Dry food for aquarium fish: flakes, pellets, wafers — the complete guide

Dry food is the diet base for 95% of home aquariums. It's convenient, cheap per month, parasite-free, no thawing required. But quality varies 10×: a 1-dollar 'goldfish food' and Hikari Lionhead at 15 are different products. This guide teaches you how to read the label, pick the format that fits your fish, and avoid wrecking water quality with cheap filler.

Why dry food is the base, not the backup

Quality dry food gives a balanced protein-fat profile, vitamins, and immunostimulants (beta-glucans, spirulina, astaxanthin) that you simply can't deliver with live food alone. Hikari, Sera, Tetra run clinical trials on their own farms before launching a line. What you sprinkle in 5 seconds is the result of 5 years of R&D.

The downside is oxidation: fats in an opened pack go rancid in 1–2 months and vitamins break down. Buy SMALL packs (100–250 g) even if the big one looks cheaper per gram. Pair this with the live-food guide — optimum is 70% dry + 30% live/frozen.

Formats — match the swim zone

Flakes

Float 30–60 seconds, then sink. Ideal for surface fish: guppies, tetras, bettas, gouramis. Downside: crumble to dust on the bottom and overload the substrate. Top picks: Tetra TetraMin, Sera Vipan, Hikari Tropical Micro Wafers.

Pellets — slow-sinking

The most universal format. Sink at 1–3 cm/sec, feeding both mid and bottom zones. Size matches the fish's mouth: 0.5 mm for microrasboras, 1 mm for neons, 2–3 mm for cichlids. Top picks: Hikari Micro Pellets, NorthFin Cichlid Formula, Fluval Bug Bites.

Wafers and tablets

Thick sinking discs for bottom-dwellers: catfish, loaches, shrimp. Don't break down quickly, give the fish 15–30 minutes to graze. Hikari Algae Wafers, Tetra Pleco Wafers are the gold standard. Feed an hour after the upper-zone feeding so bottom fish don't go hungry.

Sticks

Large floating or slow-sinking pieces for big cichlids, oscars, goldfish. Tetra Cichlid Sticks, Sera Cichlid Color — classics. Don't use for fish under 8 cm.

Freeze-dried

Frozen bloodworm/Artemia/tubifex sublimated under vacuum — between dry and live food. Retains 95% of protein and most vitamins, no parasite risk. Hikari Bio-Pure, San Francisco Bay Brand are reliable. Soak 30 seconds before serving to avoid constipation.

How to read the label

The ingredient list is the main quality filter. First entry = largest share by mass. What should be at the top — and what are red flags:

Good ingredients

• Fish, fishmeal, shrimp, squid — first two ingredients. • Spirulina or chlorella — natural carotenoids. • Clear protein/fat/fibre percentages. • Vitamins: A, D3, E, C, B-complex. • Immunostimulants: beta-1,3-glucans.

Low-quality signals

• 'Cereal products', 'soy meal', 'starch' in the first ingredients = fillers with no value. • Dye E127 (erythrosine) — banned in human food in the US, still appears in cheap fish food. • Ingredients without Latin names and percentages — sign of a grey-market producer. • Shelf life under 1 year from production — no vitamins left.

Target composition by diet

• Predators (cichlids, bettas, bichirs): protein 45–55%, fat 8–12%. • Omnivores (tetras, rasboras, gouramis): protein 40–48%, fat 6–10%. • Herbivores (mollies, silver dollars, plecos): protein 30–38%, fat 4–6%, fibre ≥5%. • Bottom catfish: protein 35–42%, fibre 5–8%. • Shrimp and snails: protein 28–34%, calcium ≥2%.

Brand breakdown — what actually works

Hikari (Japan) — gold standard

USD 15–30 per 100 g, but 250 g lasts 6–9 months in an average tank. Lines: Micro Pellets (nano), Tropical (community), Cichlid Gold, Discus, Bottom Feeders. Trusted, minimal cereal filler.

Sera (Germany)

USD 8–15 per 100 g. Vipan (flakes), Vipagran (slow-sinking), Discus Granulat. Stable quality, slightly more cereal than Hikari.

Tetra (Germany/Spectrum)

USD 5–10 per 100 g. TetraMin — the best-selling flake food worldwide. Average quality with cereals in the mix. Works as 'daily base' for budget aquariums.

Fluval Bug Bites — insects instead of fishmeal

A revolutionary line on black soldier fly larvae (BSF). More sustainable, protein 40+, fish love it. USD 12–18 per 100 g. Formats: nano fish, cichlid, tropical fish.

NorthFin, Omega One, NewLife Spectrum (premium)

Canadian/American brands on pure wild-caught fish. USD 20–35 per 100 g. For the absolute maximum, take NorthFin Cichlid Formula or NLS Thera+A.

What to avoid

Unbranded 'fish food' in a glass jar for USD 1, supermarket lines outside the aquarist range, products with cereals/soy meal in the first three ingredients. The savings come back as overfeeding, cloudy water, and digestive issues.

Specialised foods

Colour-enhancing food

Contains astaxanthin, canthaxanthin, spirulina — natural pigments fish can't make themselves. Hikari Color Enhancing, Tetra Color, Sera Color — for red tetras, guppies, discus, goldfish. Don't feed year-round — only 2–3 weeks at a time, otherwise the liver overloads.

Medicated foods

Sera Insectivor, JBL ProNovo Bel Grano — with antibacterial additives. Use by symptom (mouldy fins, weak stool). Not for daily feeding.

Fry food

Sera Micron, Hikari First Bites, Tetra MicroMin — dust-fine flakes 50–200 microns. From the first days after the yolk sac is absorbed. More on the live starter food is in the live-food guide.

Storage — where half the owners ruin their food

An open pack loses 30% of its vitamins in a month and 60% over 3 months. Rules:

1. Buy 100–250 g packs, not 500 g 'bulk discount'. 2. After opening, decant into a glass jar with a tight lid. 3. Store in a dark, cool, dry place (not above the tank — too humid and warm). 4. Use a dry scoop; fingers in the jar = bacteria in the food. 5. Two months after opening — throw away the rest.

Feeding rules

The 2-minute rule

Give as much food as the fish eat in 2 minutes with nothing left on the bottom. Leftovers = ammonia = algae. Better to slightly under-feed than over-feed — fish forgive a week of fasting but not 3–4 days of overfeeding in a row.

Fast day

One day a week with no food. Especially important for labyrinth fish (bettas, gouramis) and goldfish — their digestive system is prone to constipation. A small piece of skinned pea on that day works as a natural laxative.

Frequency by age

• Adults: 1–2 times daily, small portions. • Juveniles (3–6 mo): 2–3 times daily. • Fry under 3 mo: 4–6 times daily, micro-portions. • Large predators (oscars, cichlids): every other day, generously.

Auto-feeders for holidays

Eheim TWIN, JBL AutoFood — program 1–2 feedings per day. Fill only with pellets (flakes clump). Test 3 days at home before the trip — some units jam.

Alternative for 7–10 days — simply don't feed at all. Healthy fish handle it fine, and it's safer than a beginner neighbour who 'will just give a tiny triple portion'.

Combining dry with live — the main strategy

Dry food covers 70% of needs but lacks the movement trigger and isn't ideal for breeding. The optimum: 4–5 days dry, 2–3 days live/frozen (Artemia, bloodworm, daphnia). Details in the live-food guide.

Rule for choosing food: 'not the first number on the label, but the first ingredient in the list'. A 50%-protein food with cereal meal first is worse than 38% protein with fishmeal first. Read the ingredients, not the marketing.

Typical beginner mistakes

1. One food type for years — vitamin deficiency, dull colour. 2. Sprinkling 'by eye with a healthy margin' — nitrates through the roof, algae. 3. Big 'on sale' pack — half goes out rancid. 4. Not checking the production date — 3-year-old food is worse than a cheap fresh one. 5. Ignoring bottom fish — feeding only the top layer; the catfish starve.

Bottom line

A good dry food is an investment that pays off in fish health and colour within 2–3 months. Minimum: one jar of quality pellets (Hikari/NorthFin/Bug Bites) + a jar of spirulina flakes + bottom-feeder wafers. Store in glass, replace every 2 months, combine with live food 30/70. Details on live food and home cultures — in the first part of the guide.