Fruit, Veg and meat (fish) for feeding...

[Abyss]

Really want to supplement my fish's diet with some fresh veg, fruit and (frozen) fish. But don't know what to get. Searches give so much conflicting information.

For the fruit and veg I have:

10x Silver Dollars (or Silver Dollar like species to be exact - striped etc)
1x Leopard Plec
4x Silver Sharks
1x Green Severum

The more meaty looking fish (though some will take veg) too:

1x Silver Arowana
1x Fire eel
1x Walking Catfish
1x Giraffe Catfish

There's a few other fish in there too.

All of my fish apart from the fire eel are now taking pellets (I use a good mix of veggie and meaty pellets with high protein). The fire eel won't eat any pellets however. The fish have already grown big and strong on pellets, but as they get even bigger, I feel as more variety is needed - particularly for the monster sized fish like the arowana.

For veg, I've been feeding courgette, but in the past, I haven't been able to get it as some times of the year. So need more choices. Carrots any good? Potato?

For the meat, I've fed raw prawn. But looking for some other ideas. Thinking mussell meat, and some other type of easily available frozen fish.

I was hoping to get some crickets too, but I won't feed live because I just can't bring myself to do it (I'm a wimp, yeah)...plus, with the likes of arowana taking a good while to get 'pellet trained', I don't want to ruin that and feed live bugs!

Thanks. Basically looking for something cheap, nutritious and easily available.

 

[Demeter32]

Scallops are a common choice for feeding carnivores like arowana, squid is also a good choice.

As for veggies, zucchini, yellow squash, cucumbers, spinach, romaine lettuce, broccoli and several other veggies are good. I feel like carrots should be avoided because they have sugar in them, but some say sweet potato is good for fish but it also has sugar... so I'm not too sure on that.

 

[StevenF]

For veg, I've been feeding courgette, but in the past, I haven't been able to get it as some times of the year. So need more choices. Carrots any good? Potato?

While these are good for you they may not be good for fish. In fact they may be toxic to some. The reason for this is that you will not find any carrots, potato, or courgette in there natural environment. If the fish never eat it naturally it could kill them. For example people love chocolate but it is toxic to dogs (they like the taste but it can kill them. for dogs it is not typically eaten naturally and as a result they don't have the gens needed to safely consume it. Many other human foods are this way. Onions and garlic are two common ones. they are toxic to many animals but we can typically eat it safely.

For meat loving fish feed them a meat they will commonly consume in the wild. Shrimp is a good choice. Flies and insects are also OK. Snails and shrimp commonly feed on rotting or decaying plants. so vegetables may be safe. Some bottom feeding fish will also eat vegetables. But the best natural choice is algae. It is always found in there environment. However avoid garlic and onions. These have toxins that humans have slowly evolved to over time safely consume. But some wild onions are so toxic even those will kill people.