It might be your inclination to always feed your pets generous amounts of food, but sometimes too much is too much. If you have guppy fish (Poecilia reticulata) in your aquarium, never overfeed them. Inordinate amounts of food can often be detrimental to the health and well-being of these freshwater fish, so take note.
Feeding Fundamentals
When it comes to feeding your guppies, give them what's necessary for their healthy development, nothing more and nothing less. If you plan on breeding them, feed them portions that cater to those needs, too. Overfeeding them doesn't help them in any way. It actually just ends in a whole lot of squandered food. Note, too, that excessive portions of food do not lead to bigger guppies, either.
It's bad news to feed guppies too much, and it's also bad news to feed them too little. The initial month of a guppy's life is imperative as far as his adult size goes. When guppies are around a month in age, their developmental hormones are busy as can be.
Impact on Water Quality
If you feed guppies too much, it can also negatively impact the quality of their water -- not good. The last thing you want is for your guppies to live in a dirty environment chock-full of ignored food that falls to the ground and builds up. Not only can uneaten food soil the water, so can fecal matter. If a guppy eats more than he needs, he's going to eliminate a lot more, too. A soiled aquarium can be harmful to all of the inhabitants, causing them to all feel nervous, tense and uncomfortable.
Poor water quality and stress are both things that can make fish vulnerable to health ailments, so take them seriously. Stress can also be harmful to guppies in that it zaps up the energy that's vital for their strong development. It often keeps guppies small, rather than large and robust.
Five Minute Feeding
When it comes to feeding your guppies proper amounts, go by a simple five minute rule. If you're giving them algae flakes, for instance, never provide them with more than you think they can eat in a short five minute span. Once the five minutes are up, promptly return to the aquarium and diligently extract any food that might still be around.
What Exactly to Feed Guppies
Healthy portions are key to keeping your guppies in optimal condition, as are healthy foods. These omnivores work well on diets that involve meats and plants alike. Suitable foods for guppies include not only the aforementioned flakes, but also brine shrimp, daphnia, bloodworms, earthworms, tubifex worms and cut up bits of zucchini. Guppies flourish on diversity in their foods. Since guppies' mouths are situated on the tops of their heads, they're capable of consuming food from the water's top layer.
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