How I Feed My Fish

     Fish food companies promote multiple daily feedings. While some fish, such as growing fry or fish with higher metabolism might need multiple feedings daily in a new tank, in a properly aged tank they should be able to find enough food to carry them over to your next feeding. Though specialized feeders such as algae grazers should be fed food like slice squash that they can slowly graze over. I prefer fresh veggies in this case as other fish are less likely to eat it versus an algae wafer.
     I start with a good flake. I used to be on the wall about flake food, thinking it was messy but if you can buy large flake that can easily be sized down for smaller fish. I find it very hard to find  appropriate sized pellets for all my fish. When i went the pellet route I ended up with five different cans for three tanks! Flakes can be crushed to feed even small fry or left whole for my driftwood catfish.
     Another food i find to be versatile and eagerly accepted is Repashy gel foods. Repashy foods are a powder that you mix with boiling water to create a gel to feed the fish with. This food is incredibly easy to mix, make, store, and feed. It's a gel so can be cut into any size but once fish realize it's food they simple bite chunks out of it. The gel takes along time to dissolve int he tank so overfeeding is not a real concern, just don't add more till the first cube is gone. The gel can also be poured over drift wood or rocks before it cools creating a natural feeding station. Down side is if you have scavenger snails they will also get to it and their population will explode. This food also makes feeding night time fish a breeze.
     For plecos and other grazers i use slice and chunks of any squash, cucumber and the like. I try to rotate between green and yellow veggies. I also only feed this twice a week unless i am raising fry.
      I live feed at least once a week. Tubifex worms and black worms will live indefinitely in a freshwater system so very little pollution is created in their feeding. In the warmer months i mostly feed mosquito larvae. A five gallon bucket filled with stale water and a handful of grass clippings will produce quite allot of critters, not just mosquitoes that your fish will love.You'll also get a variety of sizes to feed different sized fish. Weekly harvesting is a must.
    Once a week i also feed frozen food. Since I keep fish of different sizes I usually feed market prawns. these can be thawed out and crushed to various sizes and the relish it. I break off the tail fan and toss into the tanks with nosy fish like loaches so they can work the meat out. Plecos will rasp the shell down to nothing.
     Once a week i fast the fish. IN this case i don't even open the tank lids allowing any extra nutrients, fertilizers and what not to either get taken up by the plants or bacteria. This is usually a Monday. Tuesday becomes prawn day where i let the fish gorge themselves, this is the day i also do water changes. I feed fairly sparingly throughout the week. Though I'm sure the micro fauna in the tank keep the fish fat.