Fish food

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Fish food is plant or animal material intended for consumption by pet fish, such as goldfish. Fish food normally contain nutritive substances, trace vitamins and minerals necessary to keep fish alive and in good health. It will also contain a quantity of ash created in the production process.

Fish food can be prepared in many forms. Pelleted forms are often used for large fish and outdoor fish. Koi food often has additives in it to enhance their colour. Another popular form is flake food. Animal matter can be fed to fish through frozen or freeze dried cubes of bloodworms (midge larvae), daphnia and brine shrimp. Animal Matter is also available in Freeze Dried forms.

Commercial fish food is often designed to float, and the fish then feed at the surface. This allows better viewing of the fish ponds and aquaria.

There is also a variety of products on the market which are designed to sink directly to the bottom of aquaria in order to feed bottom dwelling fish such as plecs and corydoras.

[edit] Flake Food

Flake food is a type of fish food consumed by a wide variety of tropical and saltwater fish and invertebrates. It is ideally suited to top dwellers and mid-water fish though numerous bottom dwelling species consume flake food once it has settled on the bottom.

Flake food is baked to remove moisture and create the flaking, thus allowing for a longer shelf life. Generally the more moisture a particular example of fish food contains, the more readily it will deteriorate in quality.

There are many brands of flake food. Some of the most popular include Aquarian and Hikari flake, which is known to be one of the best flake foods available for fish due to its ability to form a correctly balanced diet. However, it is good to supplement flake food with other protein rich foods such as bloodworm or brine shrimp.