Feeding your Tropical Fish

Providing your fish with correct nutrition is one of the most important parts of fishkeeping. Fish rely on the food you feed them to meet all of their dietary needs, therefore it is vital to ensure that you use good quality foods.Tetra’s wide range of fish foods are manufactured to the highest quality, ensuring that they are both highly palatable and very nutritious.

What do Fish Live on in the Wild?
In their natural habitats, fish show a wide range of adaptations that enable them to find enough food to survive. There are three major types of fish when it comes to feeding: herbivorous fish feed primarily on plants and algae, omnivores feed on a vast range of items, from vegetable matter through to insects, small fish, and anything else that they find, and carnivores primarily prey on other animals (piscivores are carnivores that feed exclusively on fish).There is some overlap between these classifications and it is not always clear how a particular fish should be classified. Omnivorous fish may feed on only a limited range of foods, or they may feed on a vast range of items.The majority of fish that are kept in “community” aquariums are omnivorous, accepting a wide range of foods.A good quality flake food such as TetraMin, will meet the nutritional needs of all tropical fish that are kept in

What is Fish Food?
Fish food primarily consists of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, minerals and vitamins.These components can be included into fish food in various forms, using various techniques.A good quality food, such as TetraMin or TetraPro, will include these constituents in their correct proportions, in a form that will allow them to be readily utilised by the fishes. TetraMin, along with other foods in the Tetra range, is very digestible, ensuring that only a small amount of waste is produced compa red to poorer quality foods.

If you do not use a good quality food like TetraMin, then you run the risk of creating excess levels of waste in the tank. Because poor quality foods are not well digested, more solid waste is produced which ultimately breaks down in the tank, using up oxygen and releasing pollutants.This makes it harder to maintain the aquarium and keep the fish healthy, and leads to greater problems with algae.

Because Tetra’s foods are better utilised by fish, they also encourage better growth rates, and promote greater health and vigour than poorer quality foods. If you want the very best, then Tetra’s latest food, TetraPro Crisps, is even more efficiently utilised by fish, and its unique low heat manufacturing process better preserves its nutritional content.

How Much Should You Feed and When?
Fish should ideally be fed in small meals, two to three times a day.These meals should be spaced out, preferably in the morning, at midday, and in the evening. If you are not at home at lunch-time then two feeds a day is adequate.The fish should consume all of the food within two to three minutes. Any excess should be removed from the tank so it does not have the chance to rot down. If you have fish that only feed after dark then you should add a good quality tablet or wafer food to the tank, after you have turned the lights out. Tetra’s tablet and wafer foods are manufactured to the highest quality and will remain stable in the tank until they have been eaten.

Which Foods Should you Feed your Fish?
Because different fish have varying physical and nutritional feeding requirements,Tetra produces a broad range of high quality foods. Each one has been carefully formulated and developed for the species it is intended for.

TetraMin
TetraMin was the world's first complete flake food, developed over 50 years ago. Since then it has been continuously improved by Tetra's research and development laboratories; the largest of their kind in the world. TetraMin is the world's most advanced and best selling tropical flake, providing everything your fish need to keep them healthy. In addition it is very efficiently used by fish, resulting in minimal waste production.This helps to keep your aquarium cleaner, making maintenance easier and reducing the likelihood of algae problems.

TetraMin flake is an ideal daily diet for a wide range of tropical fish, containing all the nutrients they need. It can form the main part of the diet you give to your fish.

If you want to give your fish an even better diet, then feed TetraMin Crisps instead of TetraMin Flake. Crisps are produced using a special low temperature process, resulting in better vitamin retention and even lower waste production.

For baby fish, TetraMin Baby consists of very finely milled particles with a special formulation for encouraging rapid growth.

Tetra Granular Foods
Many fish species have evolved to feed from the middle of the water column instead of the surface - you can often identify them by their forward-pointing mouths. Such species include Angel fish, Discus, and many barbs and tetras. In addition, fish such as loach and catfish prefer to feed from the bottom of the aquarium, as they have mouths on the underside of their head.
For mid-water feeders and active bottom feeders (e.g. Clown loach and Corydoras catfish), it is beneficial to feed a slowsinking granule. TetraPrima is a complete sinking granule for such species, designed to give them a balanced diet for good health, colour and condition. It is produced using an advanced extrusion process, resulting in a highly digestible food that results in very little waste. For smaller fish, TetraPrima MiniGranules are ideal.

TetraPrima should be fed at the same time as flakes or crisps, to ensure bottom and mid-water feeders get sufficient nutrition.

Tetra Tablet and Wafer Foods Certain fish species, such as some catfish and loach, either prefer to feed on the bottom of the tank or will not come out readily to feed at the same time as the other tank inhabitants. Often this is because they are nocturnal and are therefore not accustomed to feeding whilst it is light.These fish may not be active enough to consume granules or flakes, and must not be allowed to starve.Therefore Tetra has produced a number of sinking foods to give them the nutrition they need.

Tetra TabiMin andTetra Variety Wafers have all the balanced ingredients that TetraMin has, but in a form that will sink to the bottom, without dissolving and polluting the tank. If you have plecostomus (catfish that suck onto the glass and eat algae) or other herbivorous fish in your tank then Tetra has formulated PlecoMin and PlecoWafers. These foods contain the vegetable matter that these fish need in their diet. It is unlikely that there will be enough algae in your tank to keep these fish in good health, and therefore it is important to supplement their diet with PlecoMin or PlecoWafers. Plecostomus, as well as all the other fish, particularly enjoy feeding on Tetra Treats Tablets.These tablets are based on a mix of freeze-dried shrimps, bloodworm larvae and tubifex worms, and can be stuck to the aquarium glass so as you can watch the fish feeding on them.

Tetra Speciality Foods
Tetra produce a number of foods that can either be fed to your fish as special treats, or that may be needed in certain conditions.

Tetra DoroMin is a floating foodstick designed to provide a staple diet for larger fish, such as cichlids, barbs and characins.

TetraVariety consists of four different flakes, each one based on a natural food, and will provide your fish with a nutritious treat.

TetraGuppy is specially formulated for livebearers such as guppies and platies. It contains a mix of animal and vegetable ingredients to reflect their omnivorous diet, and consists of small flakes that float for longer to allow them to feed naturally from the surface.

TetraBetta is specially formulated for Siamese Fighting Fish ('bettas'). Because they have small mouths and are adapted to feed from the surface, it consists of small flakes that float for longer. In addition it contains freeze-dried shrimp and is rich in animal proteins to match their carnivorous diet, along with colour enhancers to improve their appearance.

Tetra Treat Foods
Tetra Fresh Delica is a range of foods from Tetra that have all the benefits of frozen or live foods, yet they are enriched in a vitamin jelly and do not need to be kept in the freezer.They come in easy to use sachets and are available as either bloodworm, daphnia, or brine shrimp. Because Tetra Fresh Delica is a fresh food, your fish will go wild for it.

Variety is the Spice of Life

It is important to meet the needs of individual fish in your tank, and a good way of doing this is to feed a variety of foods. Remember that when you try a new food for the first time, the fish will not be used to it, and it may take a few days for them to fully accept it.A good way of getting them used to a new food is to mix it in with their usual food, slowly increasing the amount, until they are taking it readily. For most tropical community aquariums it will be necessary to feed a main food such as TetraMin or TetraPro, along with a granular food (e.g.TetraPrima) and a sinking tablet or wafer (e.g.Tetra Variety Wafers).

Feeding a varied and nutritious diet is vital in order to ensure healthy and happy fish.