Best Tropical Fish Food Guide

Tropical Fish Food Guide

If you want to find the best tropical fish food or how to find your tropical fish, read this article.

If you are trying to answer these questions, then you've come to the right site!


Different species of tropical fish require different types of food. Sound complicated? Then you have come to the right place. My aim is to show you exactly how to find the best tropical fish food brands and some feeding strategies for your tropical fish. This is a must read tropical fish food guide!

Tropical fish are fragile and need a special diet. You do not want to just buy generic fish food from the grocery store: doing so may cause your tropical fish harm. Providing your tropical fish with a varied diet will make it easier for your tropical fish to obtain all the necessary nutrients.

Besides tropical fish food, you need to consider other factors such as the type of filters your aquarium tanks will have. Different species of fish (be them pond fish or tropical fish) will require different filters. For example, when dealing with Koi pond fish, the koi filter material can play a key role in how clean the Koi water gets and how much food the Koi fish will eat. The Koi filter system can make a difference in how much food the fish will eat! The same principal applies to tropical fish filters.

In the wild, predatory fish can eat algae; placing a tropical fish in an algae free tank can lead to malnutrition. Alternatively, herbivore fish subsists mainly on algae and plant material but will occasionally eat small insects -- something that rarely happens in captivity when the fish's subsist primarily on flake food. Providing a diet that mimics the natural eating habits of tropical fish will guarantee healthy (and long living) tropical fish.

You need to find some food that is targeted towards your specific tropical fish species. For example, if you have a goldfish variant, you can use some goldfish type food. Immature fish and elderly fish also have their own types of fish food. The bottom line: there is no "one' universal tropical fish food. You need to select food for a specific type of tropical fish. Failure to do so may cause your fish to be malnourished.

Be careful when feeding the your tropical fish: you do not want to overfeed it! Uneaten food decomposes and will pollute the water. The fish will also produce more waste adding to the pollution. Overfeeding can also cause obesity in your tropical fish and make it less likely to spawn! So, overfeeding is a very bad thing!

Feed your fish only enough to keep it feeding for three to five minutes. Any more then this and you may be overfeeding your fish. There are a variety of brands in the grocery store and online. These are often the best choice because they have been scientifically tested and are specifically formulated for your fish.

I've decided to list some of the fish food below:

Dried Tropical Fish Food
Dried Tropical Fish Food is the easiest method of feeding your tropical fish. Dried Tropical Fish Food can be stored and used when needed. Dried fish food comes in two forms: pellets or flakes. They are generally inexpensive compared to other forms.

Flake Tropical Fish Food
Most pet-shop fish are raised exclusively on flake food. Flake fish food has a reputation for being inadequate nutrition-wise. This is maybe an unfair stereotype as many people use flake food to raise healthy tropical fish. Remember, it's not so much about what type of fish food you feel your tropical fish, but about the variety of fish food you feed your tropical fish. The best tropical fish food is a mixed diet.

Pellet Tropical Fish Food
Pellet food are advisable for larger fish because of the size. However, the downside is that the pellets sink to the bottom of the tank and decompose, adding to the pollution of the tank.

Frozen/Freeze Dried Tropical Fish Food
These are pretty similar to the dried fish food as far as storage and ease-of-use goes. From the fish's point of view, Frozen/Freeze Dried food is better because the food is live food that has been frozen -- it's not artificial. It's got all the nutritional benefits of live food and the storage advantage of dried tropical fish food. It's a win win situation right? Yes and no. Frozen/Freeze dried food is also more expensive. Dried food is formulated to contain everything a fish needs while Frozen/Freeze dried food is specific type of food. It's very important that you have a variety of different food if you choose to go with the Frozen/Freeze dried route for your tropical fish food choice.

Live Tropical Fish Food
Serving your tropical fish live food is also another option. This is the most "natural" option and most healthy option for your tropical fish, but it can be a time consuming hobby (or sub hobby). You can buy certain live foods from companies, though you need to be careful because this field is not regulated and sub standard products may be sold. Some live foods you can purchase/find and raise: earthworms, brine shrimp, and guppies. Everyone knows that fish loves worms, and these are a great live food to raise. Many people raise Black worms, Tubifex worms, White worms and of the favorite of fishermen around the world, earth worms.

Some tropical fish will only eat live fish. If this is the case, you will want to raise small fish as a sub hobby as it will be quite expensive to constantly purchase them.

Other live foods you can raise as tropical fish food are minnows, crickets, and frogs.

Remember, the most important key is having a balanced diet for your tropical fish food. It's important to research what specific food your species of tropical fish requires, then narrow down the category of food you wand (dried, frozen, or live tropical fish food).

Hope you have found this tropical fish food guide helpfull,

Ben