Can you feed fish spinach?

[fish_face]

I'm trying to give my fish (see sig) some veg in their diets (in a vain attempt to stop them eating my plants!) and gave them some defrosted frozen spinach yesterday. The only thing was that my festivums were...er....well 'excreting' it not long after and it still looked the same Is this normal or is spinach not very digestable. Can anyone suggest other veg if thats the case Thanks everyone.

 

[sharktale]

Hi, I haven't fed my fish spinach however I do feed them cabbage sometimes and they love cucumber my baby bristlies and my cichlids quite often have light poo after lots of cucumber so I would say its normal. Have you fed defrosted shelled peas, they love these

 

[abstract]

completly normal...even humans can't really digest veggies properly - take a look some time ...that is why we feed them to the fish, to move stuff through their system quickly and to provide variety...you could also try feeding lettuce, cucumber, zuccini, peas, corn, and i've even seen fruits such as oranges in some tanks although i donno if i would try that..

 

[Teelie]

Oranges are a citrus fruit and high in acid so odds are they'd throw off pH depending on the size of the tank and amount of orange. No idea what it would do to a fish internally either.

 

[WILDER]

Here you go talks about spinach further down he page.

http/www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/feed...egetables.shtml

 

[Boxcar Muzzdogg]

Teelie I recall a thread a few weeks ago where oranges were determined to be good for fish.

 

[Undawada]

Spinach is perfectly fine for tropicals. Just make sure the frozen variety doesn't have any salt or other additives in it.

Oranges are said to be OK for tropicals by some members, but I don't feel comfortable putting citrus in my tank, I guess I'm just paranoid.

 

[rdd1952]

I know most people say that their fish love veggies but I have had absolutely no luck. I have tried zuchini, cucumbers, lettuce, yellow squash, spinach, and on and on. When I had Otos, they would eat cukes and zuchini but the tetras never touched them. I haven't tried since I got my angels.

 

[Teelie]

I tried zuchini once, didn't do anything for my cories. I'm going to try some other kind of vegetable, if I can ever remember to pick something up for them...

 

[WILDER]

My fish won't touch cucumba or lettuce.

 

[Jules H-T]

My Clown Loaches love Banana. Never tried Spinach. I wouldn't have thought a 1cm^3 bit of Orange is going to do much to the pH of a decent sized aquarium.

 

[millym]

ive seen bits of potato in tanks at my lfs with barbs among others nibbling away - has anyone tried bits of spud for their fish ??? just wondering i havent tried it yet

 

[WILDER]

I no the americans give there fish sweet potatoes, but not heard of it over here.

 

[CFC]

Slices of raw potatoe are great for plecs, just rinse a slice under the tap to wash off some of the starch and drop it in.
Spinach needs blanching before it can be used effectively as most fish have a hard time dealing with its tough texture, Romaine lettuce is a better alternative.