By Dr. Joe Bodewes, DVM Drs. There are over 25,000 different species of fish in the world and every individual species has their own special food preferences and requirements. While it may nearly be impossible to reproduce the exact diet that your aquarium fish would eat in the wild we can provide a healthy diet if we follow some basic feeding guidelines. With the introduction of dried flake, granular and pelleted foods, feeding aquarium fish has never been easier, yet every year thousands of fish become diseased or die because of improper nutrition. Dried Foods Commercially available dry foods are by far the most popular and can do a pretty good job of meeting the basic nutritional needs of many aquarium fish.
Dry foods come in the ever-popular flakes, granules, pellets and wafers.
Most aquariums contain a variety of fish including fish that feed on the surface, others that feed in the middle layer and still others that only feed on the bottom. It is essential that you supply foods that are adequate for each feeding level of fish. Feeding only a floating food is not adequate for mid level and bottom feeders. Tetras are mid level feeders and have mouths that are straight-ahead and best suited for grabbing food out of the middle of the tank. Catfish have sharply down turned mouths suitable for bottom feeding.