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The Four 'Vores
Types of feeders

There are many types of fish food readily available at your fish store, in your garden and in your fridge. They range from pre-formulated flakes to vegetables to frozen larvae.
For fish to thrive they need a balanced diet, often one that is specific to their species and natural habitat.

Omnivores
Omnivores eat anything that they like the taste of. They are able to feed on flaked food, live food, pellets, vegetables, you name it. For this reason they are the easiest fish to feed and are usually the least fussy.

Herbivores
These are vegetarian fish. They prefer to munch on some vegetables or algae than devour a bag of live bloodworm. Their typical diet can consist of courgette, peas, lettuce, algae, vegetable flakes and plants. If there is a ready supply of food for them however, they should not bother eating the plants. But do beware, these veggies eat more regularly than the carnivores and can damage delicate plants if they try to munch algae of their surfaces.

Carnivores
These fish often get a bad reputation because of their dietary requirements. Carnivores require meat based foods and because of this they are typically predatory species. Other fish, shrimp, worms and animals are the dish of the day. The high fat/protein content of these foods means that the fish will typically gorge themselves and then spend several days before requiring another feeding. Fortunately, most carnivourous fish in captivity will settle for dead or preprepared meats, meaning that the fish keeper doesnt need to get distressed over feeding live foods.

Insectivore
Fish such as Hatchets and Archerfish rely on insects as their primary diet. Usually they will accept flaked foods but mosquitos (frozen larvae), bloodworm and daphnia are their favoured food source. All of which are commonly available in frozen or live form.
  

Article posted on 15/1/2007 by darxide

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