How to Calculate Food Equations for Fish Feed

If you read the labels on the fish food you buy from the pet or grocery store, you will reliably find a warning not to overfeed your fish. Unfortunately, they don't say how much food is appropriate. Fish are opportunistic eaters and in the wild the availability of food varies, so they always eat when there is food. This leads to overeating, which can kill a fish, and to polluted water, as the filters cannot keep up with the demand put on them.

Things You'll Need

  • Full container of fish food
  • Fish
  • Tank
  • Timer
  • Net
  • Mortar and pestle
  • 1/2 teaspoon measuring spoon
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Instructions

    • 1
      The planet keeps everything alive by keeping the food chain perfectly balanced. You have to do that as well.

      Watch your fish for one day. Feed them only once during this time, the amount you regularly do, but at the end of the day. Observe their general behavior patterns. Take note of their behavior during feeding time.

    • 2

      Grind your regular fish food into small particles using a mortar and pestle. The volume of the food will become much less because of this process, but it will be much easier to measure.

    • 3
      It is essential to the health of your fish that you know exactly how much they need to eat.

      Measure your fish food with a half teaspoon measuring spoon. Provide one half teaspoon at a time to the fish at their feeding time, adding each half teaspoon at 1 minute intervals. Use the timer. Count your teaspoons.

    • 4

      Stop feeding when the fish appear to be losing interest in the food. If there is extra, skim it off using the net.

    • 5

      Wait six hours and again feed the fish a half teaspoon at a time, at 1 minute intervals. If they appear hungry, complete the feeding. If not, skim the extra food off the top with the net and make a note to feed them only once per day.

    • 6
      Keeping track of what, how much and how often you feed your fish will help with diagnoses if the fish ever get sick.

      Create a chart. Write down a daily schedule of how often to feed your fish and how many teaspoons of food to give them.