Guppies eat a wide variety of food including live food such as shrimp and bloodworms, fish flakes, and plant matter such as algae, spinach, carrots, and a wide variety of other vegetables.
What do guppies eat and how much should you feed them? If you’re unsure about both, we’re here with the answers. Below, we have the scoop on your guppies’ favorite foods along with some suggestions on how to keep them full and healthy.
Essential Guppy Menu
Guppies thrive on a combination of foods, including live food and fish food. When feeding your guppies, you want to alternate, ensuring that they are getting a variety in their diet. When planning their menu, here are some things that you can add to the list.
Live Food
In the wild, guppies feed on live foods as much as they can. Give them a taste of their wild side by feeding them live food from time to time. Though they love it, don’t go overboard, as the fat and protein content is not very good for their health.
Some great live food options include daphnia, brine shrimp, and even bloodworm. When first starting to feed them live food, start off slowly so they can slowly adapt.
Plant Matter
Another delicacy for your guppies is plant matter, which includes things like algae. They are not going to go around and eat all the algae in their tank, though they will snack on it from time to time. You can supplement their need for plant matter by adding some veggies like spinach and carrots to their menu.
Fish Food
Fish food is one of the essentials when you have a tank full of fish. The majority of their diet should consist of this food, as it helps to promote a healthy tank environment. Feed them this and add in both live food and plant matter here and there.
How Often Should I Feed my Guppies?
Guppies are on the smaller side and don’t really need much food (relative to us anyway). The rule of thumb when feeding guppies is to not feed them too much and to feed them no more than twice a day. For the amount, you should feed them 1/8th of their body weight each feeding.
Feeding them twice a day is great, just as long as you’re not overfeeding them. If you have a large tank with several guppies, you may need to calculate for each guppy, feeding them little by little and distributing the food evenly so everyone gets their fair share.
What Do Baby Guppies (Guppy Fry) Eat?
Guppy fry are a lot smaller than adult guppies, though they do tend to grow fast. There is no special food that you need to buy for your baby guppies, as they eat much of the same things as your adult guppies. The one thing you want to tweak for guppy fry is the way that you feed them.
You’ll need to set some of the food you’re giving your other guppies aside and crush it up into smaller pieces so that it’s edible for your guppies. You can do this with a mortar or add it to a bag and roll over it with a rolling pin, making smaller pieces to toss into your tank.
If you prefer to have some fish food on hand that’s simple to toss in for your guppy fry, you’re in luck! Most stores that sell food and accessories for your fish will have food specifically formulated for baby guppies, making it easier for you until they grow enough to eat like all the others.
Can Guppies Eat Betta Food?
Guppies and betta fish are great together, making the perfect tank mates. When fish are all together, they will all come to the top when you sprinkle food in, gobbling up whatever you put in their way. Your guppies may have some betta food and vice versa, and that’s 100% okay.
Your guppies can eat betta food, though you want to control how much of it they’re getting. Be sure to only allow them a small amount, ensuring that it’s not the bulk of their diet. Instead, control your tank and try to only give your guppies their own set of foods.
Can Guppies Eat Bread?
Bread is tasty to many animals and is often thought to be a fun food for fish. While fish love it and will gobble it up, it’s not the best food to give them. Though it’s tasty for us, fish often have a more difficult time digesting it because it’s not a part of their typical diet.
The key to keeping your guppies healthy is to try and keep their diet as close to their natural diet, as their bodies and digestive systems are adapted for those kinds of food. Keep in mind, some bread has ingredients like corn syrup, sugar, and food colorings, all of which are unhealthy for both you and your guppies.
What To Feed Guppies When You’re Out of Food
It happens to the best of us, we forget to grab the fish food and the store is closed. There is no need to fret, as there are some alternatives you possibly have in your fridge that you can feed them. These include things like egg yolks and vegetables.
For egg yolk, you’ll want to cook it up and slice it into smaller pieces before adding it to your tank. For veggies, choose a few and dice them up into small pieces and sprinkle them into your tank. Both are great alternatives, though you’ll want to start giving them food as soon as you buy it.
Quick Recap
Keeping your guppies healthy is easy to do when you’re feeding them the right foods. Be sure to keep all of these things in mind so that their diet is varied and healthy. If you have multiple fish in your tank, keep all of their dietary needs in mind before getting on a feeding schedule.
A mix of live food, plant matter, and fish food is a great way to provide all the essential nutrients your guppies and guppy fry need to live a long and healthy life.