How important are "Veggies"

[waylon101]

In the realm of food, how important are different forms of veggies? I have been feeding my swordtails and goodeas Repashy's Soilent Green, Cobalt Flake, Brine and San Francisco Bay's Emerald Entree. How important are veggies in the diet of omnivore and carnivore diet? Very important or not as important?

[Rocksor]

It depends on the omnivores. Characins like silver dollars exist in large groups, so they take food wherever they can get it, which includes aquatic plants, fallen fruit, insects, and fish. Oscars do not eat aquatic plant matter but they tend to prey on smaller fish which might have aquatic plant matter or algae in their gut, as well as eat fallen fruit and insects which might have plant matter in their gut. The same for carnivores.

In short, it depends on what the fish eat in the wild.

[Rocksor]

This should answer some questions about stomach content, and which fish can have no contents in the stomach with their natural food. Basically the hierarchy of fish that have to constantly eat versus that don't runs like this:

algivore/detrivore > omnivore > insectivore > piscivore

As an example, cory cats and plecos should have food left over in their stomach versus an African butterly fish.

"HOW OFTEN DO FISHES ‘‘RUN ON EMPTY’’?"

http://www.sisal.unam.mx/labeco/LAB_..._Ecology-1.pdf