Fish Food, For Dummies

[CACAdmin]

Article about various fish foods including live and homemade ones:

Fish Food, For Dummies (http://www.calgaryaquariumsociety.com/Articles/Fish_Food_For_Dummies.html)
by Grant Gussie

Also don't forget to check out our Food and Nutrition (http://www.canadianaquariumconnection.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=35) section for more info and ideas and great Homemade Aqua-Creature Recipes! (http://www.canadianaquariumconnection.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12)

[Melody]

I like this example:

"Most notable for requiring vegetables are the plecos (South American algae eating catfishes), silver dollars (vegetarian relatives of the piranha), and mbuna (rock-dwelling cichlids from Lake Malawi, Africa). These fishes have extraordinarily long guts and will develop lower-digestive problems if they do not get enough roughage in their diets. These problems are usually followed by a lethal bacterial infection."

That's a good example. Yet if you fed a Carnivore the same amount of roughage that a Pleco actually should have in its diet, the Carnivore would not do well at all.

There are many awesome foods out there with equally awesome ingredients, but if you keep a variety of fish with a variety of nutrional considerations then they should be considered and attended to for optimum health. Fast growth does not mean good health and in fact shortens lifespans. Good color does not necessarily mean good health. Living is not thriving.