How to Feed Frozen Fish Food to Your Aquarium

Feeding only fish flakes or wafers to your aquarium fish is like the human equivalent of only eating protein bars every day. Although they are full of healthy ingredients, it would be nice to treat your fish occasionally to a tasty roast chicken dinner. Then you should try frozen fish foods. This premium-grade fish food is packed with high-quality proteins, healthy fatty acids, and gut-loaded vitamins. After live foods, frozen foods are the next closest thing to what fish would normally eat in the wild and therefore are irresistible to picky eaters or sick animals that have decreased appetite. They can be used to increase the variety and nutritional content of your fish’s food, and they are often used by breeders to condition their fish for spawning.

Frozen foods are usually made from whole ingredients and flash frozen to preserve as many nutrients as possible. Fish food can be bought at any local fish shop, pet shop or online store. They come conveniently packaged in individual cubes or as large frozen slabs that you can break apart into smaller pieces. Let’s now take a look at which frozen foods are best for fish in the next section.

For quick and easy feeding, frozen fish foods are packaged in individual cubes.

Different types of frozen fish food

For

meat lovers

like betta fish, pufferfish, and loaches, frozen bloodworms are always a huge hit. “Bloodworms”, actually midge flies larvae, are found in all kinds of freshwater bodies. They’re commonly eaten by fish and amphibians as well as aquatic insects. The hemoglobin in their bodies is what gives them their bright red color. This is not artificial dye. You can buy frozen bloodworms in regular, jumbo, and mini sizes to best fit your fish’s preferences. Frozen tubifex worms are another option. This is great for breeding corydoras with other fish.

Dwarf puffers enjoy eating frozen bloodworms but they need to be able to eat other foods for their optimal health.

Certain fish (like goldfish, betta fish, and Apistogramma cichlids) can be prone to bloating and constipation if they consume too much protein and not enough fiber. Frozen brine shrimp is a great way to increase their roughage. Artemia brine shrimp, a 0.4 inch (1 cm) aquatic crustacean, is popular in aquarium hobby as fish food. Its exoskeleton, made of tough chitin that is difficult to digest by most animals, acts as fiber, helping your fish move their waste easier. Frozen spirulina brine shrimp can be fed to your fish for extra vitamins and natural coloring enhancement. It is made from brine shrimp gut-loaded nutrient-rich with spirulina.

Fish foods made with brine shrimps or other crustaceans can make your fish’s digestive systems more efficient.

Filter-feeders can often not eat large frozen foods due to their size. Instead, consider giving them small foods like frozen daphnias and cyclops. These tiny freshwater crustaceans measure 0.02-0.2 inches (0.5-5mm), with the cyclops being slightly smaller. These crustaceans are delicious and rich in protein. They also have exoskeletons which aid with digestion. Frozen baby brine shrimp are a great option for baby fry. These shrimp are only 450 millimeters in size. Baby brine shrimp can be different than adult brine shrimp, as they retain their yolk sacs. These yolk sacs are rich in healthy fats that are great for young fish.

Baby-Brine shrimp is a great food to feed your fish fry in order to increase their survival rate and healthy growth.

You should choose frozen fish foods with larger ingredients such as mysis shrimps, krill, or silversides for larger fish. If you have monster fish, you may need to start shopping at the grocery store for human-sized foods like frozen cocktail shrimp, prawns, and fish fillets. To file their ever-growing teeth certain pufferfish need hard shells so make sure you buy frozen oysters and clams.

Frozen Fish Foods: How to Feed them

There are several methods that are commonly used to feed frozen foods, depending on how many fish and tanks you have. Dropping a cube, or piece of frozen food slab, directly into your aquarium will make it easy for fish to start eating it. Some people like to place the cube inside a cone for worm feeding to slow down release and keep the largest or fastest fish from eating it all up.

Fold a cube with frozen bloodworms inside a worm feeder cone. This will help keep the worms contained and makes it less messy.

Others prefer to freeze the cubes in small containers of water and let them sit for a while before transferring the liquid into a pipette, or turkey baster. This method is great for feeding many fish at once or targeting certain fish who are struggling during mealtimes. To boost the immune system and brighten your fish’s colors, you can freeze frozen food and add a few drops vitamin supplements.

If your fish eats only frozen and live foods, we recommend that you add multivitamins to help prevent any nutritional deficiencies.

Do not to leave frozen food at room temperature for more than 30 minutes or so because then it may start to spoil and smell. Refrigerate any frozen food that has been thawed at room temperatures. Bacteria growth could have begun and may have contaminated the fish. Set a timer if needed to avoid wasting food and upsetting your family or roommates.

Frequently Asked Questions about Frozen Fish Food

How often should you feed frozen fish food?

It all depends upon your preferences and the care needs of your fish. Frozen foods can be fed to common omnivores, such as community fish, anywhere from once a fortnight to multiple times per week. Some fish, such as pufferfish and African dwarf frogs may not eat frozen food. You can try to give your fish a variety of foods, including frozen, freeze dried, gel, live, prepared food (e.g. flakes and wafers), to ensure they receive all the nutrients they need to live a long, healthy life.

How many frozen foods should I feed my fish? Different fish have different appetites and different species are better at eating. The two main things to look at are 1) how skinny or fat your fish are and 2) how much excess food is leftover. Ideally, your fish should have slightly rounded abdomens. If their bellies look too swollen, consider decreasing the amount of food you feed, and if their bellies are sunken in, consider increasing the portion size. You can also remove any extra frozen food that your fish have left on the ground for several hours. A cube of bloodworms may not be enough for one betta fish. If it does, the entire cube will need to be thawed. Read our complete article for more information on feeding your fish.

What if my fish refuses to eat anything but frozen foods? Some fish can get “addicted” to a certain type of frozen food (like bloodworms) and may start to reject other fish foods that they typically eat. You can train your fish to eat other foods by, for example, mixing pellets with the frozen bloodworms and feeding them together. Gradually increase the ratio of pellets to bloodworms until they are willing to eat the pellets on their own. Your fish may be more inclined to try new foods if you fast them for 2-7 days.

Frozen fish foods can be a fun, tasty way to increase variety in your fish’s diet. For more ideas on how to expand your fish’s palette, read about 5 high-quality fish foods that you have to try.