Will Zebra Fish Eat Tropical Fish Food?

In the Wild

• In the wild, zebra danios are micropredators. This means their diet primarily consists of small animals, usually tiny invertebrates. More specifically, their diet often consists of tiny crustaceans and aquatic insects. They also eat the water-dwelling larvae of terrestrial insects like mosquito larvae. Their diet in the wild informs the foods you should feed in captivity.

Dry Food

• In home aquariums, zebra fish adapt well to flake and other dry foods like small pellets. You can feed your zebra fish flake food as a staple or primary food. Make sure you feed them flake food designed for tropical fish, not for goldfish, since goldfish flakes have different nutritional contents. Select a dry food that leans toward a higher meat content, since most tropical fish foods are designed for omnivorous fish.

Meaty Foods

• In addition to staple foods, you should feed the occasional meaty food as a treat. Zebra fish relish daphnia, brine shrimp and bloodworms. You can feed live, frozen or freeze-dried meats. Many pet shops sell foods like these. With frozen foods, make sure you thaw them out in some aquarium water before feeding, since cold food can harm zebra fish digestion tracts.

Fry Food

• Zebra fish readily reproduce in captivity. Baby zebra fish, fry, require special foods, since the are very small and will usually ignore flake foods. You should start with paramecium. Once the young get large enough, you can switch them over to baby brine shrimp or microworms. You can culture these foods at home; specialty websites sell everything you need to grow these foods for your fry.