The beautiful angelfish makes a gorgeous addition to your aquarium.
As with any animal, it’s vital to provide your angelfish with proper nourishment.
So, what do angelfish eat?
These fish need specific vitamins, minerals, vegetables, and minerals to survive.
Read on to learn about what you should feed your angelfish to provide them with a long life.
What Do Angelfish Eat?
In their native environment, angelfish are omnivorous.
They eat plants for fiber and vitamins and small animals for protein.
Angelfish will eat plants if animals aren’t available.
You can replicate this nutrition in an aquarium with pellets, flakes, and more.
What Kinds of Foods Do Angelfish Eat Naturally?
If you have an angelfish, you may want to replicate their diet from their native environment.
In the wild, angelfish live in freshwater habitats throughout South America.
There they eat a combination of water plants and small aquatic animals, such as crustaceans and worms.
Types of Angelfish Food
There are many different food types to choose from when it comes to feeding your angelfish.
1. Fish Food (Fish Flakes and Pellets)
Fish food is likely the easiest way to feed your angelfish.
While these foods come in slightly different forms, including fish flakes and pellets, they usually have similar ingredients.
Depending on your brand, these foods may include shrimp meal, squid meal, earthworms, and supplementary vitamins and minerals.
It’s often a good idea to pair this food with another type of food, such as live food.
2. Homemade Food
If you want to know what is in your angelfish’s food or your vet says they need more or less of a certain ingredient, you may want to try making your own food.
There are several recipes online for angelfish food.
Always check with your vet before feeding homemade food.
Your vet can also tell you which vitamin and mineral supplements they need.
3. Frozen Food
Frozen food is a popular choice when it comes to angelfish food.
You can buy frozen fish food in bulk and store it for a long time.
This frozen food usually consists of a mix of plant and animal-based ingredients.
4. Live Food
Examples of live food include mealworms, white worms, brine shrimp, blood worms, feeder guppies, and small crustaceans.
You don’t need to provide live food all the time.
However, live food once every few weeks provides nutrition and stimulation.
Can an Angelfish Eat Human Food?
While you probably shouldn’t start feeding your angelfish cheeseburgers, there are several foods favored by humans that also work for angelfish.
When preparing “human” food for angelfish, it’s a good idea to form it into a paste so the fish can eat it.
What Kinds of Human Food Can an Angelfish Eat?
- Vegetables: Angelfish can eat most vegetables as long as they are ground small. Provide your angelfish with a thoroughly chopped salad of carrots, peas, zucchini, and more.
- Lettuce: Fresh lettuce provides fiber in the diet of your Angelfish. Shred the lettuce thoroughly before giving it to your fish.
- Beef heart: Since the beef heart is tough, it’s vital to thoroughly process it before feeding it to your fish. De-vein the heart, and process it through a meat grinder or food processor.
- You can combine the resultant paste with vegetables for complete nutrition and fiber.
- Shrimp: Shrimp is a natural food item for the angelfish. While the fish usually catches smaller shrimp, you can feed it larger shrimp as long as you grind it up and ensure it’s fresh.
What Is the Best Type of Food for Angelfish?
There isn’t necessarily one best food for angelfish.
The most important thing for this fish’s diet is variety.
Ideally, you should feed your angelfish a combination of frozen, fresh, or flaked foods and some live food.
If you have to choose a single type of food for a fish, frozen is a good way to go, thanks to how it protects the nutrition of the ingredients.
How To Feed an Angelfish
The way you feed an angelfish will differ slightly based on the type of food you feed it.
For example, homemade food requires some time for preparation.
Frozen food needs to thaw before you give it to your angelfish.
But, in general, here’s what to consider when feeding your fish:
- Once the food is ready for consumption, distribute the food in the tank.
- Angelfish are generally bottom-feeders, but they also will forage at the surface or middle of the water.
- Take the age of your angelfish into account when feeding.
Younger fish generally need more food more frequently.
Meanwhile, older fish need less food and a more regular schedule.
How Often Do You Feed an Angelfish?
The amount you feed an angelfish will depend on its age and size.
Young angel fish should be fed three to four times a day, and adults should be fed two to three times.
It’s vital to avoid over-feeding your angelfish.
How Long Can Angelfish Go Without Eating?
An angelfish can live for between three days and two weeks, depending on age, size, and overall health.
However, never intentionally let your angelfish go too long without eating.
Not eating can lead to starvation, weakness, and death.
Can You Overfeed a Angelfish?
You can overfeed an angelfish because they don’t know when to stop.
Eating too much can be hazardous to the health of your fish.
Here are the signs your angelfish is overeating:
- Low pH
- High nitrate and Ammonia levels
- Cloudy aquarium water
- Food remains uneaten for more than five minutes
- A lot of algae in the tank
- Frequent need to change filter
Help, My Angelfish Is Not Eating
Food is necessary for survival.
So, if you think your fish isn’t interested in eating, it’s a reason for concern.
Sometimes a change in appetite can come from maturation, but it can sometimes indicate health issues.
Reasons Why an Angelfish Is Not Eating
There are a few reasons an angelfish may not be eating, including the following:
- Old age
- An abrupt change in water conditions
- Changes to the aquarium
- The addition of new fish
- Sickness, parasites, and disease
It’s possible that your fish isn’t eating because they don’t like the food.
A lack of vitamins may also lead to a lack of interest in food.
What To Do If an Angelfish Is Not Eating
The first step when getting your fish to eat is to try to diagnose the cause behind your fish’s lack of appetite.
Assess if there have been any changes to the fish environment.
If this is the cause, your fish will likely acclimate after a bit of time.
However, if they stopped eating after you added a new fish, you may need to separate them.
If you just changed the fish food, you may need to change the food or diversify the offerings.
Frequently Asked Questions
What do angelfish eat?
As discussed above, these fish have a diverse diet.
Here are some commonly asked questions about their dietary needs.
What kind of worms do angelfish eat?
Angelfish can eat many worms, including black worms, bloodworms, tubifex worms, and mealworms.
Do angelfish eat bloodworms?
Angelfish love eating bloodworms. However, you should only feed them your fish once a week at most.
Wrapping Up
What do angelfish eat?
Angelfish are ethereal fish who love to eat a varied diet consisting of plants and small animals.
But, knowing exactly what to feed your angelfish can be confusing.
By following these directions, you can help a young angelfish grow big and strong and encourage health in an adult angelfish.
Click here to check these fish out!
