Make Your Own Aquarium Fish Food | How to Make It | Recipes | Goldfish | Koi | Instructions

How to Make Your Own Fish Food – Top 3 Recipes, Including Instructions

What you feed your fish is important for their well-being, but also for keeping your aquarium in top condition. At pet stores, you’ll find a huge selection of fish food to suit every need and in a wide range of quality. Some aquarists choose to make their own food for their fish. In this article, we’ll explain why this is a good idea and what you need to keep in mind to make your own fish food with a balanced nutritional composition.

Species-Appropriate Fish Food for Different Fish Species

Reaching for that colorful can of flake food “for all fish” is temptingly easy. But your aquarium inhabitants deserve a little more care.  In our guide “Fish Food Test,” we explained in detail the needs and preferences of fish and other tank inhabitants—depending on their natural habitat, diet, and size. Here, we’ll take a quick look again at which fish foods are suitable for different fish species.

Fish Food for Plant and Algae Eaters

Relatively few fish actually feed exclusively on plants and algae. Most species classified as herbivores also like to eat other foods to meet their protein needs: For example, livebearing cyprinids, perches, and armored catfish do indeed prefer to eat plants, but they also consume insect larvae and so-called zooplankton—tiny animals that form the basis of the food chain on our planet. Almost no fish live on a strictly vegan diet. Most herbivores enjoy an occasional serving of frozen or live food to round out their diet. Many fish and catfish also like to nibble on decaying wood.

Fish Food for Omnivores

The majority of ornamental fish species kept in aquariums are omnivores. In the wild, they consume a wide variety of foods; while some species are truly not picky, others have specialized in certain insect larvae, worms, or crustaceans. You’ll need to take this into account when selecting the right food. Specialty stores offer numerous specialized food mixes for specific ornamental fish species, catfish, shrimp, etc. 

Fish Food for Carnivores

True carnivores are not kept in aquariums quite as often. Carnivores include, for example, the many species of betta fish, as well as colorful species such as the African butterflyfish or the leopard bushfish. Crayfish are also carnivorous and feed, for example, on insects and their larvae, small fish and amphibians, or mussels. Nevertheless, fish food for predatory fish should always include a plant-based component. The reason: The stomachs of their prey always contain plant-based food remnants, which provide predatory fish with important vitamins and trace elements (for the same reason, dog and cat food never contains pure meat either).

For healthy growth, carnivorous fish absolutely need fresh food, which you can buy as frozen or live food. From here, it’s just a short step to making your own fish food from scratch.

Fish Food for Algae-Eaters

“Algae-eaters” is the term used to describe fish and other aquatic creatures that follow a strictly vegan diet and eat only the algae and small aquatic plants that grow in the aquarium. Since these only form in the aquarium after a while, you should introduce pure filter-feeders only after some time has passed. Many wild-caught fish feed on natural growth and are slow to adapt—or may not adapt at all—to other foods; juvenile fish and many snail species also belong to this group. 
This is where commercially available fish food reaches its limits. To ensure sufficient growth, you can use an algae stone: Place a stone with a smooth surface in a bowl of water enriched with a little fertilizer, and position it in a sunny spot or under a lamp. After a few days, algae will begin to grow on it. You can speed up the process by mixing a little spirulina or chlorella powder into a paste and spreading it directly onto the stone. Lichens and mosses also provide a rich food source for algae-eaters.

Types of Fish Food

You’ve surely already noticed that specialty stores offer a wide selection of different types of fish food. Commercially available fish food can be divided into four forms, which we’ll take a closer look at below. First, it’s important to note: None of these are suitable as a long-term sole diet for ornamental fish, even if the labels claim otherwise!

Flake Food

Flake food is the most common type of fish food; you can find it at any pet store and in many supermarkets. The small, colorful cans are inexpensive, the food has a long shelf life, and it’s easy to measure out—what more could you want? Quite a lot, actually, once you take a closer look at the topic.
The main ingredient in flake food is dried, pressed fish, enriched with nutrients such as vitamins and trace elements. Inexpensive flake foods also contain yeast as well as animal and plant byproducts (i.e., leftovers and waste).

Table: Pros and Cons of Flake Food

Even if the cans say “complete food”: Flake food should not be the only food your fish receive. Also, try to buy flake food that is tailored to the different fish in your aquarium. There are certainly universal foods that all fish can tolerate—but these don’t provide the optimal nutrition for them, just the bare minimum.
Speaking of which: Flake food is light and tiny, so it’s easy to be tempted to overfeed. The feeding instructions on most food packages are far too high. Feed your fish no more than once a day, and always give them only as much as they can completely eat within a few minutes. This is the only way to encourage plant and algae-eating fish to focus on the algae in the aquarium in between feedings. This
also helps keep your aquarium clean, because uneaten food flakes sink to the bottom and form a layer of mulch. That, in turn, provides a breeding ground for the next algae outbreak.

For this reason, flake food should not be poured directly from the can into the tank; far too much of it ends up in the water far too quickly. However, we also don’t consider the often-heard recommendation to rub the food between your fingers to be ideal; residues from skin care products or pathogens from your hands can transfer to the fish, which are often very sensitive to them.

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Pellet Food

Pellet food refers to dry fish food consisting of coarser granules. This form offers a number of advantages:

• The pellets dissolve more slowly in water than flakes, so the fish can still eat them later. In addition, the slowly sinking pellets seem to remind many fish of their natural food and are preferred by them.
• When less food lies on the bottom of the aquarium and forms a layer of mulch, this is good for water quality and prevents algae growth.
• Granulated food is healthier than flake food because, unlike flake food, it is not flattened under high heat. During the process known as extrusion, vitamins, fats, and other heat-sensitive nutrients in the fish food are largely preserved. At the same time, the starch in the food is broken down, allowing the fish to better absorb it as carbohydrates. This, in turn, is good for the fish’s metabolism. Otherwise, they must obtain the necessary fat from proteins, which puts a strain on their livers.
• Pellets do not stick together or clump, so they are better suited for use in an automatic feeder than flake food.
• Pelleted food is very economical and therefore lasts longer. The extrusion manufacturing process also ensures a longer shelf life.

Pellet food has one drawback: Because it contains a lot of starch, it should be fed very sparingly; otherwise, the fish will quickly become overweight. 

More about pellet food

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Frozen Food

Frozen food refers to live or fresh food that has been preserved through deep-freezing (and, when packaged in blister packs, is much easier to portion out). Sometimes it also consists of ready-to-use feed mixtures made from animal and plant-based ingredients, further enriched with vitamins and other nutrients.

All frozen foods have two things in common:

• You must be extremely careful to maintain the cold chain when you buy, store, prepare, and feed frozen food. Only then can the shelf life of this delicate food be guaranteed.
• You must always rinse frozen food thoroughly with plenty of water before feeding it (a fine-mesh sieve is recommended for this, especially if you’re feeding very small live food) to avoid driving up the phosphate levels in the aquarium.

Live Food/Fresh Food

Live food refers to the food that carnivorous and omnivorous fish naturally consume—water fleas, mosquito larvae, and other small insects, worms, small crustaceans, or tiny zooplankton. Larger carnivorous fish also enjoy eating pieces of mussels or fish meat. There is also fresh food for herbivores like catfish: this includes fresh vegetables or lettuce, leaves, and other plant parts. This is the most natural way to feed fish, and they’ll reward you with vitality, good health, and vibrant colors.

You can purchase live food at specialty stores and many online shops, but in some cases, you can also collect or breed it yourself. This brings us to the topic of homemade fish food—because that’s exactly what it is.

The drawbacks of live food shouldn’t be overlooked: Since it consists of either live animals or fresh meat, its shelf life is very limited—which also means you can hardly keep live food in stock. Hygienic storage and handling are very important for keeping your fish healthy. In addition, harmful substances are frequently found in live food; so you should only buy high-quality food from reputable manufacturers or well-reviewed stores. And: You should also rinse live food in a strainer before adding it to the tank; many live food animals are contaminated with medications.

The Best Fish Food for Aquariums

We’re often asked by beginner aquarists what the best fish food for aquariums is. Of course, you want only the best for your fish! However, it’s not possible to recommend a single type of fish food that’s equally suitable for all fish species. 
In our guide “Fish Food Review,” we’ve taken a close look at renowned manufacturers and recommend 10 fish food brands that are suitable for specific ornamental fish.
In general, commercially available fish food can be categorized as follows:

How Often Fish Should Be Fed

An astonishing fact: The vast majority of aquarium fish are fed far too often and in far too large quantities. This not only makes them fat, but often sick as well. It also very frequently leads to heavily polluted aquariums, causing the dreaded algae blooms to break out again and again.

Yet it could be so simple: Never feed your fish daily—at most three times a week—and always give them only as much food as they’ll eat right away. As soon as you notice uneaten food sinking to the bottom, you’ve overfed them (unless your aquarium is home to bottom-feeders). Of course, this also applies to frozen and live food! With live food, it’s not quite as bad if a few little creatures are left over for later. If you feed mosquito larvae, however, with a bit of bad luck, you’ll have a mosquito infestation in your living room overnight!

Making Your Own Fish Food: A Guide

If you want the best for your pets, you’ll prepare their food yourself. This is common among rabbit and pet bird owners—and increasingly among dog and cat owners as well. But making your own fish food? How does that work?

Don’t worry: It’s not particularly difficult to make your own food for most species of ornamental fish. In our guide, we’ll show you how to make fish food for the most common species.

Making Your Own Frozen Food

Many omnivorous and carnivorous fish species feed, at least in part, on insects and their larvae, worms, and/or crustaceans. You can buy all of these animals alive at specialty stores or online; you might even find some in your own rain barrel in the garden or in the stream behind your house. If you freeze them in portions using an ice cube tray, you’ll have your own frozen food. 

[Pro Tip] You should only use live animals caught directly from nature as feed if you’re absolutely certain they don’t come from contaminated water! [End of Box]

You can make frozen food mixes from fish fillets, mussel meat, or insect larvae. Depending on your needs, you can also add vitamins, minerals, and flaxseed oil to the mixture. To do this, you’ll need to find out exactly what nutrients the ornamental fish in your aquarium require. Blend everything in a food processor. Add a little gelatin or vegetable agar-agar so the mixture doesn’t fall apart right away when it thaws (you’ll need about 30 g of thickening agent for 500 ml of liquid). 

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Breeding Live Food

Live daphnia, mosquito larvae, or white worms can be easily purchased at a pet store or ordered online. But you can also breed them yourself, especially if you have a large tank and a regular, high demand for live food. You’ll need additional aquariums or terrariums for this, though simple mason jars will suffice for micro-worms and nematodes. You can easily breed threadworms and enchytrae on a substrate of potting soil and feed them a porridge made from oatmeal boiled in sugar and milk. Add a few drops of a starter culture or an existing worm culture to this, and they’ll multiply in no time.
Water fleas and daphnia can be bred in small tanks; all you need to do is feed them a little yeast every now and then. Artemia grow from eggs—which you can get at pet stores—in saltwater. Many aquarists use a PET bottle filled with saltwater for their Artemia breeding; the bottle is aerated via a diaphragm pump and maintained at about 25°C.

When breeding live food, cleanliness and hygiene are absolutely essential! Competitors quickly colonize the culture media, leading to unwanted mites or fruit flies in your culture. The only way to determine how much food the worms need to grow is through trial and error.

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These ingredients do not belong in fish food!

If you want to make your own fish food, you naturally need to know exactly which nutrients your fish require. All species of ornamental fish—whether carnivores, herbivores, or omnivores—need a varied diet. Good fish food should contain (depending on the fish’s nutritional needs) fish or meat, algae, and/or plankton, as well as vegetables. Fat is good, and proteins are also important, but should only be included in moderation. Fish get their carbohydrates from starch, which comes from grains or vegetables, for example.

However, it’s also important to know what fish should NOT eat. Commercially available fish food, especially cheap flake food, very often contains ingredients that fish do not need for a species-appropriate diet and that can even harm them. For example, the protein content is often much too high, while the food contains too little fat. 

If you make your own fish food, you should specifically avoid the following:

• Tubifex worms: They’re often contaminated with pollutants because they absorb them from the water. Only buy them from absolutely trustworthy sellers!
• Peas: They contain far too much starch that has not been “broken down” (as it is in heated pellet food).
• Frozen food after a break in the cold chain: If the cold chain for frozen food is interrupted even briefly, the decomposition process begins very quickly; with mysis shrimp, for example, this can be recognized by the blackening of the heads and an unpleasant odor. The decomposition products are toxic to your fish—and may even be fatal!

3 Recipes for Fish Food

In addition to the simple fresh and live food offerings we’ve already covered—such as a portion of water fleas or a slice of cucumber tucked onto a root in the aquarium—you can also actually mix up your own fish food. There are plenty of tried-and-true recipes circulating in aquarium circles, which are often passed along by word of mouth. If someone recommends a fish food recipe to you, you can simply give it a try—as long as it provides your fish with the nutrients they need. 
In general, fish food for omnivorous fish must contain a balanced mix of the nutrients they need. That’s why almost all recipes for homemade fish food include the same basicingredients:

To make fish food, you’ll need a good blender or a meat grinder—the latter is especially suitable for larger fish that should be fed bite-sized chunks rather than a fine puree. Simply place all the ingredients for a fish food recipe into the blender and blend them until a smooth mixture forms. You can then freeze this in portions. If frozen properly and kept that way, it will keep for about 6 months in the freezer.

Making Your Own Fish Food for Goldfish

Goldfish are so large that they’re usually kept only in very large aquariums or garden ponds. They are omnivorous, though aquatic plants and algae are considered more of a supplement to their diet. In the wild—or rather, in natural ponds, where these oldest domesticated fish in the world have lived for millennia—they primarily eat insects and insect larvae, worms, and crustaceans. It doesn’t matter to them whether they find their food at the surface or on the bottom.

Goldfish need very high-energy food with plenty of fat and protein, unlike koi. If both species live in the same pond and are fed the same food, it will either be too nutritious for the koi (causing them to gain weight) or too low in nutrients for the goldfish. If you keep both species together, you’ll hardly be able to feed them separately. It’s therefore advisable to first feed all the fish the less nutritious koi food and then supplement it with goldfish food.

The pretty “dwarf” goldfish varieties with almost spherical bodies, which are very popular today, have another problem: Their intestines are greatly shortened, which makes it very difficult for them to digest dry food. It swells in their intestines and can kill the fish if they become constipated. They benefit greatly from homemade fish food that’s high in protein.
For goldfish food, you can use these ingredients as sources of fat and protein:

In addition, your goldfish food should also contain some fresh vegetables and starch, such as lamb’s lettuce, dandelion, potatoes, or oatmeal. Goldfish, however, do not tolerate meat and offal from mammals well. Bread is also not suitable goldfish food!
Then supplement your food mixture with a multivitamin supplement (don’t overdose!), a spoonful of Vitakalk, and optionally a spoonful of cod liver oil or safflower oil. Mix the mixture with gelatin or Agartine and let it set in the refrigerator. Afterward, freeze it in individual portions.

Making Your Own Koi Food

Although large, beautifully colored koi are, like goldfish, members of the carp family (Cyprinidae), they have very different needs than their smaller relatives. They are omnivores and are often called “pond pigs” because they’ll eat just about anything that we humans eat.
Commercially available dry koi food typically consists of fish products, grains, and other plant-based byproducts. You can also make this predominantly plant-based mixture yourself very inexpensively. 
Koi require relatively few nutrients, except during their growth phase in the spring and late fall, when they build up reserves for the winter. Therefore, your homemade koi food can consist largely of plant-based ingredients and should contain only a small amount of fish meat or frozen insects. 

Ingredients for homemade koi food:

• soft fruit (such as melon, peaches, or kiwis)
• steamed vegetables, corn, potatoes
• cooked pearl barley or rice
• Lettuce
• Oatmeal (pre-cooked) or flour
• Earthworms and/or snails
• Mosquito larvae (live or frozen)
• Mussel meat
• Corn, potatoes, pearl barley, rice (cooked)

Just like with goldfish food, you can add a multivitamin supplement and Vitakalk, then let the mixture set with Agartine.

Make Your Own Fish Food for Guppies and Livebearers

Significantly smaller than goldfish and koi are the tiny, colorful, and very low-maintenance guppies and other livebearing cyprinids. These ornamental fish are found in almost every beginner’s aquarium because they’re quite undemanding and can be fed quite well with regular flake food. If you treat them to homemade food, you’ll be amazed at how much more lively and colorful your guppies, mollies, and platies become!

Sample recipe for guppy fish food:

• half a cucumber
• 200 g arugula
• 150 g spinach
• one bell pepper
• 100 g mosquito larvae or water fleas, frozen
• 30 g agar-agar

Additional vitamin supplements are not necessary, as the fresh vegetables contain enough vitamins. Never forget the animal-based component in the fish food, as it provides the guppies with essential dietary fiber and fats. Place all ingredients in a blender and, using the agar powder, blend into a firm mixture that you can then portion out and freeze.

Making Your Own Fish Food for Predatory Fish

In addition to peaceful guppies and mollies, predatory fish such as cichlids, discus, and labyrinth fish are popular aquarium inhabitants because they’re so colorful and their lively behavior is a joy to watch. Fish that are carnivorous or feed primarily on meat can easily be fed live or frozen food, supplemented with dry pellets. However, you can also make the food for your tetras or cichlids entirely on your own.

Your homemade food for predatory fish should contain plenty of animal proteins and fats, as well as some plant-based ingredients.

• Suitable sources of protein and fat include, for example: fish fillets (pollock, cod, etc.), shrimp, krill, water fleas, or mosquito larvae
• Spinach is one example of a nutrient-rich vegetable.
• You can also add flavors like paprika, garlic, or other exciting spices—try out what your fish like!
• A multivitamin supplement isn’t absolutely necessary (the live feed contains the vitamins), and Vitakalk can also be added if desired.
• To set the mixture and portion it out, use Agartine or gelatin.

Once the gelatinous mixture has set in the refrigerator, you can freeze it in portions. It will keep for at least 6 months.

Diseases Caused by Poor-Quality Fish Food

Commercially available fish food is subject to strict food safety regulations. However, that doesn’t mean that feeding your fish flake food automatically ensures a species-appropriate and healthy diet. The same applies to homemade fish food: If it lacks the essential nutrients your fish need—or contains insufficient amounts of them—your fish may develop deficiency symptoms or illnesses. Another risk, which applies only to live and frozen food, is contamination of the food—for example, by harmful substances present in worms and insect larvae—or the development of toxic decomposition products due to a broken cold chain.

Too much fish food can also harm your fish indirectly, even if they don’t eat it at all: Food that sinks to the bottom and rots there or turns into mulm can significantly alter water quality. For example, if the dreaded nitrite spike occurs, it can kill your aquarium inhabitants within hours. Toxic ammonia also develops from the harmless metabolic byproduct ammonium when the water’s pH is too high.

As with any other pet, the same rule applies in the aquarium hobby: Always choose high-quality food that meets the specific needs of your fish, and don’t overfeed them. In the following sections, we’ll briefly discuss some common diseases in ornamental fish that are often caused by improper feeding.

Medications for Fish

Vitamin and Mineral Deficiencies

If your fish aren’t getting enough vitamins or minerals, certain symptoms will appear relatively quickly:

• pale colors
• deformed gills
• underdeveloped fins
• cloudy mucous membranes (gray or reddish spots, coatings, etc.)
• curved spine

Above all, however, you can recognize this nutritional deficiency by the fact that your fish become very susceptible to diseases such as white spot disease, fin rot, fish tuberculosis, or dropsy.

Commercially available dry food actually contains all the vitamins that ornamental fish need. However, these vitamins only last for a short time; if your dry food is already several months old (do you know how long it’s been on the store shelf?), or if the can is frequently left open or exposed to light, your fish may be getting significantly fewer vitamins than indicated on the packaging.

The safest way to ensure a balanced vitamin intake is to provide live food appropriate for the species. If the fish eat what they would naturally consume, they’ll be well nourished. If you prepare your own food mixture, you can add a few drops of a multivitamin supplement. Be very careful with this, however, because an excess of vitamins is also harmful—not all vitamins are simply excreted when the body doesn’t need them.

Fish absorb minerals from the water. If the water is too soft or its composition is off due to constant algae growth, this will also lead to poor health in your fish over time. We’ve described how to monitor water quality and what to look out for in another guide article.

Aquarium Water Care

Fatty Liver

So-called fatty liver is a classic example of a disease caused by fish food. While a certain amount of fat in fish food is essential as an energy source and, for example, as a carrier for certain vitamins, too much of it is definitely not good. In this regard, fish are just like us humans.

Fatty liver almost always develops because fish keepers overfeed their fish or use fish food that contains too much fat or too many carbohydrates (grains, potatoes, oatmeal, etc.) for the specific species of ornamental fish. Only herbivores are capable of using carbohydrates for energy; for carnivorous fish, these nutrients are completely unnecessary. If the ingested carbohydrates cannot be completely converted into glucose (for example, because the fish is very active and expends energy), they are converted into fat and accumulate in the liver. 

Signs of fatty liver disease in ornamental fish include:

• poor growth
• loss of appetite
• Lethargy and apathy in the fish, retreating to dark areas
• some fish look too thin, others too fat

If the cause of fatty liver is indeed the food, it’s best to take a three-pronged approach:

1. Feed significantly less—don’t worry, carnivorous ornamental fish in particular can go surprisingly long without food
2. Switch to a diet lower in fat and carbohydrates (this is easiest to control with homemade food)
3. Encourage more exercise: by offering live food to hunt, rearranging the aquarium, increasing water flow, and reducing the number of fish

Summary

High-quality, pre-formulated fish food is available commercially for every species of ornamental fish. Nevertheless, many aquarists enjoy preparing their own fish food for their pets. The reasons are varied: Some enjoy taking care of their pets themselves, others want to save money, and still others simply want to know exactly what’s in it. In this article, we’ve highlighted various ways you can make your own fish food—as simple frozen food, as cultured live food, or as a ready-to-use food mix for fish with diverse dietary needs. When making your own
fish food, it’s important to thoroughly research the nutritional needs of your ornamental fish beforehand. Otherwise, deficiency symptoms or illnesses can quickly arise. We at Aqua Reptil World are happy to provide you with detailed and expert advice on all your questions regarding fish food. With our many years of experience, we can help you choose the right recipe and are happy to share inspiration and tips along the way. Your ornamental fish are guaranteed to love their new food!