Many pet fish owners often wonder what the proper feeding ratio of food is for their fish. This is a fairly common question, since the majority of fish owners do not feed their fish in the proper portions. Feeding your fish the right amount of food is a very important part of overall pet care, since it will allow you to take the best possible care of your fish’s dietary and nutritional needs. Many pet fish owners aren’t aware of the proper portions that a fish should be fed, and end up overfeeding or underfeeding as a result. As a rule, you should not feed your fish more than they can consume within 5 – 6 minutes. Here is some general information that will help you to decide how much you should feed your fish.
Type of Food
It’s possible that you may be feeding your fish flake food, pellet food, freeze-dried food, liquid food or live food. Depending on the type of food you are currently choosing to feed your fish, you will have to adjust your feeding portions. For example, flake food tends to break apart after it sinks to the bottom of your tank. Because of this, it’s slightly more difficult for fish to catch the food as it descends to the bottom. Though flake food may be consumed by bottom feeding fish, it’s possible that it may deteriorate in shape enough so that it becomes inedible. Pellet food, on the other hand, tends to hold its shape for a longer period of time, and is easily consumable by most types of fish. If you are feeding your fish live food, you will have to make certain considerations about the size of the live food, in a general ratio to your fish’s daily feeding needs. For liquid fish foods, the feeding ratio is usually clearly listed on the product’s packaging.
Number of Fish
Depending on how many fish you have in your tank, you may have to adjust your feeding ratio accordingly as a part of overall fish care. If you have a fairly crowded tank, you want to make sure that all of your fish have a chance to feed. Try to split your feeding ratio into portions that are deposited in both sides of the tank, in order to ensure that all of your fish are fed. If you have a relatively small number of fish, be sure that you do not overfeed! Overfeeding is one of the most common mistakes many fish owners make when feeding their fish.
Activity Level
If you have fish that are not overly active, you may need to adjust their feeding ratio to be slightly smaller than that of active fish. Less-active fish usually expend less energy, and do not have nutritional requirements that are as high as those of fish that are constantly active. However, when in doubt, it’s best to follow the general rule: only feed your fish as much food as they are able to consume within approximately 5 -6 minutes.
