Are There Any Herbivorous Fish?

[beginner]

Hi friends, I am new and novice. I am a strict vegetarian and was wondering if there any Herbivorous fish which I can keep? I have been unable to keep fishes as being a vegetarian, I don't wish to feed them non-veg feed. I did think of keeping Mollies / Guppies but was made to understand that though both eat a lot of veg food, a feed of live food is also essential for their health. Is this a fact? Any suggestion on what to do? Bye.

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

pleco will eat cucumber. or you could get an oscar and feed him goldfish. up to you

 

[Tolak]

pleco will eat cucumber. or you could get an oscar and feed him goldfish. up to you

Feeder fish are about as far as you can get from a strict vegitarian diet. Many plecs are mainly vegitarians, the reason for feeding meat based food is the protein level found in meat. Being a vegitarian, I'm sure you are aware of many non-meat foods that have a higher protein content. I've fed plecs zuccini, cucumber, pumpkin, as well as most any canned veggie I can think of. The only one I've heard to avoid is corn. Sinking spirlina tabs & veggie pellets round out their diet.

Many livebearers could be kept on a mainly vegetable diet, as long as you are aware that some protein will be needed. Vegetables are a good thing for most any fish, people should feed their fish more of them. The roughage is good for the digestive tract, making for a healthier fish.

 

[The Equillibrium]

Ottos eat strictly algae. I have some that only eat it. Nothing else. They are also nice to have.

 

[Tolak]

Ottos are herbavores, and nice little fish to boot. They are a little touchy to keep, and are something to consider adding once the tank has matured.

 

[guppymonkey]

Just about any fish will eat meat even if they are mainly herbivorous like plecos and otocinclus. Most common fish in the hobby NEED some sort of meat based protein source for proper growth, color and health in general. Even with fish that eat a lot of algae, such as guppies or mollies, also need some source of live food. Forcing these fish to try to eat a vegetarian diet is against their nature and ultimately harms the fish. It would be like trying to make your dog a vegetarian, it doesn't work. Adding a good amount of vegetation to most fishes diet is a good idea though.

 

[dthoffsett]

Many african cichlids are mostly herbivorous, they get most of their protein form spirulina (a specific type of algae), and even the ones that aren't strictly herbivorous, are generally insectivores, which shouldn't be a problem.

 

[beginner]

Hi, Thanks everybody for very kindly posting your replies. GuppyMonkey thanks for the information that ALL fishes by nature do need some live feed. That is the reason I have not kept any fishes as I too felt that way.

 

[dwarfgourami]

Not wishing to throw a damper on anyone's incipient hobby, but if you check out the label on plec's algae wafers etc, you will find that they do contain a certain amount of fish protein. In the wild, many fish such as herbivorous plecs, would eat algae and wood and other veggies most of the time, but would occasionally boost their protein levels by snacking on a dead fish etc. In the hobby, if feed exclusively on a carnivorous diet, these fish may develop health problems. But they probably do want the occasional protein boost. I am not sure, but I suspect that spirulina tablets are not wholly vegetarian- check out the label.
How do you feel about insects? Would you be able to feed the occasional snack of frozen or jellied mosquito larvae? These are quite nutritious, and I have known quite a few vegetarians who were up to swatting a mosquito- but this obviously depends on your own standpoint.

 

[beginner]

Hi dwarfgourami, Thanks for your message. You are absolutely right that the veg fish food sold in the market has fishmeal as an ingredient. When they state veg. feed what they mean is that it is most suitable for herbivorous fish. I had checked out these veg. feeds and realised that they were not purely veg., that is when I decided to post this message to find out if there are any herbivorous fish around which need just veg. feed? But there seem to be none. And I wont feed them anything non-veg. including insects, so that option too is out. As a coincidence, the fish that came closest to my liking was the dwarf gourami as it eats plants, boiled peas etc. but then was told that they too need a dose of live feed. A sincere thanks to all of you once again.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

actually, most (if not all) of the panaque plecos do best on a 100% vegetarian diet. nmonks has repeatedly posted on how feeding meaty foods to royal plecos and the like results in the buildup of fatty deposits around their internal organs and an early death. in theory, a royal pleco could live entirely on a diet of wood, so i imagine that a diet of wood + veggies would certainly be acceptable.

be cautioned, though. royal plecos, while strikingly colored, grow to be quite large and are rather territorial. there are several smaller species in the Panaque genus, but i am not certain which of these share the vegetarian tendancies of the royals.

are you 100% inflexible on the feeding of invertebrates to fish? its quite easy to acquire invertabrate only food (freeze-dried, frozen, and live) and there are numerous fish species who do best on an invert-only diet.

 

[beginner]

Thanks Pica Nuttalli for your message. When you say invertebrate feed, do you mean tubex worms etc? Or does it mean something else?

 

[pica_nuttalli]

yeah, things like bloodworms, brine shrimp, tubifex, snails... just small, non-sentient invertebrates.

 

[Kombat]

Why are you trying to force your beliefs onto your fish? Many animals eat other animals. It's the circle of life. I don't see how you being a vegetarian would move you to force fish to be vegetarian. It's unnatural.

Karl

 

[starrynightxxi]

he isn't trying to force his beliefs on fish, he is trying to find a fish that suits his own ethics, which is quite responsible. If you can't give a fish what it needs, whether the reason is financial, moral, or otherwise, then you shouldn't buy it, which is exactly the case here.