If you want to get the most out of your fish it is important to give them a variety of fish foods. While you can give them just flake food, you should try to vary their diet with some of the different types of tropical fish food described below. Two or three small feedings a day is better than one feeding per day. Only put in as much food that the fish will consume within 2 minutes. Overfeeding your fish will lead to poor water quality and stressed fish.
Freeze-dried foods are a safe alternative to live fish food due to the treatment of these foods before the freeze drying process. Be extremely careful when using live foods (especially feeder goldfish) due to the diseases that they may carry.

Automatic Fish Food Feeder

These are good to use because they will dispense the same amount of food at specified intervals, usually every 12 hours. They can also be utilized while you are away on vacation.


Flake Fish Food



Flakes are easy to use and your fish will like it. Flakes usually float on the surface while the fish eat. If you have bottom dwelling fish like Cory Cats, you will want to use something like algae wafers or pellets that sink to the bottom. You can use flakes as the primary food source because it contains most of the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients that your fish need. They are also easy on your fish's digestive system. Start off by using just a pinch or two. If your fish gobble it up in less than 2 minutes, try another tiny pinch. Avoid overfeeding because this can lead to poor, cloudy water.
Also keep in mind that flake food does get bad if you've had it for a long time. Just imagine eating from a 6 month old box of cereal. So, it's probably best to go for the smaller flake food containers instead of the jumbo containers that will last for 5 years.

Brine Shrimp


Brine shrimp is a great food for getting your fish ready for fish breeding. It can also be used as an excellent treat for your fish. Use it as a supplement to the daily diet of flake fish food.
You can also create your own brine shrimp rather easily. Check out the brine shrimp hatchery page for details on how to create a DIY hatchery.

Blood Worms



If you have carnivorous fish you may want to supplement their diet with some blood worms. Your other fish will love these as well. Blood worms are high in protein and only feed them to your fish occasionally.
Krill
Krill are small crustaceans that are often used to enhance the colors in tropical fish. It is not recommended to feed krill daily to your fish. Use it as an occasional supplement to their diet.

Shrimp Pellets



Made from brine shrimp and because these pellets usually sink to the bottom, they can be used to feed your bottom dwelling fish. Brine shrimp is a great fish food and is often used to stimulate breeding in tropical fish.

Spirulina

Spirulina is a type of blue-green algae that can be a great supplement for your fish that are primarily herbivores. What is the benefit of spirulina? It contains many amino and fatty acids that are the building blocks for proteins. It is also usually vitamin enriched. Fish such as Plecos, Silver Dollars and Mollies will really benefit from a diet supplemented with spirulina fish food. It should help make your fish more regular with their bowel movements.

Algae Wafers

These wafers were specifically developed for the hard to feed plecostomus and other algae eating bottom feeders. Cory cats and Silver Dollars will go after these sinking wafers as well. It can be really funny to watch Silver Dollars chase each other around the tank when one gets the algae wafer. This food can be a great supplement for the aforementioned species as well as other herbivorous fish. Drop one or two in at night when the tank lights go off for your bottom feeders. This way they won't have to compete with the top dwelling species for the wafers.

Frozen Fish Food

Frozen fish foods are great for getting high quality, fresh food to your fish. These foods are usually high in proteins and fats so check the label to see exactly what you're giving your fish. Manufacturers are making frozen varieties of the many tropical fish food types, including brine shrimp, beef heart, bloodworms, daphnia, krill, plankton, silversides, etc. You can sometimes get the frozen fish food in cube packs that really makes it easy to dispense.
Using frozen fish food can be messy, to cut down on the amount of pollution added to your tank you may want to thaw the frozen food in a bowl and then slowly spoon feed it to your tank. Only put in as much food as your fish will eat as soon as it touches the water.
Feeding your fish high quality, frozen foods will really do wonders for them. You may start to notice that your fish have improved colors and they may even start breeding.

Freeze Dried Fish Food

Freeze dried fish foods are great foods as well. However, they are one of the most expensive types of tropical fish foods per ounce. There are benefits to using freeze dried foods. They are not very messy, they tend to float at the top of the tank for a very long period of time and they have been decontaminated (free from fish disease) by the manufacturer before the freeze drying process. If you've used freeze dried fish food you know how fish go after them. Freeze dried food is a very good way to supplement your pet's diet.

Live Fish Food

Live tropical fish food is exactly what you think it is. The food is still alive when you introduce it to the tank. Brine shrimp, Daphnia, Feeder Goldfish and worms are usually the main live foods given to tropical fish. Many give feeder Goldfish to their Piranhas and Lionfish. If you plan on using live foods, caution is advised because feeder fish can bring fish disease along with them.
Earth worms can be a great supplement for your fish but don't feed them to your fish too frequently. Finding earth worms can be fairly easy but make sure you don't collect them from soil that may have contaminants such as lawn fertilizer.