Keith. What about items like blood worms, brine shrimp, krill, etc. Are there certain foods of this type that are focused towards certain fish?

All the info in this paper is basically prepared foods.
Yes there are certain foods for certain fish. Eg you would not feed bottom feeders with a floating food.

Most freeze dried food must be soaked in water first other wise it can expand in the stomach of the fish and could kill it.

I never use live foods as you never never know where they came from and it is the best way to import many nasties into your tank. That does not mean if you grow these foods your self. Saying that I prefer frozen live foods.

The next parts will deal with foods in more detail.

Keith

Jerry
As you can see it does not look like the effort even posting here lately (as in some other of the GW forums).
Keith

Hi Keith, can I add a few things?

First thing: nutrition and ingredients. This is kind of hard to talk about because many fish have specialized needs. Therefore, if there is a specialized food for your fish (goldfish, bettas, cichlids, catfish, plecos etc) they should be eating that, not "tropical flakes". Learn what percentages of vegetable matter, protein, and fiber your fish needs. Contrary to belief, cories are NOT algae eaters and need sinking meaty foods. Just because some fish are algae or bottom feeders does not mean that they can survive off algae or scraps alone. They need their own food!

After you have your selection of foods narrowed down, take a look at the ash content and first few ingrediants. Ash is completely undigestible and will cause more pollution in your water, so a low percentage is recomended. 8% is the lowest I have seen in comercial foods so far. Then take a look at the first several ingrediants. First off, if your fish is a vegetarian or mostly vegetarian, veggies, kelp or seaweed should be in the first couple ingrediants. Avoid corn and wheat as it is not easily digested and is not natural in a fish's diet. Avoid fish meal if you can also. Fish meal can be made of any part of the fish, but is usually limited to scales, bones, organs, etc...the leftovers after the meat has been sent to markets. Whole fish is much better. Not to be completely biased, but Omega One is the only comercial fish food that I have seen that doesn't have fish meal listed. It includes Whole Salmon and herring etc, along with other fresh ingrediants. I admit, Omega One is what I feed as a staple for almost all of my fish. I'm pleased with the results and I'm happy to see that this new brand is expanding its types of food to all sorts of fish. This is only available at petsmart.

One more thing: be VERY careful when feeding live, frozen, and even freeze dried foods. Be sure that the foods are from a reputable company like San Fransico Bay Brand or Hikari and that they thouroughly disinfect all foods. Keep live worms etc in the fridge with specialized foods, and frozen foods frozen. Just like with meats, if they are defrosted and frozen again, bacteria will grow.

NEVER feed tubifex. This worm is alternatively named "sewage worm" and rightfully so, because they thrive and are often bred in sewage. Fish don't survive in that type of enviroment so tubifex is not even a natural food, but breeding in sewage is disgusting and has many drawbacks. Tubifex often carries parasites, bacteria, and the dreaded sporozoans, even if they are disinfected. This info comes from an article in one of the UK's most popular fish-keeping magazines so it should be taken seriously because there have been many cases reported. I'm sure many of you will continue to feed tubifex, but please only do at your own fish's risk. Just because you've gotten this far doesn't mean you will never run into trouble.

Thanks :)

I've been feeding my fish with live tubifex and brine shrimp for over 30 years with no problems. I can't get my elephant nose to eat anything else.

James, that's fine, but just know that the risk is there and it is real.

Hello, I've been lurking here for a while. I work in the aquaculture-business in Norway, and also keep fish at home.

littlehippygirl, I would have to beg to differ about your opinion on feeding various fish. You are reccomending what the pet-food market wants,- namely to buy their strongly segmented products.

A few common aquarium fish are herbivores, but the lot of them are omnivores or carnivores. Most fish cannot digest terrestrial meats (except insects and worms etc.), and should ONLY be given fish-based diets. I would say fish-meal is a suberb raw-material for fish, and the pet-industry does use a lower grade fish-meal than what is intended for humans. Still, it is not made from just skin and bones, also bi-catch and lower quality herring and squid.
What you really want to know is the ratio between protein and oil. 40-50% protein 10-14 % oil, and a littlebit of fiber is good for goldfish as an example. Some brands stuff vitamin C into their fish-food, wich is useless since fish synthesize this vitamin themselves. Carbohydrates are relatively unimportant to fish, and should be avoided since this usually causes the liver to be enlarged. So you are right about wheat and corn.
Another interesting fact is that you can never overfeed a fish, contrary to the myth. Fish can control how much they consume perfectly on their own. This offcourse, applies if the food they eat is balanced and right for them. On the other hand,- you CAN overfeed your aquarium water and filter, causing contamination!

So basically what I am saying, read the labels! Maybe the inexpensive catfish-farm feed is better than the expensive fishfood in the pet-store.