🍤 Fish food
Overfeeding is the #1 cause of fish disease and tank crashes — leftover food becomes ammonia. Most fish thrive on tiny daily portions + a weekly fast day. The right food per species + a varied diet keeps colour, immunity and breeding behaviour intact. Here's the simple feeding logic.
Photo: Christian Prabowo / Pexels
Floats then sinks slowly. Suits top + mid water column fish (tetras, livebearers, gouramis, bettas). Tetra, Sera, Hikari are quality brands. Crumble between fingers for small fish. Rancid quickly once opened — buy small tubs, replace every 3 months.
Floating: cichlids, gouramis, surface feeders. Sinking: corys, plecos, bottom dwellers. Hikari Cichlid Gold, NorthFin pellets are top quality. Sized to mouth — if it doesn't fit easily, it's the wrong size.
Sinking discs of algae + spirulina. For plecos, otocinclus, snails, shrimp. Drop one per night, remove uneaten morning bits. Fluval Bug Bites algae, Hikari Algae Wafers are reliable.
Bloodworm, brine shrimp, daphnia, mysis — frozen cubes from any aquarium shop. The TREAT food, not staple. Adds variety + boosts colour + triggers breeding. 1–2× per week. Defrost cube in tank water before adding.
Daphnia, brine shrimp nauplii, microworms, blackworms. Best nutritional value, triggers natural hunting behaviour. Sourcing in Ireland: limited — most keepers culture brine shrimp at home from eggs (€15 setup). Essential for breeding most species.
Most adult fish need 1–2 small feedings per day, totalling what they eat in 30–60 seconds. Anything left after 1 minute = overfeeding = ammonia spike + obesity. Tropical fry: 4–5 tiny meals/day. Goldfish + pleco: 1 substantial meal/day.
One day a week with NO food. Clears gut, prevents constipation (especially in bettas + goldfish — the #1 disease in both species), reduces nitrogen waste. Healthy fish lose nothing — they're built for famine cycles. Skip-day kindness.
No single food has all nutrients. Rotate: flake/pellet (staple) + frozen (1–2× weekly) + live (occasional treat) + veg (algae, blanched courgette, spinach for herbivores). Single-food diets cause hole-in-the-head, fin rot, dull colour.
Plecos, mollies, silver dollars, goldfish: blanched courgette, spinach, peas, kale. Drop in tank for 12 hours, remove uneaten. Goldfish eat thawed peas to clear constipation (the most-used trick in fishkeeping). NEVER raw veg — drowns + rots fast.
Open flake/pellet containers go rancid in 3–4 months — vitamins oxidise, omega-3 turns harmful. Buy small tubs, replace quarterly. Frozen food: don't refreeze. Live food: keep in fridge if cultured, replace daily water. Open packets in cool dark cupboard.
Goldfish + coldwater fish: at 18 °C they eat half what they'd eat at 22 °C. Outdoor pond fish: stop feeding entirely below 10 °C (their digestion stops, food rots in gut). Tropical fish in winter when room cools: trim portions automatically.
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What they eat in 30–60 seconds, once or twice a day. Any food sitting after 1 minute = overfeeding. Adult tropicals: 1–2 small feedings/day. Fry: 4–5 tiny ones. Goldfish: 1 substantial meal/day. Skip food entirely one day a week.
Clears the gut, prevents constipation (#1 disease in bettas + goldfish), reduces ammonia, mimics natural feast/famine cycles. Healthy fish lose nothing in a 24h fast. The ONE missed feed each week is more good for the fish than a "treat day".
As a staple, yes — for community fish. But variety is critical for full nutrition + colour + immunity. Add frozen bloodworm/brine shrimp 1–2× weekly, blanched veg for herbivores, occasional live food. Single-food diets lead to disease + dull colours.
Almost always yes. Floating-flake foods cause swim-bladder issues + constipation in goldfish (especially fancy varieties). Switch to sinking pellets pre-soaked in tank water for 30 seconds. Add a thawed pea (skin removed) once a week as a fibre boost. Persistent floating = vet.
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