Choosing Fish Foods

Choosing which fish foods to feed to your fish can be a confusing process. You may be worrying over ingredient lists, fat and protein levels, or size and texture. Ask many people and you'll likely find just as many different opinions as to what is best to include in your fishes' diets. Unfortunately, there are no studies to confirm the correctness of one opinion over another, leaving them only opinions and not facts. If you're considering purchasing fish food from Angels Plus, and are having some trouble deciding what to try, don't worry! It is our experience that it is less important to have a specific ingredient list, fat percentage, protein level, flake size, color, or texture than it is to have quality ingredients in a food that is, above all, fresh. That's why we make sure that all of our foods have top-notch ingredients that don't come any fresher--we guarantee it!

Know your fish... The best place to start when choosing a fish food is with your fish. With a little research, one can find out what the fish would normally eat in the wild. Are they carnivorous (meat-eaters), herbivorous (plant-eaters), or omnivorous (plant and meat eaters)? Do they tend to eat at the surface of the water where fish flake food would float? Or do they prefer to eat at mid-depths or off of the bottom where sinking fish foods would fall? As an example, someone deciding what food would be best for their guppies would discover the following. Guppies, despite their small size (and small mouths), are carnivores--they thrive on mosquito larvae and other small critters. The larvae are often found at or near the surface of the water where they can breath--and so while guppies will eat at most depths, they readily come to the surface to feed. It seems reasonable that a floating or slow-sinking fish food, higher in protein levels, which is small in size or capable of being finely crushed would be an excellent choice for guppies.

Introduce the new fish food properly. Once you have decided upon which foods to feed, be sure to properly introduce them to your fish. When fish are accustomed to eating certain food and something else gets thrown in their tank at feeding time, they often will not eat it--even if it is far better food! Overfeeding with a new food can often lead to the fish ignoring the food, leaving it to pollute the tank. Instead, use our trick of introducing new foods. Get your fish hungry by not feeding them for 24-48 hours. Don't worry, this doesn't hurt them at all. Once the fish are hungry, you can start to introduce the new fish food. Give them approximately one bite per fish every few hours for a day or two. If they don't eat it within 2 minutes, remove it. In no time at all, you'll find your fish are eating the new food in a frenzy.