Marine fish will stay healthy, active, and vibrantly colored, if fed suitable and nutritious diet of marine fish food. Just like our own food, we must read ingredient labels to make sure our fish are getting nutrients out of their food instead of fillers. Also, we must be aware that different types of fish may require different diets: they may be herbivores, carnivores, or omnivores. We must buy marine fish food that meets their specific requirements in order for our fish to be healthy. Many marine fish have various species; some species may have different diet types than others, so be cautious and research your specific fish's diet type. Below is a table that will give you a general idea of specific marine fish and their food requirements that must be met:
| Herbivores | Carnivores | Omnivores |
| Surgeonfish(Tangs) | Anthias | Clownfish |
| Rabbitfish(Foxface) | Basslets | Damselfish |
| Most Blennies | Cardinalfish | Boxfish |
| Eels | Batfish | |
| Hawkfish | Filefish | |
| Hogfish | Parrotfish | |
| Lionfish | ||
| Squirrelfish | ||
| Triggerfish |
What Do Marine Fish Eat?
Herbivore marine fish eat various forms of algae: macroalgae, seaweed, algae, and sometimes leafy green vegetables such as kale or spinach. Herbivore fish oftentimes eat small amounts of meaty foods as small crustaceans often lurk on the algae at the bottom of aquariums.
Carnivore marine fish eat meaty foods mainly in the forms of: shrimp, various sea food, copepods and amphipods, small crustaceans, smaller fish, worms, and meaty pellets, freeze-dried or frozen foods. Carnivore fish will eat different types of these meaty foods depending upon their size and preference. For example, a small dragonet will eat mostly shrimp, small seafood, and copepods. A larger fish such as a eel will eat larger foods such as small fish and squids.
Omnivore marine fish will eat combinations of the above herbivore and carnivore food. Omnivore marine fish often travel about your aquarium eating anything they find, and anything floating through the water that is edible. Omnivore marine fish will eat any food based on size. For example, clownfish will often be fed various shrimp and small sea foods, fish flakes and pellets, and seaweed. A balanced diet between meat and herbs will keep omnivores colorful, healthy, and active. Fish pellets and flakes are best for omnivores as they contain both vegetables, algae, and meaty foods.
Below are 7 types of food that will keep your marine fish healthy and happy. There are different choices for each diet type whether herbivore, carnivore, or omnivore. Research your specific fish to see what type of diet they need, then consider the following foods to feed them. These foods are nutrition-packed and guaranteed to keep marine fish active and vibrantly colored.
New Life Spectrum Marine Fish Pellets
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New Life Spectrum fish food is hormone-free and rich in nutrients and protein. New Life Spectrum Marine Fish Pellets are formulated specifically for marine fish, for all diet types of fish, and are best for fish that live mostly in the middle to bottom of the tank. The pellets are wonderful for fish enthusiasts with both fish and bottom dwellers. These pellets are 1mm in diameter, so they are edible for all sizes of marine fish. New Life Spectrum Marine Fish Pellets will sink to the bottom, allowing fish to eat them along the way. Then, they will settle at the bottom and disintegrate slowly so that bottom dwellers such as jawfish, dragonets, and invertebrates can eat them.
To begin our analysis, let's start with the most important food aspect: the ingredients! For New Life Spectrum Marine Fish Pellets, the ingredients are:
Whole Antarctic Krill, Whole Fish, Whole Wheat Flour, Ulva Seaweed, Chlorella Algae, Beta Carotene, Spirulina, Kelp, Garlic, Alfalfa, Scallops, Omega-3 Fish Oil, Wakame Seaweed, Spinosum Seaweed, Vitamin A Acetate, Vitamin D Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Niacin, Folic Acid, Biotin, Thiamine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Calcium Pantothenate, L-Ascorby-2-Polyphosphate (Vitamin C), Choline Chloride, Ethylenediamine Dihydroiodide, Cobalt Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate and Manganese Sulfate.
New Life Spectrum Marine Fish Pellets are made up of: 37% protein, 5% fat, and 4% fiber. As shown above, the main ingredients as listed at the front of the ingredients are protein-rich and easy to digest: home-free krill and fish. Garlic is added because fish love the taste, as well as it being an extreme immune-booster to stop your fish from catching sicknesses. Various forms of healthy algae are included as well as fish oil. Vitamins added to this food are: 200 IU of vitamin E, 2,500 IU of vitamin D, and 8,000 IU of vitamin A. There is no filler, but there is a healthy carbohydrate: whole wheat flour, that adds fiber to keep your fish full throughout the day.
New Life Spectrum Marine Fish Pellets should be fed to your fish twice per day, feeding times around 10-12 hours apart. The amount fed is the amount that can be almost completely consumed within 1 minute. Generally, you should feed your fish about 3 pellets each. Do not overfeed or else your aquarium will build ammonia and algae problems. An exception to this is if you want a piece or two to dwell at the bottom longer until your bottom feeder finds them.
New Life Spectrum Optimum All Purpose Fish Flakes
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New Life Spectrum Optimum All Purpose Fish Flakes are loved by all sizes of marine and freshwater fish. Flakes are large, and can be crumbled into smaller pieces so that both large or small fish can enjoy them. Floating flakes are best for free-swimming fish that stay mostly in the top or middle of the tank, such as clownfish or damselfish.
To analyze New Life Spectrum All Purpose Fish Flakes, we will look at the ingredients first. They are:
Whole Antarctic Krill Meal, Whole Herring Meal, Wheat Flour, Whole Squid Meal, Algae Meal, Soybean Isolate, Beta Carotene, Spirulina, Garlic, Vegetable and Fruit Extract (Spinach, Broccoli, Red Pepper, Zucchini, Tomato, Pea, Red and Green Cabbage, Apple, Apricot, Mango, Kiwi, Papaya, Peach, Pear), Vitamin A Acetate, D-Activated Animal-Sterol (D3), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Thiamine, DL Alphatocophero ( E ), Riboflavin Supplement, Folic Acid, Niacin, Biotin, Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, L-Ascorby-2-Polyphosphate (Stable C), Ethylenediamine dihydroiodide, Cobalt Sulfate, Copper Proteinate, Ferrous Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Choline Chloride.
Highly digestible krill, herring, and squid meal make up the majority of the flakes, making it protein-rich. Spirulina and vegetable/fruit extracts add many vitamins to the food which enhances fish health and color. Wheat flour is used in place of a filler, and adds fiber to the fish flakes that keeps your fish full all day. Garlic is added to boost your fish' immune systems, and to keep your fish safe from catching illnesses.
New Life Spectrum Optimum All Purpose Fish Flakes should be fed to your fish twice per day. Feeding times should be about 12 hours apart, fitting your schedule. Feeding times should be the same time each day, staying constant so that your fish adapt to the feeding schedule. Enough fish flakes should be fed so that it is all consumed within 1-2 minutes of feeding. This should amount to about 3 flakes per fish each feeding time. Do not overfeed your fish or else your tank will have ammonia and algae problems.
Aqueon Shrimp Pellets
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Aqueon Shrimp Pellets are made for bottom-dwelling marine fish and omnivore invertebrates. These pellets quickly sink to the bottom of your aquarium and disintegrate slowly so that your bottom-dwelling fish such as scooter blennies or loaches can find and eat them. Omnivore invertebrates such as peppermint shrimp, coral banded shrimp, and nassarius snails also love to chow down on shrimp pellets. Aqueon Shrimp Pellets can be used as protein supplements or as treats for your fish.
Important to note, the ingredients in Aqueon Shrimp Pellets consist of 36% protein, 6% fat, 1% phosphorous and 8% fiber. The ingredients are:
Shrimp Meal, Whole Fish Meal (Whole salmon, herring & other mixed fishes), Whole Wheat Flour, Fish Oil, Dicalcium Phosphate, Choline Chloride, Calcium Propionate, L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), Vitamin A Acetate, Cholecalciferol (source of vitamin D3), Riboflavin Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Niacin, Menadione Sodium Bisulphite Complex (source of vitamin K activity), Folic acid, Thiamine Mononitrate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (B6), Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, DL-Alphatocopherol (E), Manganese Sulfate, Cobalt Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Copper Sulfate.
High in protein, Aqueon Shrimp Pellets have a lot of shrimp and mixed fish meal. There is also an added 200 mg of vitamin C, and traces of calcium, vitamin D, riboflavin, and biotin, which are important for bone health and skeletal growth of invertebrates.
When feeding, add about 1-2 shrimp pellets per fish depending upon size, because shrimp pellets are fairly large. After repeated feedings, if you notice there is any disentigrated Aqueon Shrimp Pellets uneaten at the bottom of your tank, begin feeding less pellets. Uneaten fish food will cause dangerous ammonia spikes and algae growth in your aquarium.
Shrimp and Worms
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| San Francisco Bay Frozen Mysis Shrimp | San Francisco Bay Frozen Bloodworms | San Francisco Bay Frozen Brine Shrimp | Omega One Freeze Dried Mysis Shrimp |
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Shrimp and worms are amazing nutritional supplements for your marine fish. The 3 best and most popular frozen food to feed your marine fish are, in order of highest nutritional value: mysis shrimp, bloodworms, brine shrimp. Brine shrimp is more nutritional than bloodworms if it is spirulina enhanced. Frozen food is good for picky eaters as most fish love the taste. Although, as broccoli is to kids, fish oftentimes prefer less nutritious brine over the super healthy mysis shrimp. This is why we recommend mixing all 3 types of frozen food together, or changing which type you feed them every few days so that your marine fish do not get bored of 1 kind.
Frozen food contains about 90% water and 10% food because of the ice to keep the food fresh. Each 3.5 oz package of San Francisco Bay Frozen Fish Food contains 30 cubes of food. To use, it is easy to pick a certain plastic container and label it for fish-food use. Place 1 frozen cube in your plastic container as often as needed, allowing a few hours to thaw before feeding time. Do not microwave because the nutrients will break down. It is advised to rinse off your frozen food after it has thawed so that you do not get the food juices into your aquarium water as it will cause unwanted algae growth. To feed thawed food to your fish, use a turkey baster or tweezers, and give a few pieces at a time. Try not to blast it into your tank, but to slowly feed it directly to your fish. This will ensure the food does not go uneaten in your fish tank, causing ammonia spikes and unwanted algae growth. Feed your fish until they do not accept anymore food. Feed frozen food to your fish as supplements a couple times a week, or as a main source of food 1-2 times a day.
Freeze dried food has comparable nutrition to frozen food. Freeze-dried food has had the liquid sucked out of it. If you are feeding free-swimming fish shrimp and worms, freeze-dried food is easier to feed as you just drop it into the tank. Frozen food usually requires manual feeding with a turkey baster or tweezers, and is used mostly to feed bottom-dwellers.
San Francisco Bay Frozen Mysis Shrimp: Ingredients: Mysis Shrimp, Water, Guam Gum
Per Cube:
Protein: 4.2%
Fat: .3%
Fiber: .5%
Moisture: 93.5%
San Francisco Bay Frozen Bloodworm Cubes: Ingredients: Bloodworms, Water, Guam Gum
Per Cube:
Protein: 3.5%
Fat: .3%
Fiber: .7%
Moisture: 93.5%
San Francisco Bay Spirulina Frozen Brine Shrimp: Ingredients: Brine Shrimp, Water, Spirulina Algae, Carrageenan
Per Cube:
Protein: 4%
Fat: .6%
Fiber: .4%
Moisture: 93%
Omega One Freeze Dried Mysis Shrimp: Ingredients: Brine Shrimp, Vitamin E Supplement
Per Bottle:
Protein: 48%
Fat: 6%
Fiber: 2.5%
Moisture: 5%
Ocean Nutrition Green Marine Algae
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Ocean Nutrition Green Marine Algae is an all-natural, nutritious supplement for grazing fish, as well as a large source of food for herbivore fish such as some butterflyfish, tangs, and wrasses. This seaweed offers tons of protein that herbivore fish so strongly need. A good amount of fiber is also present to keep your fish full and happy throughout the day. Ocean Nutrition Green Marine Algae is 100% digestible for your marine fish, and is rich in vitamin C to keep them safe from catching diseases. This algae is green because of its huge amount of chlorophyll A content. To take a look at the nutrition of this food, we can look to the ingredients:
Natural dried seaweeds (marine macro algae), garlic extract.
Ocean Nutrition Green Marine Algae is purely dried seaweeds and garlic. Seaweed is a healthy green full of vitamins, and garlic boosts your fish' immune system and attracts your fish to the food.
Further analysis:
Per Package:
Protein: 33.9%
Fiber: 5.2%
Fat: 1.4%
Moisture: 6.8%
To feed, place a small piece of Ocean Nutrition Green Marine Algae onto a seaweed clip placed at the bottom of your aquarium. Here, grazing fish and bottom-dwellers will munch on this nutritious food. After a few minutes, it will start to soften and be more appealing to eat. Supplement your fish' diets with Ocean Nutrition Green Marine Algae once per day.
Reefin' Pods Live Tisbe Copepods
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Live copepods are small microscopic crustaceans that are a huge source of food for bottom-dwelling fish. Copepods are a food staple for dragonets, mandarins, and jawfish. Copepods swim freely and find hiding spots in rocks and sand beds, and continuously breed themselves. Bottom-dwellers constantly hunt copepods, and accumulate tons of protein and fresh nutrition from eating them.
Reefin' Pods sells a mix of Tisbe and Tigriopus copepods. Tisbe copepods love crawling on aquarium walls, hiding in the sand, and hiding in rocks. Tisbe pods are the best copepods for bottom-dwelling fish. Trigriopus copepods freely swim, and are great for free-swimming fish such as clownfish. With this Reefin' Pods mix of both copepods, you can count on them suiting your aquarium's needs. Copepods are best at repopulating themselves in huge tanks rather than smaller tanks, because they have more hiding places away from the marine fish who hunt them.
To add to your tank, simply let float in your tank for 1 hour to adjust to the water temperature. You can also start a refugium or sump to breed copepods, and using tubes, gradually push more copepods into your display tank. Then, take the cap off and pour them in with the tank lights off so that they can find hiding places to breed. If the lights are on, there is a good chance a high number will get eaten, so there would not be many left to repopulate themselves.
Seachem Reef Phytoplankton
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Adding phytoplankton to your tank feeds your invertebrates, corals, and copepods. Phytoplankton can be used to feed worms, copepods, shrimp, and rotifers in a sump or refugium meant to breed food. Invertebrates such as snails will eat phytoplankton on the ground and glass, getting nutrients and strengthening their shells. Coral and filter feeders will suck in phytoplankton and optimize their own color while gaining nutrition to keep them healthy and strong. Copepods will eat phytoplankton and breed very fast because they will be fat and thriving. Rather than worrying about survival, they will breed. Copepods breeding more means your fish and bottom-dwellers will get more copepods to eat, so this helps your whole aquarium ecosystem thrive.
Seachem Reef Phytoplankton is a concentrated blend of brown and green marine phytoplankton. It ranges in size from 1 um to 20 um, to meet the needs of most invertebrates and filter feeders. Seachem Reef Phytoplankton contains cartenoids, proteins, lipids, and B vitamins to give your corals nutritional benefit and vibrant color pigmentation.
There is no harmful chemicals in the ingredients:
Water, Thalassiosira weissflogii, Isochrysis sp, Nannochloropsis, Protein Hydrolysates with carotenoids, Citric Acid, Carboxylic Acid, Methyl Paraben, Sodium Propionate.
Seachem Reef Phytoplankton:
Per 1 gram:
Protein: .4%
Fat: .15%
Copper: .032 mg
Fiber: .5%
Moisture: 96.8%
To use, make sure the phytoplankton is not expired by checking the expiration date on the bottle. Then, turn off your protein skimmer so your livestock get the phytoplankton before it is sucked up. Add 5 mL per 50 US gallons (190L) twice weekly to maintain coral growth and a supply of phytoplankton food in your aquarium. Refrigerate after opening for best results.