In the saltwater aquarium hobby we tend to focus a little too much on the latest and greatest, while collectively forgetting the successes of our pioneers. One interesting techniques which hasn’t died out, but still seems to be becoming less common, is feeding our aquarium fish foods that we would normally eat.
Now there’s definitely a case to be made for not feeding aquatic animals with foods that have terrestrial origins – because the proteins are unfamiliar to the digestive tracts of our aquarium pets. But there’s definitely some foods in your kitchen right now which have been used for decades to keep and grow fish successfully.
What I’m curious to know is how many aquarists still feed their aquarium fish some recognizable foods. Romaine lettuce is still commonly used to fatten up tangs and herbivores, but I’m talking about peas, carrots, cucumber, bananas and other typically human fare.
Peas have been a common ingredient in fish foods for what seems like forever, and bigger herbivores can eat them like naturally formed pellets, but bananas are less common. Granted, these are not the kinds of foods you’d be feeding in a typical small and lightly filtered aquarium, but usually a very large tank with big bruiser fish and heavy duty aquarium filtration.
Yes it can be a cheap way to feed larger grazers, and yes it can make the water cloudy, but I’m really curious how many aquarists are still using foods commonly found at grocery stores to fatten up their bigger fish and dedicated grazers. So how about it? Do you have a surprising food that your fish really like? Share it with us in the comments below, I know some of you are feeding fish some unconventional foods, probably to great effect.
