Feed your fish well

[kiwidu21]

Hello
I will soon be making my fishroom and I am wondering about the food.
Indeed I know roughly what food to give which fish but I have doubts about the quantity but also the frequency.
Likewise, are certain brands to be favored?

I currently have Common Ancistrus which I feed with Dennerle plecomenu, Tetra wafers, Dennerle cookies and tropical green algae.
For my synodontis, they have tropical carnivores and bloodworms.
What do you think of these two power supplies? Is this correct for the needs of the species?

I also noticed in my Synodontis nigriventris (who are supposed to be strict carnivores) that they adore zucchini, is it good for them to give them every now and then?

[bekateen]

Hi kiwidu21,

I would add fresh vegetables to your Ancistrus diet. Zucchini, sweet potatoes, Brussel sprouts.

I feed my fish usually once daily, but sometimes I'll skip a day or two per week.

Cheers, Eric

[kiwidu21]

Ok.

What do you think of the brands I use? Are they of good quality?

[Viktor Jarikov]

Good to hear of the progress.

I think your diet for the pleco sounds adequate. If you included the fresh veggie cuisine suggested by Eric, it might approach ideal? I am not familiar with the Dennerle though, nor do I know much about pleco.

I always thought synodontis were largely omnivores, perhaps tilting toward carni/insectovores. Perhaps my ignorance. We offer ours a generic New Life Spectrum pellet and thawed fish, although I doubt they partake of the latter much if at all.

I don't know much about brands. I usually judge by the ingredient list. Which is why I use NLS. They are pricey but IMhumbO no one beats their quality and ingredient list for an average fish, if there is such a thing, an average fish. Some specialized brands for one or another particular type of fish might be better, but I've not researched it.

Tetra seems to me an average, cheap brand. Unfortunately or fortunately, with dry fish feeds, you tend to get precisely what you pay for. Poor quality for cheap feed (here the USA $0.25-$1 per pound / 454 gram) and great quality for expensive feeds ($10+ per pound). This is retail. We buy NLS wholesale for roughly $6.50 per pound. We use a lot of it for our roughly 1000 large fish.

[bekateen]

What do you think of the brands I use? Are they of good quality?

I am in the USA and not familiar with some of the brands you mention. In general, I think of Tetra as a middle quality food, but probably no lower than most other mass-produced wafers. I will let other people offer opinion on the other brands.

Cheers, Eric

[Woodh]

What's your stance on ecological vs non-ecological veggies? For plecos of course!

[TwoTankAmin]

My plecos now are all Hypancistrus. But I also keep corys and loaches.

I use three different classes of foods. The first is frozen and these are mostly all meaty foods-blood worms, mysis and brine shrimp, brine git loaded w/ spirulina adn even daphnia. Fry get cyclops and rotifers. next i feed the Repashy gel mixes- Bottom Scratcher and Spawn & Grow. But the plecos do need veggie matter as well so I mixt those 2 Repashy foods 80/20 with Repashy Soilent Green. I also feed the Igapo Explorer, but mostly I mix this with the other foods. I do feed it pure to my clown loaches who absolutely shred the stuff. They grab a lot of it well before it hits the bottom of the tank.

Both of the above foods take me some time to prepare and feed. There are times I do not have the time or even the energy to feed either of these and I resort to a blend of kensfish mini sinking sticks. I also mix my own blend of his flakes for my non-bottom dwellers. These are a commercial food and I try not to feed it more than 15% of the time.

When I kept bn plecos I fed a lot of zuchinni, Hikari algae wafers and veggies sticks. But these are likely too small for larger plecs. The bn would eat anything though including the foods for other fish.

[Amelia Belli]

In general, most fish do quite well on one or two feedings per day. Most fish require 16 to 24 hours to fully digest the food they eat, so a once-a-day feeding is quite sufficient. Cooked vegetables (peas, cauliflower, pumpkin, carrots, etc.), boiled or steamed, are great food alternatives to fish food flakes once in a while for your omnivorous and herbivorous aquarium fish. You can even feed some fish (goldfish and koi in particular) cooked rice or oatmeal.
For example, livebearers are largely herbivores, while tetras are more carnivorous. If you keep both types of fish in your aquarium, as many aquarists do, alternate feedings of meat protein and plant-based foods to keep everyone happy and healthy. Variety is important regardless of what types of fish you keep, as even carnivores benefit from some plant matter in their diet, and vice versa.

The size of the food you feed should match the size of your fishes' mouths. In other words, large predatory fish will usually show no interest in small flake crumbles, and small fish like Neon Tetras can't fit large pellets into their mouths. Uneaten food will quickly pollute your aquarium.

When feeding frozen foods, dispense food a little at a time using a turkey baster or large syringe to make sure everyone gets some. Drop a little food at the surface for top feeders and gently squirt some lower into the water column for mid-water and bottom feeders.

[Bas Pels]

For example, livebearers are largely herbivores, while tetras are more carnivorous.

While this is for the most common kept species more or less true, livebearers are not vergitarians.

The all nib dead fishes, and some - may I mention Belisesox belisanus - are downright carnivorous.

[kiwidu21]

Hello,

most of the fish will be kept in specific tanks so I could adjust the feed according to the species.
If I understand correctly, you advise me instead to feed me a day (which I am currently doing).

For food I looked for the repashy and new life spectrum but I can't find them in bulk, do you have an address?
Regarding vegetables, can poached vegetables have been frozen in order to always have them on hand? If I summarize I can give: sweet potato, zucchini, carrot, Brussels sprouts. Are there others?

For my Ameiurus I prepare a homemade dough made from trout and agar-agar. Do you have any recipes to vary the diet but also for more vegetarian fish such as ancistrus or otocinclus?

[TwoTankAmin]

The rep[ashy site gives this link for international sources: France - https://www.reptiligne.fr/fr/

They only list the reptile food but they might be willing to order you fish food. there may be other European sites which do carry the fish stuff. You can find them listed by country here https://www.store.repashy.com/international-sales/