juwel and Grasslin. I have compared the different models in my big aquarium feeder comparison and highlight the advantages and disadvantages of each model in detail in the article.