Feeding Different Types of Fish Food To Different Types of Feeders

If you keep a variety of fish species in your aquarium, observe the shape and placement of their mouths and how they eat.

You will find that generally, different species have different feeding patterns – they either feed at the surface, middle or bottom levels of the aquarium. However, many of them will feed outside their preferred area when hungry.

The Three different Feeders

1. Top-feeders like Mollies and Platys tend to have an upturned, scoop-like mouth for gathering floating food. They prefer to feed near the water surface.
2. The mouths of midwater-feeders like Danios are located at the very tips of their snouts to gather food as it falls through the water.
3. Bottom-feeders like Catfish and Corys have mouths on the underside of their snouts which can come into close contact with the aquarium floor to sift for food.

The Difference Types of Fish Food

You will find a variety of fish food in the market catering to fish with these three different feeding patterns.

Pellets. Pellet food that floats caters to top feeders, while pellets that sink quickly are designed for the bottom feeders.

Flakes. Flakes will float at first, then gradually sink to the bottom, thus benefiting all types of fish.

Tablets and granular food. These are designed to sink quickly to the bottom, for the benefit of bottom dwellers.

Freeze-dried food. The process by which freeze-dried food is produced ensures that most of its nutritional value is retained. It is thus an excellent food source and a great treat for fish. It has a long shelf life and does not need refrigeration.

Tubifex worms, blood worms, krill and brine shrimp are some varieties of freeze-dried food. These should be broken up into more manageable bits if fed to small fish.

Frozen food. Frozen fish food is the next best alternative to live food, and is a good source of protein. It is excellent for stimulating fish that are suffering from loss of appetite to feed again. Brine shrimp, plankton, krill, and bloodworms are popular forms of frozen food.

Live food. Fish can obtain a good deal of nutritional value from live food, and this is excellent for bringing fish into breeding condition. Carnivorous fish also benefit from it as the movements of the live food stimulate their hunting instincts, and keep them healthy and happy. The feeding of live food also encourages finicky, new or sick fish to eat.

Feeder fish like goldfish and guppies, worms, insects and larvae are popular forms of live food. Be cautious about feeding insects to your fish as they may be poisonous or harbor contaminants.

Vacation food. These are great if you plan to be away from home for several days. They usually come in tablets form or are compacted into molded forms, which release food into the water as they slowly dissolve over several days.

Alternatively, you can make use of a dispenser feeder that automatically releases food at regular intervals.

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