Ways to Feed Freshwater Flounders

If you have just purchased a freshwater flounder you need to know how to feed it in order to keep it healthy. Despite the fish's name, it is often taken from brackish waters in the wild, where it thrives. However, it will survive well in an aquarium, particularly if the tank has a sandy bottom and you add salt to the water.

  1. Types of Food

    • Freshwater flounders are carnivores, so they need to be fed meat. However, some of them will eat the flakes and pellets that you might feed other fish in the aquarium.

    Young Fish

    • When you first get a freshwater flounder, offer it feeder white clouds and foods like earthworms and blackworms that are still alive. During their development, ghost shrimp may also be a well-received meal.

    Well-Settled Fish

    • Once the fish is more developed, frozen or live brine shrimp and bloodworms can be added to its diet. Livebearers such as mollies can also be introduced to the tank as another source of food.

    Feeding a Flounder

    • Although a flounder may be able to eat the pellets and flakes that are offered to the fish it shares its tank with, limiting its diet to these products is not a good idea. The reason for this is that other fish are more likely to get to the food first and the flounder may go hungry. Flounders have a better chance of snatching a meal at night. You may also have to drop food on top of the flounder because flounders do not look around for food as much as other species and may not notice it.