Guppies are omnivorous. And they need a varied diet for proper growth and development. Though fish food provides a lot of protein to the fish, combining it with human food like vegetables is a great way to provide all the essential nutrients to guppies.
In this article, I’m going to tell the human foods you can feed to your guppies.
Guppies can eat human food like cucumber, carrots, spinach, cauliflower, peas, broccoli, cabbage, kale, potato (sweet and regular), zucchini, tomatoes, lettuce, bell paper, pumpkin, corn. Avoid feeding processed human food to guppies.
There are different ways to feed different vegetables to the fish and you’ll need to prepare the food before feeding it to the guppies.
I’m going to cover all of this in this article.
So keep reading…
Table of Contents
What human foods can you feed to your guppies?
When it comes to feeding human food to your guppies you should stick to vegetarian food.
You should mostly feed vegetables to guppies in your fish tank.
You can feed fruits to the fish but you should feed them in a very small quantity.
Fruits contain sugar and glucose. And naturally, guppies don’t consume these nutrients. So you should feed fruits as a treat in small quantities. Or you can avoid fruits altogether.
Besides, I have never seen or heard nobody feeding meat like beef or chicken to their guppies. You can fulfill your guppy’s nonveg needs by feeding them Brine shrimp and Tubix worms.
Here’s the list of vegetables you can feed to your guppies.
- Spinach leaves
- Cauliflower
- Zucchini/Courgette
- Kale
- Lettuce (You can find both Iceberg lettuce and Romaine lettuce)
- Mustard greens
- Broccoli
- Potato (You can feed both sweet and regular potatoes)
- Carrot
- Bell peppers
- Green beans
- Peas
- Pumpkin
- Cabbage
- Corn (Is it a vegetable or fruit? Anyways, your guppies can eat it!)
How to prepare vegetables to feed your guppies?
The method of preparing various types of vegetables is different.
How to prepare vegetables with seeds and jelly to feed your guppies?
Vegetables like tomato, zucchini/courgette, bell pepper, cucumber, pumpkin come under this category.
First of all, you’ll need to wash the vegetables with water.
To be extra careful you can wash the vegetables with water from your aquarium to make sure that you are not introducing chlorine in the fish tank.
Or you can dechlorinate water and wash the vegetables with that water.
Now cut and open the vegetable and remove the jelly part and seeds from the vegetable.
Now cut the vegetable into small pieces (small enough to fit in the mouth of your guppies).
TIP: If you are keeping any bottom-dwelling fish in your tank. And if you want
them to eat the veggies then you can boil the vegetables so the vegetables can sink to the bottom of the tank.
How to prepare leafy vegetables to feed your guppies?
First of all, wash the leafy vegetables like spinach, kale, lettuce romaine, etc with dechlorinated water. You can use water from your tank to wash the veggies.
Now if you want the leafy vegetables to sink in your tank so that the button-dwelling fish can also eat the veggies then you can boil it in water for about a minute. Then let it cool and then put it in your tank.
Or you can clip it to the side of your fish tank using a vegetable clip.
A vegetable clip is basically a clip with a suction cup so you can clip the vegetable to the vegetable clip. And stick it to the side glass inside your tank.
You may find the vegetable clip at your local fish store. Or you can buy it online at Amazon here.
The vegetable clip will prevent the leafy vegetables from floating around in your tank. It will keep the vegetables in place in your tank so the guppies can take a bite out of it.
How to prepare hard vegetables to feed your guppies?
Hard vegetable (possibly hard for guppies to eat) like carrot, peas, corn comes in this category.
Before feeding these vegetables to your guppies you’ll need to boil them in water for about a minute to soften them.
Then cut the veggies into small pieces (small enough to fit in the mouth of guppies) and then simply toss them in your fish tank. Happy guppies!
How to prepare potatoes to feed your guppies?
You can feed both sweet and regular potatoes to your guppies. And the preparation process is the same for both types of potatoes.
First of all, boil the potato in water for about a minute.
Now let the potatoes cool down.
Once the potatoes are cooled down, peel the potatoes.
Then cut the potato into small pieces and toss it in your fish tank.
What human foods you should NOT feed to your guppies?
There are a few human foods that you should not feed to your guppies.
Processed foods
You should not feed any processed foods like pretzels or cereals to your guppies. These foods contain sugar and salt which is not good for guppies (just like humans!)
Beef or chicken
This is from my personal experience, I have never seen or heard anybody who feeds beef or chicken to their guppies.
So probably you should avoid feeding these foods to your guppies.
Or if you want to feed beef or chicken then start with a very small quantity. See how it goes and then you may feed more.
As for their protein (non-veg) needs are concerned, you can also feed your guppies high-quality brine shrimp and tubifex worms.
- I recommend Omega One Freeze Dried Brine Shrimp. You can check it out at Amazon here.
- I recommend Omega One Freeze Dried Tubifex Worms. You can check it out at Amazon here.
Precautions you should take while feeding human food to guppies
Feeding human foods like veggies is a great way to introduce plant matter in your guppy fish’s diet.
But there are a few things you need to be aware of when you feed human food to guppies.
Don’t overfeed veggies
Guppies need a varied diet and feeding veggies is a great way to add some plant matter to your guppy fish’s diet.
But remember veggies should not be their primary diet.
In the wild, guppies mostly feed on algae. So you should regularly feed algae wafers to your guppies.
I recommend Tetraveggie algae wafers. You can check it out at Amazon here.
Besides, in the wild, guppies also feed on aquatic insect larvae and small invertebrates.
So in your tank, you should feed them some meaty foods like bloodworms and tubifex worms to fulfill their protein needs.
Feed fruits in very small quantities
In the wild, guppies generally don’t feed on fruits. And fruits contain sugar which is not good for guppies.
So if you want to feed fruits to your guppies then you should feed them in very small quantities.
Remove uneaten human food from the tank
After feeding the human food, after about one hour, you should remove the uneaten food from the tank.
If you don’t remove the food then it will start fouling your aquarium water.
52 Best Freshwater Aquarium Plants For Beginners (And Care Guide)
FAQ
Can Guppy eat bread?
You should not feed bread to guppies. Bread contains yeast which can cause bloat and other digestive problems in guppies. Besides, bread contains ingredients such as preservatives, sugar, flavoring agents, corn syrup, etc which is bad for the health of guppies.
Can guppies eat bananas?
You can feed bananas to your guppies. However, guppies don’t eat fruits in their natural habitat.
And banana contains sugar which is bad for guppies. So you should not feed bananas or any fruits regularly. You can feed it as treat once in a while.
Can guppies eat meat?
Guppies are omnivorous so they can eat meat. In the wild, guppies feed on small insects, aquatic insect larvae, and their babies. So in your tank, you can feed them bloodworms and tubifex worms.
You may also try feeding beef or chicken in small quantities to your guppies.
Can I feed rice to Guppy?
You can feed boiled rice to guppies. Rice doesn’t contain all the nutrients that guppies need. So it should not be their primary diet. You can feed rice once in a while to your guppies.
Can guppies eat tomatoes?
You can feed tomatoes to your guppies. Just make sure to remove the jelly part and seeds from the tomatoes. And cut the tomato into small pieces (small enough to fit in the mouth of your guppies) and then toss it in your guppy tank.
What fruits can guppies eat?
You can feed bananas, apples, grapes, etc to your guppies. Generally, in the wild, guppies don’t feed on fruits. So fruits should not be the primary diet of your guppies. You can feed fruits as treat in small quantities.
20 Tips to Maintain a Healthy Aquarium
Conclusion
Overall, guppies can eat human foods like vegetables and fruits. You can also feed boiled rice to your guppies.
Remember guppies don’t eat these kinds of food in the wild. So it should not be their primary diet.
You can feed these foods once in a while as treats to your guppies.
I hope you found this article helpful.
If you do, please share it with a guppy owner.
Happy fishkeeping!
Related searches:
I found this so helpful. 🤩
Glad you found it helpful. Thanks for reading.
Yes indeed it was helpfull thanks alot