🍤 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.
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.
Our fish food and treats range goes live as we vet suppliers — we won't list anything we wouldn't use ourselves. In the meantime, our calculators, breed guides and AI vet tools below are free and don't need stock.
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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