Fruits and Veggies

[ddavis1979]

Given the diversity in my tank:

10 tiger barbs
2 cory cats
8 neon tetras
1 rainbow shark
1 blue gourami

I have some questions about food.

#1 - I often hear of feeding some veggies from time to time, boiled zuchinni and lettuce. and shelled peas. What other veggies are good? Whats the best way to introduce it to the tank? How often?

Here is what I have done so far. I have blanched zuchinni and cut it into ribbons. I thread some fishing line through it and it sits at mid-level in the tank. Within 5 minutes the tiger barbs have eaten to the point of almost exploding, and little stringy peices tend to float around the tank for a while.

#2 - What about fruits, in particular, melons? I rarely hear of anyone giving honeydew, cantalope, or watermelon to their fish. Is this a good or bad idea, why?

#3 - Are there any dietary advantages or disadvantages to giving your fish frozen or live food (blood worms, tubiflex worms, shrimp) as opposed to the freezedried. My fish eat hte food so quickly, that the freeze dried stuff is still looking pretty crunchy when they inhale it ?

thanks!

[imma24]

#1 - I often hear of feeding some veggies from time to time, boiled zuchinni and lettuce. and shelled peas. What other veggies are good? Whats the best way to introduce it to the tank? How often?

Here is what I have done so far. I have blanched zuchinni and cut it into ribbons. I thread some fishing line through it and it sits at mid-level in the tank. Within 5 minutes the tiger barbs have eaten to the point of almost exploding, and little stringy peices tend to float around the tank for a while.

#2 - What about fruits, in particular, melons? I rarely hear of anyone giving honeydew, cantalope, or watermelon to their fish. Is this a good or bad idea, why?

#3 - Are there any dietary advantages or disadvantages to giving your fish frozen or live food (blood worms, tubiflex worms, shrimp) as opposed to the freezedried. My fish eat hte food so quickly, that the freeze dried stuff is still looking pretty crunchy when they inhale it ?

thanks!

I will tell you that many forum members discourage the use of freeze dried food because it can be constipating - frozen is good (I use cubes) but live food is always recommended - many people culture their own worms/brine shrimp

You can put whatever you want in the tank to see if your fish go for it, but make sure to remove anything uneaten quickly (if there's anything left). Variety for fish is good.

Peas are considered good as a laxative.

[fishmommie]

my pleco and snails love watermelon and spinach as well as zucchini and peas

[madagascariensis]

If you ever have the problem of uneaten vegetables, remove in maximum 2 days.