What Do You Feed Your Dwarf Gouramis?

[Fwapp]

Hi,

I'm wondering what you feed your dwarf gouramis, and how often?

I feed my two powder blue dwarves flake once a day, everyday except sunday, when they get frozen bloodworm.

Should I feed more often, and what else would you recommend to vary their diet.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[sylvia]

Feeding them once a day is fine but it would be better to feed more natural foods instead of flakes. My various gouramies (and other fish) get a rotation of 2 or 3 different kinds of flake food, pellet foods, algae waffers (dwarfs aren't quite so keen on these but they do sometimes nibble), catfish pellets and, for 'natural' foods (essential for dwarf gouramies, which are prone to constipation and dropsy), frozen or live bloodworm, blackworm, brine shrimp, daphnia and blanched veggies or cucumber - weighed down where necessary though some of my gouramies are also happy to be hand fed small bits. I generaly feed 2 types of food per day but your feeding regime will come down to how much time you have to devote to feeding. That probably makes me sound very busy as you'd think feeding doen't take long - but consider how long it takes to thaw frozen foods, prepair vegetables or work out how much food your fish will eat in a short amount of time so as to avoid causing your water quality to deteriorate (though you'll only need to do this the first few times you feed, watching them closely to make sure everyone's satisfied and nothing's left voer, before you know how much is a good amount to offer each tank). I'll add that you should avoid feeding freeze-dried foods - they have practicaly no nutritional value and can easily cause constipation in dwarf gouramies.

 

[aaronus]

Blanched veggies? How do you blanch veggies; how would I prepare the vegetables for a dwarf gourami?

 

[Fwapp]

Feeding them once a day is fine but it would be better to feed more natural foods instead of flakes. My various gouramies (and other fish) get a rotation of 2 or 3 different kinds of flake food, pellet foods, algae waffers (dwarfs aren't quite so keen on these but they do sometimes nibble), catfish pellets and, for 'natural' foods (essential for dwarf gouramies, which are prone to constipation and dropsy), frozen or live bloodworm, blackworm, brine shrimp, daphnia and blanched veggies or cucumber - weighed down where necessary though some of my gouramies are also happy to be hand fed small bits. I generaly feed 2 types of food per day but your feeding regime will come down to how much time you have to devote to feeding. That probably makes me sound very busy as you'd think feeding doen't take long - but consider how long it takes to thaw frozen foods, prepair vegetables or work out how much food your fish will eat in a short amount of time so as to avoid causing your water quality to deteriorate (though you'll only need to do this the first few times you feed, watching them closely to make sure everyone's satisfied and nothing's left voer, before you know how much is a good amount to offer each tank). I'll add that you should avoid feeding freeze-dried foods - they have practicaly no nutritional value and can easily cause constipation in dwarf gouramies.

Great, thanks for the advice.

I did feed some de-shelled peas the other day, and although they were nibbled at they certainly did'nt tear into it. Mind you, theres no trace of pea in the tank now. I've also tried some skinned cucumber, and again they've picked at it, but don't seem overly keen. I'll get some more different foods for them, so they get some variation .

Thanks again.

 

[Genesis]

all my anabantoids (except my bettas) love pellet foods

but i also feed them live brine shrimp about once a week

 

[sylvia]

It's true that they won't go mad for veg at first - but most learn to like it and it grows on them. it's good for them regardless - helps prevent constipation.

 

[shuhu]

how do you feed them the brine shrimp and daphnia?? they sell these at my LFS in small bags in salty water but do you drop this water in the tank or somehow just the little shrimps without the water

also which other veggies other than cucumber do you feed them and how do you prepare/cut it??

 

[sylvia]

Because I have quite a few fish that'll eat the live foods, I have an easy time of simply filtering the water out and putting it in the tank. You can also use an eye dropper or similar to suck small live foods up and give them to your fish. Adding the salty water is generaly best avoided (if it's something like brine shrimp obviously - not all live foods are saltwater) because some of your fish may not like the addition. Having said that, in a big tank with no scaless fish, it's ok to add the salty water from the bag.

I feed zuchinni, lettuce (to only a few of the fish), peas and cucumber. With the cucumber, I just remove the skin and weigh it down. The lettuce and zuchinni I like to boil (I tend to microwave in water actualy ) for just a short time so as to soften it and kill anything that may be on there. The peas I de-shell and rinse in hot water. If the fish are small, I also crush them.