Installing live aquatic plants in your fish aquarium gives your fish a pleasant home to live in. However, preparing live aquatic plants and maintaining them is not an easy job. Some fish will eat up your plants, and some will not cause damage to the extent. So, it is essential to know before having live aquatic plants whether the fish present in the tank will eat it up or not. So, do guppy eat plants? let us find out.
Guppies don’t eat plants, but they nibble on them to feed on algae attached to the aquatic plants. Algaes provide your guppy with the plant-based nutrition they want in their diet. Plants can easily survive guppies nibbling, so planting live aquatic plants in your guppies tank is completely safe.
There are many advantages of installing live aquatic plants in your guppies tank. Let us go through it and know about your guppies’ diet to keep your guppy healthy and happy.
Contents
What do guppies typically eat?
| Guppy Food | Serving Quantity | No of Times |
|---|---|---|
| Mosquito larvae | 10-15 pieces | 2-3 times a week |
| Brine Shrimp | One pinch at a time | 1-2 times a week |
| Veggie Pellets | One pinch at a time | 2-3 times a day |
| Earthworms | One pinch at a time | 1-2 times a week |
| Tubifex Worms | One pinch at a time | 1 time a week |
Also read: Best Food For Guppy Fish.
Why do guppies nibble on plants?
Guppies usually nibble on plants to eat the algae attached to the plants. Algae acts as a rich diet part of the plant guppies need.
Guppies find algae on the surfaces of plants like leaves. Guppies come under the omnivore species, so they need both plant and animal matter in balanced quantities.
Feeding algae helps guppy to obtain the plant-based nutrition they want in their diet.
Best aquatic plant to add in your guppies tank
Guppies will love to live in a tank installed with live aquatic plants. Some of the best live plants guppies would love to live with are:
- Java Moss: Java moss belongs to the family hypnaceae. Java moss is a hardy plant, gets attached to rocks, roots, and driftwoods. Java moss grows well in 70-75 degrees Fahrenheit and can live up to 85-90 degrees Fahrenheit. Java moss Plays a great role as a hiding place for the fry.
- Duckweed: Duckweeds, also known as water lentils or water lenses. Duckweed belongs to the family of Araceae. They float just beneath or on the surface of still or slow-moving bodies. Duckweed carries a great potential of food source as it comes with the availability of proteins. They grow well in the presence of enough light and nutrients.
- Guppy Grass: Guppy grass, also known scientifically as najas guadalupensis, is a fast-growing plant that produces oxygen, which helps to remove heavy metals, nitrite, ammonia, and nitrates from the water. Guppy grass is best to install in your guppies tank as they also help the guppies fry for hiding.
Advantages of adding live plants in guppies tank
Being an omnivore species, guppies also need plant-based nutrition on their diet to be healthy and grow beautifully. We can offer them their plant-based nutrition food by buying it from the fish food market, but installing the live aquatic plant in their tank to directly access plant-based nutrition is a better choice.
We should know that guppies can live without plants in the tank, but installing live aquatic plants in their tank can be beneficial in many ways.
- Plants Keep The Water Clean: The waste that the fish eliminate in the tank results in increasing the level of nitrate in your guppies tank, which can be harmful to your guppies. Floating plants help in such cases by reducing the amount of nitrate to the extend. Installing plants also reduces the need for water changes.
- Recreates Guppies Natural Habitat: Installing plants in their tank replicates their natural habitat, as in wild guppies live in the surrounding full of vegetation. Installing live aquatic plants in their tank will resemble their natural habitat and make them feel happy.
- Helps Them Get Their Plant-Based Nutrition: Guppies enjoy grazing on plants to feed on algae attached to the plant to get their plant-based nutritional food. Algae present in the plants act as a plant-based dietary food for your guppies, so if there is any lack of plant-based nutrition food on their diet, guppies will fulfill their need by feeding on algae.
- Plants Help In Providing Places For Guppy Fry To Hide: Guppies breeding in the same tank as the adults, then they need a place to hide for their survival. Plants will help them provide hiding spots. Guppies fry can hide in the leaves and roots of the plant. Installing plants will also help guppies fry to feed themselves, as the root house seed shrimps and copepods on which guppies fry can feed.
Readymade food for guppies
There are varieties of food available for your guppies in a fish food market. It seems to be the easiest way of providing your guppy food.
You can use fish flakes to feed your guppy as it has been made by keeping all the nutrients and vitamins required for your guppy, which means that these flakes will contain both plant and animal matter in an appropriate quantity that your guppies need in their diet.
Guppies get their growth and health and grow with a beautiful color with the help of food we feed them, so an owner should provide them spirulina and algae tablets to feed so that they can enhance with beautiful colors and live healthily beautifully.
Also read: Do Guppy Eat Algae?
CONCLUSION:
Guppies don’t usually eat the whole plant; they do nibble on plants.
Being an omnivore species, guppies also need plant-based nutrition in their diet to grow and attain a healthy life. So guppies nibble on the plant to feed on algae attached to the plant.
Thus, Algaes act as plant-based nutrition for guppies. Of course, this is not the only advantage of installing live aquatic plants in your guppies tank.
Still, there are more advantages like live aquatic plants help keep the water clean by reducing the level of nitrate to the extent to which the waste is eliminated by the guppies produced. In addition, plants allow guppies fries plenty of hiding spots to hide easily for their survival.
Related Questions:
Do guppies eat snails?
Guppy doesn’t eat snails. It is physically impossible for a guppy to eat a snail as guppies have small mouths.
Can guppy eat mosquito larvae?
Guppy will love to have mosquito larvae in their meal. You can feed 10-15 mosquito larvae 3-4 times a week to your guppy.