3,895 answers about fish & aquatics
A healthy aquarium is a balanced one — water chemistry, filtration, stocking and feeding all work together, and most fish problems start with the water. This page gathers the fish and aquatics library of KinsLe Answers in one place, organized by topic for freshwater and saltwater keepers alike. Every answer is original, written by KinsLe, and tied to a real KinsLe feature.
351 answers in Feeding & Nutrition — page 8 of 15
A Congo tetra is a large, active omnivore that eats insects, small crustaceans and plant matter in the wild, so its aquarium diet should pair a quality flake or small pellet staple with frozen or live insect foods and a regular share of greens. Adult males are deep-bodied, long-finned fish with appetites to match, and…
A clown pleco is a wood-grazing catfish whose diet starts with driftwood itself: it rasps the wood's surface and the biofilm on it continuously, so real driftwood in the tank is food, not decoration. Build the rest of its menu around algae wafers and blanched vegetables such as zucchini, cucumber and sweet potato,…
A chili rasbora, one of the smallest fish in the hobby, eats microscopic prey — tiny insects, worms and zooplankton — so its aquarium food must be powdered: finely ground micro pellets or flake, fry-grade fine foods, vinegar eels, microworms and newly hatched baby brine shrimp. Anything larger than a speck is simply…
A celestial pearl danio is a tiny micropredator that eats minute insects, small worms and fine zooplankton, so its aquarium diet should be micro pellets or flake crushed to dust-fine particles, baby brine shrimp, microworms and small frozen foods chopped small. These fish feed low in the tank, often picking food from…
A cardinal tetra is a small-mouthed micropredator that eats tiny insect larvae, minute crustaceans and other fine animal foods, so in an aquarium it does best on micro pellets, finely crushed flake and small frozen or live foods such as baby brine shrimp and daphnia. Pieces must be genuinely small — a cardinal will…
A bronze corydoras is a bottom-feeding omnivore that needs food delivered to it on purpose: sinking pellets or wafers as the staple, with frozen bloodworms and other small meaty foods worked into the sand for it to sift out. The old idea that corydoras live on whatever the other fish miss leaves them thin — their…
A Boeseman's rainbowfish is an active omnivore that needs a varied diet of small pellets or flakes, frozen daphnia, brine shrimp and bloodworms, plus regular plant matter to stay in full colour. These are fast, schooling surface-to-midwater feeders with relatively small mouths for their size, so food should be…
A blue gourami is an easygoing omnivore that feeds mostly at the surface and midwater, taking quality flakes or small floating pellets as its staple, with frozen bloodworms, brine shrimp and mosquito larvae offered as protein-rich variety. Blanched peas or zucchini slices give it plant matter to graze between meals,…
A black skirt tetra eats a wide omnivorous diet built on small insects and larvae, so in an aquarium it does well on a good flake or micro pellet as the base, with thawed daphnia, brine shrimp, mosquito larvae, or finely offered bloodworm rotated in for protein. It also picks at vegetable-based flake, soft algae, and…
Feed white cloud mountain minnows once or twice a day, keeping meals small and the food fine, because these little cool-water fish have tiny mouths and modest appetites. A light morning and evening feed of crushed flake, micro pellets, and thawed daphnia or baby brine shrimp, cleared in a couple of minutes, suits…
Feed tiger barbs twice a day in controlled portions, because no common aquarium fish begs harder or overeats more willingly. Give the school what it can strip away in about two minutes: a staple flake or small pellet, thawed daphnia or brine shrimp on rotation, and regular vegetable-based food, which tiger barbs…
Feed serpae tetras twice a day, offering what the school finishes in about two minutes, and keep the menu varied, because a well-fed serpae is noticeably less inclined to nip its tankmates. Rotate a good flake or micro pellet with thawed daphnia, brine shrimp, or bloodworm and some vegetable-based food, and spread…
Feed scissortail rasboras twice a day, giving this large, fast rasbora what it can clear in about two minutes at each meal. Scissortails feed eagerly in the upper and middle water, taking flake, small pellets, and thawed daphnia or brine shrimp, and their size and pace mean they need a slightly heartier ration than…
Feed rummy nose tetras twice a day in small amounts, because these tight-schooling fish have small mouths and unsettled appetites when anything in the tank changes. Offer fine flake crushed small, micro pellets, and thawed baby brine shrimp or daphnia that the whole school can clear in about two minutes, spread along…
Feed rosy barbs twice a day, sizing each meal to a group of strong, fast-growing fish: what they clear in about two to three minutes, no more. Rosy barbs are big, boisterous omnivores that need more than insects and flake, so build regular vegetable-based food and soft greens into the rotation alongside thawed daphnia…
Feed peppered corydoras once or twice a day with sinking food placed where the group rests, because these hardy bottom feeders still cannot compete for food at the surface. A small sinking pellet or wafer portion per fish, eaten within half an hour or so, plus thawed bloodworm or daphnia settled onto the substrate a…
Feed panda corydoras once or twice a day with food that actually reaches the bottom, because these small catfish cannot live on flakes that fall by accident. A little sinking micro pellet or crushed wafer offered after the midwater fish have had their meal, ideally including one feed in the evening when pandas grow…
Feed odessa barbs twice a day, but keep each meal lean, because these eager feeders will happily eat far more than they need. Offer what the group clears in about two minutes: a good flake or small pellet as the base, thawed daphnia or brine shrimp on some days, and a vegetable-based food regularly, since odessa barbs…
Feed lemon tetras twice a day, giving the school a small spread of food it can clear in about two minutes each time. Lemon tetras are active midwater feeders with small mouths, so fine flake, micro pellets, and thawed daphnia or baby brine shrimp suit them better than large floating pieces they have to tear at.…
Feed honey gouramis twice a day, offering only what the group finishes in a couple of minutes at each meal. These are slow, deliberate feeders that pick at small flakes, tiny pellets, and thawed daphnia or baby brine shrimp near the surface and among plants, so bolder tankmates can easily beat them to a single daily…
Feed gold barbs once or twice a day, and be firmer about portions than their begging suggests — this hardy, greedy species will eat itself round if you let it. Give the school about two minutes of eating per meal on a base of quality flake or small pellets, with a regular vegetable component such as blanched peas or…
Feed glowlight tetras once or twice a day in small amounts the school finishes within about two minutes. Glowlights are gentle midwater feeders with small mouths, so finely crushed flake, micro-pellets, and small frozen foods like daphnia suit them better than standard-sized offerings, and a varied week keeps the…
Feed espei rasboras once or twice a day with small meals of fine food they can clear in about two minutes. These slender copper rasboras feed in the upper and middle water on small insects in the wild, so offer crushed flake, micro-pellets, and baby brine shrimp or daphnia, scattered so the whole school — not just the…
Feed ember tetras once or twice a day with very small helpings of micro-sized food, because these tiny orange tetras eat little at a sitting and leave the rest to decay. Crushed flake, micro-pellets ground finer, or baby brine shrimp sprinkled to sink slowly through their planted midwater suits them best, and a school…
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