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Feeding
Dry foods are not what they used to be. They are better today
than they have ever been. However, for fish to be
healthy, want to breed, and maintain immune systems ready to
fight off occasional challenges, feeding dried food
alone is not entirely up
to the task. To get the most from the dry food I use, I only buy
from places where the food has
not sat on a shelf for a long period, and keep the food
refrigerated. As a rule I buy in larger quantities, but no more
than I can use up in about 3 months. Consider online vendors such as
Brine Shrimp
Direct or Jehmco to save
money and obtain food in larger quantities. Food is then kept refrigerated
or frozen.
It is always better to underfeed than to overfeed, as
excess food will cause the
water in an aquarium to
deteriorate
quickly. To feed the fish heavily for faster growth, it is best to
feed smaller quantities more frequently, making sure
that what is fed is completely consumed. Rather than simply putting
the amount of food to be fed directly into the
aquarium in one shot, I will feed slightly less than I know they
will easily consume, then feed again a few minutes
later (simply making two tours of the tanks) so that what is fed is
entirely eaten, and so that smaller, younger or
weaker fish will be fed on the "return pass", when they may be
bullied from eating initially.
For maximum
ingestion of food, some breeders will feed a dry food first,
then follow with brine shrimp. I don't
recommend this with all fish- some will overeat themselves to
their detriment if allowed. There is a saying that
"you cannot starve a fish"- long before they die of starvation
an opportunistic infection will get them first. Going
a day or two without food will not harm a fish, but restrain
from going more than 4 or 5 days without feeding.
Fish can survive for up to 2 weeks without being fed if
necessary. Be sure they are well fed and healthy before
any long period without eating. Then gradually resume normal feeding
upon your return. Keep in mind that the
more food going into the aquarium, even when it is all eaten,
the more important it is that regular water
changes be adhered to, for more food still equals more
waste.
Most
commercially available general-use dry fish foods are fairly
well balanced, but find out if the fish you
keep require more vegetable in their diet, and be sure to provide frequent
feedings of spirulina flake if that is
the case. The
Tiger Limia,
Limia nigrofasciata,
the goodeids and all of the
swordtails appreciate occasional
added vegetable supplements to their diet. (see blanched
zucchini recipe below) I will also occasionally alternate
a "meat" flake to provide some diversity in their diet. I have also made various
beefheart mixes that are kept
frozen, and have worked well, particularly for cichlids such as discus. The
livebearers and barbs I currently
keep also respond eagerly to an occasional
feeding of a cichlid flake, but they should never be raised on
that alone. Avoid any type of Goldfish food for
any tropical fish- they are often composed of grains and
meals made for fish that eat heavily, and are
fairly inefficient in their digestion, requiring a larger
quantity of
food that is lower in the type of nutrition that
tropical fish require.
Lastly, for those
with a desire for only the absolute best foods your fish could
possibly be fed in captivity,
in many cases duplicating their diet in the wild, consider raising
live food. Here advice from the experience
of having done them is offered. See
Red Worms,
Blackworm Culturing, Daphnia
and Vinegar Eels.
_____________________________________________________________________
How to Turn Zucchini into a Vegetable Supplement
for All Fish
(Especially Plecos)
Required for plecostomus
catfish and very beneficial for any fish requiring a strong
vegetable component in
their diet, this is easy to make and a supply can
be made that will last for a long while. I use 10 zucchini
at a time. Cut into 3/8-1/2 inch slices, then put
into a large glass bowl. Cover with water and heat in the
microwave just long enough for the majority of
the zucchini to sink. (About 30 minutes) Overcooking will
destroy its nutritional value causing it to
become too soft, and it will break down when put into the
aquarium.
Let sit, and the warm water will penetrate the
few zucchini left floating, so that all of it will sink in a few
minutes. Then carefully place the slices on
cookie sheets such that they do not touch one another before
freezing
(or they will come apart when broken up from one
another). I then put them into freezer bags. Keep frozen, and
drop them into the tank as needed- they will sink
as they thaw. I used to boil the zucchini which took much
longer, and have also added a liquid avian
vitamin to the zucchini in the past before freezing, but do not
feel
the results were worth the expense. The fish will
usually eat all of it, leaving the outer skin till last.
It may take awhile for the fish, if they have
never seen it before, to eat it eagerly. You may need to put
some
in and remove it after a few hours a few times
before they realize it is food. Plecos will generally eat it
right away.
Frozen brine shrimp, tubifex and blackworms are probably the
best "live food"
alternatives that are
easily available without actually having to raise anything. But there are
live foods that are simple,
cheap,
non smelly,
don't get loose, carry
disease, fly, bite, or need to be refrigerated. Here in Fishkeeping
Tips 2, 3,
4, and
5 are what I have settled on after years of trying many types of Live Food:
___________________________________________________________________
Brine Shrimp
Everyone needs to learn how to hatch BBS (Baby Brine Shrimp) if
they hope to raise young of just about anything.
Avoid the often dramatically overpriced 1-4 oz. glass tubes of
brine shrimp eggs sold at many fish stores. They are
available online from many places, such as
Brine Shrimp Direct
for about $40 a pound, whereas I have seen fish
stores selling them for as much as $14 for a 2oz. bottle. Most
all serious hobbyists have some on hand and will sell
(or give) you some to get you started. Make contact with a local
club, and that should get inexpensive eggs to you
soon enough. Store eggs in the freezer, and refrigerator once
opened. From making a hatcher out of two 2-liter pop
bottles- (see instructions below), to spending from $10 to $100
for a premade brine shrimp hatcher (including one
commonly sold that is actually a premade stand for a 2-liter pop
bottle), Brine Shrimp are easy to hatch. Essentially
the formula is 2 liters (approx. 32 oz.) of water to two full
tablespoons of salt (Rock Salt, Water softening salt-which
is cheapest, table salt etc. Iodized salt is OK, and in fact
recommended by some fishkeepers. Premixed aquarium
salt used for saltwater aquariums is best if available). Add a
teaspoon of eggs per liter, which in fact are not eggs
at all. They are small cysts (approx. 100,000 per gram) with
young in a suspended state, waiting to hatch. Keep
them in motion with an air bubble stream under direct light at
about 80 degrees. After 24-36 hours, let settle for 5
minutes, then siphon off bright orange shrimp into a brine
shrimp net (available at fish stores- the cloth is much
finer) and feed to the fish. BBS is best within 24 hours after
hatching, and can be frozen after hatching in an ice
cube tray for storage and convenient feeding, if desired. You
can also- if you don't need to hatch more than a
teaspoon or so at a time, without the need for an air stream or
specially made device hatch shrimp this way:
Simple, No Hatchery
method of hatching regular Brine Shrimp Eggs (Not decapsulated)
Use a plastic "shoebox"
style plastic container. Find a spot under a
light where the
container can sit for 2 days without
being bumped or knocked. Add 4 cups of water (I use clean
aquarium water) and then 2 heaping tablespoons of salt
(I use water softener salt as it can be as cheap as $6-8 for
50lbs.). Then gently sprinkle about 1/2 teaspoon of brine
shrimp eggs across the top of the water, letting them STAY
FLOATING. Do not stir. In 24-36 hours the shells will be
floating on the top and the bottom edge closest to the light
will be bright orange with newly hatched shrimp. Siphon
out and run the water through a brine shrimp net into a
container saving the water, which gets put back. Siphon off
new shrimp from the container until the batch is exhausted.
Then, I will often just add another half teaspoon, changing
the water after the second batch- but it of course is best to
use fresh water each time for best hatch results.
Decapsulated brine shrimp is simply the brine shrimp cysts, that
have had the shell chemically removed, leaving
just the shrimp itself. I have not
used decapsulated brine shrimp.
The "Specially-Made Hatcher"
Get two 2 liter soda bottles. (See pic series) Cut one in half
through the middle. Throw that top half away. Take the
second complete bottle and set it upside down into the bottom of
the first bottle. Trim bottom half bottle so that top of
the full bottle rests comfortably on bottom- upside-down, so
that it stands up solidly. Then, near the bottom of the
inverted full bottle (near the top of this apparatus), cut about
a 1.5" sized hole into the side of the bottle. Now drill or
cut a 1/4" hole into the very middle of the bottle bottom, just
big enough to allow airline tubing to pass through.
Pass airline tubing through this drilled hole, catching the end
of the tubing through the 1.5" hole, and pull it out
just a couple inches. Attach an airstone, put back in bottle and
let airstone rest in bottom neck of bottle. Attach
other end to an air pump and fill with mix. To clean, simply
dump the mix, fill with hot water and maybe a little
Chlorox, cover holes with palm and shake, then empty. Repeat
water rinse until clean. As shown in the
pic,
a
small rectangular vanity wastebasket will hold two firmly so
they don't tip over. I used the same two for over
20 years!
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