6 ideas to feed your fish like in nature
In nature, our aquarium fish obviously do not eat industrial flakes!
More than 99% of their menu consists exclusively of small live prey: insects and insect larvae, worms, small crustaceans, etc.
"Not only do these prey provide them with fresh nutrients of unparalleled quality, but they also allow them to hunt... Something they terribly lack in an aquarium!"
A wild fish spends more than half of its time searching for prey and chasing it.
Our fish are what we call "micro-predators". That is to say, hunting is second nature to them.
A fish that does not have the chance to hunt live prey becomes more vulnerable to infections and parasites.
Its colors are less vivid and it reproduces less willingly.
Frozen prey exists, but it has two disadvantages:
- they are inert and therefore do not have this precious flight behavior that drives the fish to hunt;
- the unused portion decomposes immediately and pollutes the aquarium.
The preferred live prey of your fish are more numerous than one might think, and they allow for a variety in their diets.
The spectacle of fish rediscovering their hunting instinct is fascinating!
1 - The daphnia : small queens of phytoplankton, their jerky swimming excites the fish. They love to hunt these small crustaceans, which are very rich in protein and hemoglobin. The daphnia are the basis of fish diets in nature and are very easy to raise yourself. It's "red gold" aquatic...
2 - Gammarus: a type of small freshwater shrimp, gammarus are large prey that swim very quickly. Perfect for cichlids and other sufficiently sized fish, they measure between 1 and 10 mm. With smaller fish, they will settle permanently in the aquarium. Only the newborns will then be consumed.
3 - The water lice : they are freshwater isopods, very useful for cleaning the aquarium or garden pond. You can even introduce them into the filters! Perfect for feeding fish of all sizes, since young water lice are tiny, and some adults reach 15 mm.
4 - The Blackworm: it's a true caviar for our fish! These aquatic worms settle in the substrate of the aquarium. The fish that catch them feast on these very fine worms, which can reach a size of about ten cm.
5 - The springtails: these non-aquatic critters hop on the surface of the water. Fish that hunt at the surface like guppies, Bettas, danios, and others enjoy them. Very easy to raise, just sprinkle them on the surface. Your fish will catch them one by one, creating a joyful animation in the aquarium.
6 - Finally, if you want to be guided in a particularly easy and productive breeding, to regularly give your fish the tiny worms they love, you can turn to Grindals, whose culture fits in a simple box with its lid!
Aquazolla has gathered everything necessary for this breeding (equipment, strain, food, and a complete manual) in the Zollabox Fish S, which allows you to start this culture with ease.
To learn more about natural aquaristics, don't forget the Mattier blog.