How you feed your fish will determine how healthy they are, the quality of the water in your tank and how beautiful and active your tank ultimately is.

Choosing the right aquarium fish food is essential to keep your fish healthy and happy, and one experiment you can try is to make your own fish flakes, with ingredients that are specially chosen to help your species in question.

Here are some general nutrition guidelines and a recipe you can try for your omnivorous fish.

 

What Can Fish Eat?

Fish are highly diverse, as can be seen in most aquariums. They differ in terms of colour, behaviour, where they like to float and what they like to eat.

Most aquarium fish are omnivores like us, who like to eat a mix of both animal and plant matter, typically with four times as much plant matter as animal proteins.

There are also herbivores who tend to eat algae and some aquatic plants, as well as more carnivorous fish who eat other sea creatures.

 

Ingredients

Fish food flakes are made using a fairly standard baking process using a mix of plant and animal matter.

Whilst there are some variations, here are the types of plants to feed your fish:

 

  • Leafy Greens: Many healthy greens, such as spinach, kale, sushi seaweed and romaine lettuce are a great base for any fish diet, as they are filled with a lot of vitamins and minerals fish need to thrive and simulate the types of aquatic plants fish eat in the wild.
  • Other Fruits And Vegetables: Adding broccoli, pears, apples, carrots, peas or oranges can help add variety to a fish’s diet and help them look their best.
  • Garlic: Garlic has become increasingly popular with aquarium owners, as garlic is an appetite stimulant and has some antibacterial properties that can help with overall health.
  • Spirulina:Made from blue-green algae, the food additive is full of amino acids, vitamins and minerals, as well as natural pigments to help boost the colour of your fish.
  • Starch: Starch from either potato or corn is added as a binder to the mixture to help create the flakes once it has dried.

 

As for animal matter, fish can eat

  • Other Fish: Sunfish is a good place to start when it comes to fish to feed other fish, but the general rule is simply not to use the same species of fish as the ones you are feeding.
  • Earthworms:Easily found at any bait shop, earthworms are an ideal source of protein very popular with fish.
  • Other Animal Matter:Bulk frozen foods, blood worms and brine shrimp can also add variety, although make sure you buy them from trusted sources.

 

Here is a basic recipe you can try, using the following ingredients:

  • Spinach (450g)
  • Broccoli Stems (225g)
  • Garlic (2 Cloves)
  • Courgette (1 Whole)
  • Stringy Guts From Winter Squash
  • Skin-On Sunfish Fillets (225g)
  • Earthworms (4)
  • Corn Starch (1tbs)

 

Process

First of all, get your ingredients ready by thawing, rinsing and boiling harder vegetables, as well as descaling fish.

Next, place all of your ingredients into a blender and pulse blend until it reaches an even consistency. Strain this mixture through a medium-fine mesh sieve to remove any large bones or vegetables that cannot be eaten by your fish.

Next, take some large baking trays and cover them with baking paper (wax or parchment). Pour the strained mixture onto the sheets and spread them onto a thin layer (about half a centimetre).

Set your oven to 65 degrees Celcius (150 degrees Fahrenheit) and bake for 3-4 hours until the mixture is crumbly throughout. Afterwards, break the chunks with your hands until you get the right flaky size and store them in an airtight container.