What "human" food can I feed my fish?

[WendysWorld]

Have cherry barbs, neons, zebra danios, guppies, pangio loaches.

What I can feed them to increase their variety of diet, be sure to provide enough vitamins, while lesson cost to buy food just for fish? Though cost is NOT my primary concern since fish food is pretty cheap here. More interested in the sufficient variety and vitamins. So regardless of opportunity to use "human" food for the fish, would continue to use fish food most of the time anyway.

Have seen on internet some fish will eat broccolli, cauliflower, lettuce, and green peas. Saw posted here on forum that some aquarists "make their own food mixture" but not written WHAT that is.

Will my fish eat any human food? If yes, what? What do you feed your fish? What self-made mixtures do you use that would also work for my types of fish?

Thanks for your suggestions!

[PeterH]

Hiya, I've tried cucumber, lettuce and peas, the peas should be boiled and
the skins removed, they should be limited as I believe they act as a mild
laxative, good to use every couple of weeks.

[escamosa]

All the things that you have listed are great for your fish - broccolli, cauliflower, lettuce, and green peas. As Peter has said, soften the peas, and then shell them, then squish them up a little. The cauliflower and broccoli should be softened a little too. Other things you can feed them is, zuchini and fruit - apple, pear, kiwi fruit. You can leave the skin on all those things - just slice them and drop a slice or two in your tank. The zuchini should be softened a little too. Just be sure to remove any uneaten fruit or vegetables from the water after a few hours as they can make your water a bit cloudy. A good spirulina flake is another good addition to your food list - spirulina wafers for your loaches.

[WendysWorld]

Too weird! Never thought fish could eat that stuff!! I'll experiment with TINY little bits of one item at a time and see what they think of it!! Interesting!

For the loaches, I tried buying algae wafers, but they won't eat it. Wanted something for them that would sink and SLOWLY dissolve so they can nibble on it since they are so shy during day. Will try to find the spirulina you suggest.

[metal-otaku]

my puffer loves tomatoes. i cut them for my turtles but he always rushes to my hand to swipe some himself. and canalope. he loves that to death. he will push infront of the turtles for that. my other fish (feeder guppies that aren't being eaten, betas, cories, loaches, shrimps, swordtails, and mollies,) also get left over turtle jello shots which is puree veggies and turkey and flavorless gelatin. they also got nuts for the chicken liver, tuna, and sardines that are the occasional turtle treat if they can hold on to them. the fish seem to be dumb enough to fight them for it.

insect wise they also tear into wax worms and earthworms. if you want to pick them out of your yard after a rain.

[MandyH]

Great topic! I didn't know fruits were ok to feed. I feed my pleco zucchini and cucumbers all the time. He goes nuts for that, especial zucchini. I just tried this week to give them a couple of romaine lettuce leafs. The pleco nibbled on it, the yoyo loaches kept tearing pieces off and then they'd spit it out, the tiger barbs and firemouths both had some of the floaters too. I'll work on getting them more of a variety with fresh veggies in the future.

[Lady Hobbs]

I stick with romane lettuce, cucumbers, zucchini and summer squash. Sometimes green beans.

I also made homemade gel food but I wouldn't bother with it for a few freshwater little fish. No point in making the hobby hard.

[CrunchyLeaf]

Cucumber is an absolute win for Otis the Oticat. I just slice off a round piece and toss it in the tank, skin and all. It floats at the top and inevitably within 10 minutes...there he is, hanging upside down on his cucumber slice. he'll sit there for hours nibbling away at the soft center of it.

[HEADIN]

Defrosted prawns always go down well!!

i have platies in a bigger tank along with a few small cichlids and they get tore into them.. have seen them destroy a chunk or pork aswell that was put in for my lobster last year 1 time.