fiber ( roughage ) for your fish's diet???

[Magnum Man]

seems this is just as important for fish, as it is for us... often processed foods don't have enough... using foods from critters that have exoskelletons ( like bugs and in nature small shelled critters ) is probably the most common forms... yes, algae also has fiber...

in my Hillstream tank, I have stalks of "lucky bamboo" ( Dracaena sanderiana ) some are held in groups by silicone binders, and I have close to 50 of them around the glass sides, in this aquarium except for the front glass... one of the bound stalks died, and nearly all the fish can be found nibbling on it now and then, so they appear to be getting plant based fiber off this stalk...


all seem to nibble, but here is my gourami working it over, and while he smooches everything in the tank, he's probably found here, more than any of the other fish

BTW... most of these have been in tanks for years, and out of 50, in this tank, I've only got one that has died in this tank... I also have stalks in most of my neo shrimp breeding tanks... I mention this, as when I got back into aquariums 3 or so years ago, it was said these would all die, and kill your fish... I have kept them both submerged, and emergent... in fact this emergent stalk on the left, started growing some submerged greenery, on it's own...

some stalks on the right side of the tank... yes that gourami gets around...

 

[GaryE]

Kissing gouramis are farmed for food, and I've read that trucks pull up at the pond and dump manure, corn stalks and plant waste in daily. So they sure can process fibre, in great quantities.

I adjust the diet of the fish what they eat in nature. That's easy for me because my favourites tend to be small insectivores. Other than a few Ancistrus and some platys, I don't have algae or plant matter oriented fish, although I do have detritus eating dwarf cichlids. They love plant matter, and get fibre there as well as from bugs.

 

[Colin_T]

In the wild most fish eat algae, small crustaceans and insects or insect larvae as part of all of their diet. All of these items are high in fiber.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

As usual I would suggest you read the ingredient lists for the following 3 Repashy foods:

1. Soilent Green: https://www.shop.repashy.com/products/repashy-soilent-green
2. Super Green: https://www.shop.repashy.com/products/repashy-super-green
3/ Igapo Explorer: https://www.shop.repashy.com/products/repashy-igapo-explorer

 

[sharkweek178]

I feed live flightless fruit flies and frozen daphnia specifically because the chitin in those animals acts as a roughage for fish. Boiled and shelled frozen peas works for omnivorous or herbivorous fish.
One of these days I'll culture live daphnia. But it's readily available frozen until then.

 

[GaryE]

Live daphnia in summer, bug bites for prepared food (or their Polish alternative - also good), mosquito larvae, freshly hatched artemia, blanched veggies - there are lots of possibilities.
Repashy is cutting edge prepared food, but not practical for my larger fishroom. It seems excellent for small set ups, based on its reputation. I haven't used it.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

It is not that pricey when you buy the bigger sizes. He offers a wholesale account. I think this might apply to breeding operations.

As a Canadian you for sure should scroll down to the very bottom if you are interested;
https://www.store.repashy.com/wholesale/

The food is excellent. It is how I got my L17w to spawn. I used the Spawn & Grow to get my WC Hypancistrus L173 started spawning. I did so at the advice of Ingo Seidel and Dale Ernst at the 2016 CatCon outside of Washington, DC. They are part of the round table speakers on pleco breeding for I sat in on in the audience.

 

[Jinx_]

Become the fish