The
health of the fish should be everybody's aim and this only comes
when one understands what fish need to become healthy and robust.
Once you understand this, you can take any specie of cichlid and
give it proper care without actually knowing much about the fish.
Once you understand care, then everything else will fall into place.
The main reason I write
so much about feeding is because I'm aware of the lack of importance
that most, and I repeat most, hobbyists put on feeding. As long
as their fish are swimming, they feel that their diet is proper.
I've witnessed people buying complete set-ups and their total bill
could wipe out the national debt. The best aquarium, stand, light,
28 tons of gravel and rocks, every kind of plastic plant and ornament
and, of course, 179 different species of expensive fish and don't
forget the 45 different pumps and filters. Last but not least, the
49¢ package of JO JO's miracle diet dry food that's guaranteed
not to cloud the water because of the new miracle drying process
that completely wipes out all the useless ingredients such as vitamins
and nutrients.
Another reason feeding
should be discussed as often as possible is because most people
don't understand their own dietary needs, let alone their fishes'.
Most doctors are now beginning to say that a proper diet also has
a lot to do with mental health, and some say that a proper diet
may solve 90% of all health problems. Now if this is true then it
would also be the answer to all other wild life. In the wild, animals
seek out foods that they have adapted to eat and this adaptation
is a well balanced diet that gives them all the vitamins and minerals
needed to keep them in proper health.
Tropical fish in their
home waters also seek out a proper diet, and it seems that Mother
Nature supplied them with a built-in knowledge of what they need
to keep fit and healthy. In the home aquarium, they cannot search
out their dietary needs but must depend on what is dropped into
the tank by their owners.
Have you ever asked yourself
why a particular specie of fish is twice the size as yours even
when you gave them a large aquarium and cared for them to the best
of your ability? The answer is probably diet, both in quality and
quantity given to obtain full growth. Detailed information of food
requirements of fishes is limited to a relatively few species of
food fishes such as trout, bass, and salmon. Very few studies have
been done from freshwater and marine environments and most of the
information on tropicals has come from hobbyists.
Studies have proven that
fish are very efficient in utilizing their food. They have found
that simply by measuring the weight of food given, you can chart
the growth and weight gains in food fishes. For instance, they have
found that trout will gain one pound of weight for every 3.5 pounds
of food consumed; this is with a high quality diet that has been
prepared from years of study. A poorer diet has a conversion factor
of 8 pounds of food to one pound of weight gain. Now, although they
talk in weight gain, the growth rate was also directly related to
diet.
Growth rate also depends
on quality and quantity fed. Certain types of foods are harder to
digest and have a much higher conversion rate because of the inability
of the fish to digest certain parts of the foods fed. For instance,
fish that are fed a lot of adult brine shrimp and daphnia would
have to be fed higher quantities of this food to continue a proper
growth rate because of the indigestible roughage which is their
shell. These crustaceans' shells are almost 100% protein, but it
is of the same substance that fingernails are made of and is completely
indigestible. So maybe (and this is just a guess),1/2 pound of every
pound of brine shrimp fed could not be digested, so two pounds would
have to be fed to get the needed nutrients. Also fish fed a heavy
vegetable diet would need more because greens are harder to digest
and fish have a harder time utilizing all the vitamins and minerals.
Greens also have a high percentage of roughage which cannot be absorbed
into useful body building materials. What this means is that if
you feed X amount of food daily, you should chart what you are feeding
and double the amounts given when feeding greens and crustaceans.
If you feed X amount of beefheart, smelt, and dry food daily, this
may be enough for proper growth but when you feed heavy greens and
adult brine shrimp, then you should feed double the amount to obtain
the same growth rate.
Experiments show that
growth rate is greater in fish that are fed natural foods as compared
to fish that were fed artificial foods. Artificial foods are prepared
types such as dry foods, trout chow, etc. Natural foods are considered
insects, meats (beefheart), fish, and natural greens such as algae,
spinach, and lettuce.
Experiments on trout
showed that the fish fed on natural foods had meat of a lower water
and higher protein content, despite the fact that the artificial
diet was higher in protein and vitamins. This is an excellent reason
for going out of your way to put more natural foods into your fishes'
diet.
I've stated many times
that feeding is an art and that there are few artists in the tropical
fish hobby. This is not an insult, just a fact that, to me, is sad.
This is why certain people have the ability to raise their fish
to amazing sizes as compared to other people. With proper conditions,
fish have the ability to utilize all foods consumed by as high as
80 or 90 percent. But as the conditions worsen, their ability to
utilize the food lessens. Environmental stress such as colder waters,
overcrowding, poor water conditions, etc., all retard their growth
by making their body less efficient in breaking foods down into
body building materials. This is the reason why if you don't practice
proper aquarium maintenance, no matter what the diet, your fish
won't grow properly.
I had someone say to
me once that nobody feeds as much or as good as they do. This was
probably true but why then did my fish grow faster, were overall
slightly larger, and why did they have brighter colors? The reason
was given but it was not believed because, in a way, it is a little
unbelievable. The fact is fish can utilize food much more efficiently
after fasting. Continuous feeding means that the fish are overfed,
and it also means that the food is absorbed less efficiently than
the fish that has been allowed to clean their system out. What happens
is the continuous filling of the digestive system, in a sense, hurries
up the process, thus not giving the food time to be broken down
into useful materials. In fact, if you would run tests on their
waste products, you would find that partially digested foods will
add to the well-being of bacteria, thus a rise in harmful substances
in the tank; also, the ammonia count will be up because of the constant
digestive processes.
How much should you feed
your fish? Well, first you must know if they're herbivorous or carnivorous.
The reason is plant or plankton eaters need much more than carnivores.
The reason is although many of your plant life have higher nutritive
value than animal flesh, they contain a much higher percentage of
water and all of your algae have only half the caloric value and
less protein.
I've always fed as many
different kinds of food that were available (sometimes as high as
24 different kinds), and I feed them no less than 4 times daily,
with each time filling them up. I space their feeding on an equal
time scale which means if I plan on four feedings on a particular
day, then divide four into the available hours (16) and thus I would
feed every four hours. If I plan on feeding more often or less,
then the same rule is applied. I've found that the equal spacing
of meals helps in a more complete digestion of the previous meal.
Each meal may consist of a large variety of foods; I very seldom
feed only one type of food at each meal. This large variety of foods
is sort of a hit and miss deal that unknowingly gives them all the
nutrients needed to grow.
Half-grown or adult fish
have an amazing ability to survive long periods of starvation. What
happens is that they are able to live off of first their body fats
and then their excess protein. Some of your freshwater eels can
go as long as one year without eating. It seems the digestive system
degenerates and becomes non-functional.
The temperature is the
single most important factor in amount of foods consumed. For instance
in warmer waters fish may need to be fed 35% of their body weight
weekly to obtain proper growth and health or 5% daily. In the winter,
their needs may drop all the way to 1% of body weight daily. Now
if you apply this to your home aquarium then a constant temperature
would demand a consistent amount of food daily to keep the proper
growth and health and on increasing and decreasing temperatures
then amounts of foods should be adjusted accordingly.
A very important item
that should be covered is that daily rations should also vary with
the size of fishes. Small fish have a higher metabolic rate than
larger fish which means smaller fish should be fed more often and
more per body weight than your larger fish. For example, tests have
shown that smaller fish may take in 8 to 10% daily rations (of their
own body weight) as compared to the larger fishes' 5%. So use a
little common sense and let your fish grow instead of retarding
their growth. |
