When you keep pets, there is always the added responsibility to take excellent care of them. You cannot ignore the significant role you play as a pet owner, from their feeding to sleeping areas, baths (where required), etc.
What if the pet you keep is an aquarium fish? The dynamics are slightly different, especially where their feeding is concerned. Indeed, you can toss some ‘human foods’ into the tank, but what kinds do they eat? What must you do to meet your pet fish’s nutritional values? Below is a discussion on the topic to help you answer these questions concerning human food and fish.
Hard-Boiled Egg Yolks
Egg yolks contain high amounts of protein and amino acids that are beneficial to fish. Just make sure it is hard-boiled and not runny. To ensure the yolk is firm enough, you will notice the outer part looking slightly grey with a yellow inner portion. The only downside with feeding egg yolks to your pet fish is the cloudiness it causes in the water tank. Apart from that, the cooked yolk has the right texture to be chewed and swallowed by the fish.
As a tip, avoid dropping the entire yolk into the tank. Instead, break each one (depending on the number of fish in the tank) into three or four pieces. After that, gently lower each part into the aquarium. Cooked egg yolks can be an occasional treat for your pet fish.
Beef Heart
Although it’s not recommended to feed meat to aquarium fish, beef heart is fine. This is because this organ contains very little fat. Moreover, the obvious fatty lining can be trimmed off before cooking. When you fail to cut the fat away, it can cause indigestion issues for your fish. Avoid adding any spice or seasoning to the beef heart, as that can be harmful to your fish. Instead, cook it just before cutting it into tiny chunks that fish can easily chew and swallow.
Vegetables And Some Fruits
It’s worth noting that most marine fish are omnivores. In other words, they survive on both meat and plant-based foods. Only a few fish species are strictly herbivores or carnivores. Therefore, before you feed vegetables to yours, be sure to know what species you’re keeping. Veggies like broccoli, spinach, cucumber, and courgette are excellent plant-based foods for your fish.
However, never drop them raw into the fish tank. Instead, wash the vegetables thoroughly. You can even feed them with some soft fruits. For example, a few melon slices will do. If you ever have to provide potatoes to your fish, ensure to boil thoroughly and allow them to cool down before cutting them into tiny chunks for fish feeding.
After that, you have the option to grate or chop them into fine pieces. Again, to ensure proper digestion, it is recommended to steam all the chopped vegetables and allow them to cool down before feeding the fish. You can steam the veggies together with beaten eggs in some cases, and the final cooked product may look like a pancake. When that happens, tear it into tiny pieces and feed your fish a little at a time. The rest can be refrigerated for later use.