Depending upon what type of fish you have purchased will depend upon what type of food they will need. Some fish are carnivores and will only eat meat, while others are herbivores and will only eat plants. There are also those that are omnivorous and will eat both. Try to keep a wide variety of foods on hand. Here’s a list of the foods you may want to keep:

• Flakes or pellets, these should be their staple diet and fed on a daily basis. (Note: Prepared foods such as flakes or pellets have a shelf life of about six months, after that they should be thrown away.)
• A variety of worms.
• Brine shrimp
• Blanched romaine lettuce
• Frozen peas that have been thawed out and skinned.
• Spirulina (Note: This would be the staple diet of plant eaters, some plant eating fish include plecos and otos.)
• Blanched spinach
• Blanched zucchini
• For meat eaters you may want to try raising your own livebearers to keep a steady supply of food. (Note: Meat would be the staple diet of meat eaters, some meat eaters include piranha’s and oscars.)

When feeding your fish feed them only what they can eat within about 2 to 3 minutes twice a day. If it takes them any longer to eat it then you are feeding them too much. Another way to determine how much to feed is by looking at their eyes. Generally a fish’s stomach is the same size as their eyes, and you don’t want to feed them any more than that. Also keep in mind that the larger the fish the more they will eat. Now here’s what gets most people. Fish always look hungry, and several species of fish will come up to the glass to beg for food if someone walks by. Don’t let them sucker you into feeding them before it’s time or more than twice a day. Some fish will literally eat themselves to death if given the chance.

If you are going on a trip and are worried about them eating while you’re away, you can try a food timer that releases food for them at certain times of the day. Don’t rely on a friend or a neighbor to feed them, chances are that they will overfeed and bring about havoc on the water quality, that is unless you have enough containers to put enough food in for each feeding for every day you’ll be gone. Instead, if you’re only gone a week, let them fast. Fish can survive a week with no food without any problems. In fact if you do fast them you will come home to a very clean tank. If you fast your fish while you’re away don’t try to compensate for the missed feedings when you get back. Feed them like you would normally.