Fruits packs with different flavors, antioxidants, and healthy goodness. Because of that, you always say to your children, “if you want to grow up quickly, you have to eat fruits.” So, this theory can be applied to your fish too. Let’s dive deep with the fish to see their feeding behaviors.
Are there any fruits that fish eat?
Yes. Fruits are an excellent addition to your fish diet. You can feed your fish with several fruits such as apples, pears, grapes, orange, watermelon, corn, banana, raspberries, strawberries, and mangoes. They pack with benefits.
For instance, fruit can give essential vitamins and sugar to keep your fish healthy, and it helps to protect your fish from many diseases not only that they promote a healthy digesting system.
Generally, many types of fish adapt to eat fruits in their natural habitat. Thus, they do not have any prepared foods to eat in the wild.
In the wild, most fish lives in rivers that follow through the forests. Hence, most herbivore and omnivore fish tend to eat live plants and algae.
In addition to these foods, there are plenty of fruits fallen into the water. Hence, sometimes fish could even taste the ripe fruits that fell into the river.
So, when you rear these fish for ornamental purposes, you can provide some fruit types for them. However, you have to consider few things when you feed your fish by using fruits.
Before feeding your fish, you should be aware of what type of fish you have: carnivore, herbivore, or omnivore. Because you can provide fruits only for herbivore or omnivore fish.
If you wish to feed your fish by using fruits, you should find out what fruit your fish like to eat. This preference varies from the fish type to the fish type.
So, let’s see the several types of fruits that your fish love to eat.
Favourite fruit types of fish
You can try out the below-listed fruits with your fish.
Apple
Apple is the most famous fruit that fish like to eat. For instance, you can provide apples to the following fish species.
- Goldfish
- Betta fish
- Cichlids
- Some snails
But if you have betta fish, do not provide them in large quantities or frequently. Because in the wild, apple is not a part of the betta fish’s regular diet.
Also, when you apples are soft, you can give them to fish as it is. But apples are firm; you have to boil them before serving.
Grapes
Grapes are soft and sweet fruit. Thus, it can add as a part of the diet of several fish species such as;
- Molly
- Cichlids
- Goldfish
Simply, grapes give a better flavor and more nutrients to your fish diet.
However, when you wish to provide grapes to your fish, the most important thing is to peel them before feeding. Also, you can prepare a better diet by mixing grapes with fish foods. It adds more taste and nutritional value to the food.
Banana
Banana is a favorite fruit of below-mentioned fishes.
- Goldfish
- Molly
- Bettas
Moreover, banana is a delicious fruit and healthy boosting food source for your fish.
Further, do not forget to remove the peel of the banana before you feed the fish. Also, generally, banana is soft, and it decomposes faster than other fruits and creates mush.
So, it is not recommended to add too much banana into the tank. Further, do not allow fish to overeat bananas.
Strawberries
You can give strawberries to many fish such as goldfish, gourami, cichlid, barbs, tetras. But do not provide strawberries regularly because they are not able to taste the strawberries in the wild.
Mango
Many omnivores and herbivore fish species love to eat riped mangoes.
- Cichlids
- Guppies
- Goldfish
- Bettas
Comparatively, mangoes are safer than other fruits because it is soft sweet and less acidic.
Watermelon
Watermelon is the favorite snack of fish, including African cichlids, goldfish, and koi. However, you can provide watermelon in various ways.
Some of them are:
- Feed small watermelon chunks
- Feed watermelon paste
- Mix watermelon with other fish foods
The important thing is, you should feed your fish with watermelon in minute quantities. Simply provide a small amount of watermelon and do not regularly provide it to your fish.
Because watermelon can cause digestive issues like abdominal pain, bloating, and diarrhea. Further, overfeeding of watermelon can be a reason to overhydrate the fish. In addition to them, it also causes to increase in glucose levels of fish blood.
Corn
Most carp species love to eat corn. But there is a misconception that fish cannot digest the corns, and it can harm the fish. But it is not the truth. Several studies proved that the corns are safe to eat fish, and corn does not kill fish.
But some fish are difficult to digest the whole corn kernel. But do not worry. If it does not digest, it will easily pass through the digestive tract. Then it will remove as a waste product.
But do not add corns as the primary diet of fish. It means do not provide corns to fish regularly. Because it can hinder the growth of fish.
If you add corns several times per month, it has not any harm. But if you add corns into a fish’s regular diet, it can affect your fish in the furure.
Also, It is recommended to cook the corns and chop them before feeding your fish.
Why do fish love to eat fruits?
Before answering this, I would like to ask a question from you. Do you like to eat the same food each and every day? I am sure. Your answer is a big “No.”
So, fish are also like you. They like to taste other foods besides fish foods, and diversified diets promote the appetite for fish.
According to these reasons, you can add fruits to your fish diet occasionally. It will give a sweet flavor to your fish diet and add more nutrients. That’s why fish like to eat fruits.
How to prepare fruits to feed your fish
If you wish to add fruits to your fish diet, you should prepare them properly. Unless it can create many troubles. So, to do this, you can follow the below steps.
Step 1: First, you should choose high-quality fruits.
Also, you should make sure to select fruits that your fish like to eat.
Step 2: Then, you should rinse the fruit well.
Here you can scrub the fruit gently with your fingers or fruit scrubbing brush. It is better to do not to use chlorine water.
Step 3: The next step is peeling off the fruit.
Similarly, if the fruit has seeds and an inedible outer cover, you have to remove them.
Step 4: Then, steam or boil the fruit.
If you steam, generally, you should do it for 3 to 5 minutes. However, the steaming time varies with the types of fruit you are preparing.
Further, you can use the microwave to soften your fruits. But if your fruit is very soft, you can skip this step.
Step 5: After boiling the fruit, you should chop the fruit into small pieces.
Because fish have small mouths. There is no standard size, but you have to cut the fruits to fit your fish mouth size. For instance, if you have a goldfish, you can cut 1mm to 2mm size pieces.
Step 6: Finally, feed your fish with chopped fruits.
Before feeding the fish, let the fruits get cool. Because fish have very sensitive organs. Also, give enough time to eat fruit particles.
But do not let the fruit soak in the water for more than 2,3 minutes. Because it may rotten in the water and change the water quality parameters. Also, poor water quality directly affects your fish. It can even kill a fish.
Besides these factors, keep in mind the below factors too.
- Do not give fruits as the main fish diet regularly. You should give recommended fish foods as the main diet to your fish.
- It is better to provide fruits to your fish two times per week.
- It would be best if you avoided overfeeding. Because overfeeding directly affect fish health.
- After feeding, you should remove the fruit pieces from the tank quickly. Because fruits dissolve and decompose quickly. So, it will badly affect your tank water conditions. As an example, it will encourage the growth of algae.
Can I give rotten fruits or expired fruits to my fish?
Do you like to eat rotten fruit? You will say Big No. Moreover, fish is a live creature-like use. Hence, they do not like to eat rotten fruits.
Therefore it is not recommended to give rotten or expired fruits to your fish. Because it can be a reason for the health issues of your fish.
On the other hand, rotten fruits lose their nutrients. Consequently, it does not fulfill the nutrients requirement of your fish.
In addition to the above factors, rotten fruit is home to many bacteria and fungi. Hence, if you add them to your beautiful tank, you introduce thousands of pests. Also, some fruits produce toxic compounds when getting rotten.
These do not only affect water quality and fish health, but it also affects live plants. Hence, you should always choose quality fruits to feed.
When you are purchasing fruits for your fish, you should check the below factors carefully.
- Appearance
- Color
- Odor
- Texture
- Expire date
However, if you see, below signs in fruits, do not purchase them because they are close to the rotten.
- Discolorations
- Blemishes
- Molds
- Slimy patches
- Unpleasant odors
