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Feeding Your Fish

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All About Fish

Feeding fish is a fun and rewarding experience, and nothing is more important for fish health and growth than the food they eat.

Feeding your fish is a great way to interact with them and other aquatic friends. This is where you will observe their natural behaviors and be able to provide them complete nutrition. Once the fish come out to feed this is a good opportunity to see your fish and take observation of their general health and condition.

What type of food 

Knowing what type of fish and size of fish in the aquarium, will help guide you to the type of food to feed. Certain types of fish can eat different types of food like wafers, flake or pellet.

Feeding Guide for type of fish

  • Bottom feeder fish are scavengers and will enjoy API Bottom Feeder Pellets and API Algae Wafers.
  • Goldfish, depending on their size, enjoy API Goldfish Flake or API Goldfish Pellets.
  • Betta fish enjoy API Betta Pellets or API Betta Flakes.
  • Koi fish eat pellet depending on their size and season. For spring and summer feed API Pond fish food and for fall and winter feed the API Cool Water Food.
  • Tropical fish can eat API Tropical Flake or API Tropical Pellets (varying sizes).

 

Observational feeding technique: Feed your fish small amounts of food for 1-2 minutes once a day. A hungry fish will keep moving around at the top and actively looking for food. Whereas, a fish that is getting full, slows down and will not be as interested. Beware that a lot of fish are opportunistic eaters and may overeat if fed too frequently. 

It is recommended to change out fish food every 60-90 days after opening for freshness. Once the food is exposed to air it will start to lose nutritional value and the oils in the food will become rancid over time. 

Creating a fish feeding routine or feeding at the same time every day, will allow your fish to associate you with food time.  This will increase your interactions and your fish will be more likely to come out more. This is a great exercise to bond with your fishy friends and watch their natural behaviors. 

If you need additional assistance with feeding your fish check out the API Assist tool or contact our Technical Services team as they are here to assist you!