Live foods are always a popular choice with our pets, with even the most placid vegetarians eagerly taking the opportunity to enjoy a high-protein snack. For many wild fish, moving prey items are the norm and can work wonders for reluctant feeders. A great way of adding some behavioural enrichment for community fish, a few more demanding species require the movement of living prey to trigger a feeding response.

During the warmer months some live foods can be cultured easily, with Daphnia thriving on a diet of green water algae and many small accumulations of rainwater in the garden providing a source of mosquito larvae. By far the easiest approach however is to buy your live foods and feed them soon after.

A range of live foods are available and as well as the classic Daphnia and Bloodworm, saltwater options such as Brine shrimp can be fed to freshwater fishes after being rinsed to remove the salt. Larger fishes will also enjoy feeder insects produced for reptiles and surface-feeding species seem particularly well adapted to hunting crickets and mealworms.

Like frozen foods, live foods can vary in nutritional value, and this can be corrected by offering insects or River shrimp a last meal of quality dry fish food before using them to feed your fish.

Although they may be part of the natural diet of many wild predators, we do not condone the use of live fishes as food. In addition to ethical and legislative issues, there are also disease and nutritional problems that can arise from their use.