# Other Aquarium Forums > Fish Care, Nutrition and Water Management >  Why Do My Fish Spit Out Food?

## tetrakid

I am very pik chek to see my platies spit out food after taking it in the mouth when they are hungry.

I feed them with dry fish food pellets which they have been eating. Is it because the food is not tasty?

I have no doubt that they will gobble up tubifex if I give it to them, but I want to always stick to dry food. Any advice?

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## bennyc

Platies should not be choosy with their food. Have you check if the food has expired? 

Sometimes you can starve the fishes for 1-2 days and try again to "train" them into accepting the food. Stop giving them tubi during this time to allow them to forget the how tasty tubi is. Haha.

I also notice most fishes displaying the "spitting the dry food out and eating them again" behaviour, this should be normal. I believed they are still taking in food just that they will not stuff themselves compared to tubi or bloodworms.

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## GHD97

Sometimes with pellets, fish find it difficult to swallow or digest. The texture is quite hard for them. My pearl gourami will eat the pellets and spit them out a few times before swallowing :P but as they grew older they stopped. Maybe your pellet size is too big for them? :Very Happy: Try soaking the pellets before you feed the fish. Sometimes when fish find they can't swallow the food the first time, they lose interest in it :Sad:

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## tetrakid

Do you think fish will like fish food which is DIY flavoured with some fresh garlic?
I am willing to try to make my own fish food. Any ideas or suggestions?

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## felix_fx2

I think too hard pellets... my tetra had a hard time with the cheap pellets I used to feed them...

likewise, just for a reference. I feed the fish I had outside as and when I feel like it. since their all planted with shrimps... 

they adapt well. when I feed, they actually don't care for a while.

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## erwinx

Agree that maybe the pellet is too big. I use Hikari micro pellets for my Endler's Livebearers which is the smallest pellet I've found, even the newborn Endler's eat these pellets  :Smile: 

I also use Azoo micro pellets which are bigger than Hikari but should be small enough for Platys

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## tetrakid

Pets not eating is a very serious problem, more serious than bad algae or other tank problem. Same with other pets. Once my dog refused to eat the normal dried dog food after he had tasted chicken liver. From that day onwards, he refused to eat his usual food. That was the start of the of him as a pet. Since I always like to feed my pets well, if they do not eat, it is a big disappointment, as it will waste all my good efforts in keeping them healthy.

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## ltsai

I make my old fish food and also supplement with commercial ones. There are a few recipes out there, do check them out.

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## Urban Aquaria

Fishes can usually go without feeding for a few days, often up to a week. 

If they are fussy with dry food it just means you have to train them to eat it, just feed them only once every 2-3 day and they will be hungry enough to go for it and eventually like it.

Though like what bennyc mentioned, make sure the food is not expired or spoilt due to the food container not being air tight.

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## felix_fx2

@tetrakid, some food only can serve as treats. that does not just at dogs... hamster, chinchilla, birds, and of course fish.

live tubi are treats which I feed on ad hoc basis... alternate months once. or as and when I go y618.

@urban, my fish ain choosy due to how I condition them to the environment. the ones outside feel micro pellets are treats... where the inside ones... think I'm feeding pellets when ever I walk near. 

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## GHD97

I feed my neon tetras Azoo micro floating pellets too^^ they are quite readily accepted by all my fish. Which is good since we can worry less about water quality from decaying leftovers :Very Happy: @tetrakid if you don't want to waste the pellets you already have, try soaking them with a small amount of water and grinding the pellets to a thick paste before feeding :Smile:  that way the food is softer and the water soluble vitamins are not lost  :Very Happy:  you could even try adding the fresh garlic to the paste

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## tetrakid

> I feed my neon tetras Azoo micro floating pellets too^^ they are quite readily accepted by all my fish. Which is good since we can worry less about water quality from decaying leftovers@tetrakid if you don't want to waste the pellets you already have, try soaking them with a small amount of water and grinding the pellets to a thick paste before feeding that way the food is softer and the water soluble vitamins are not lost  you could even try adding the fresh garlic to the paste


 :Smile:  Ok, thanks. I'll try anything. Must get Azoo micro pellets too.  :Smile:

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## Urban Aquaria

Since we are on the subject of fish nutrition and garlic... i finished my pack of Hikari Micro Pellets a few weeks ago, and decided to try the New Life Spectrum Thera+A Formula (0.5mm size pellet version for small fish). Its abit more expensive than Hikari but the Thera+A formula contains garlic which apparently boosts the fish's immune system and helps to get rid of intestinal worms and parasites (might help to ward against problems like ich or velvet).

So far, all my fishes eat it readily and their colors look really bright and healthy. Maybe you can consider trying that out too.  :Smile:

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## tetrakid

> Since we are on the subject of fish nutrition and garlic... i finished my pack of Hikari Micro Pellets a few weeks ago, and decided to try the New Life Spectrum Thera+A Formula (0.5mm size pellet version for small fish). Its abit more expensive than Hikari but the Thera+A formula contains garlic which apparently boosts the fish's immune system and helps to get rid of intestinal worms and parasites (might help to ward against problems like ich or velvet).
> 
> So far, all my fishes eat it readily and their colors look really bright and healthy. Maybe you can consider trying that out too.


Ah, thanks for the info. One problem I face is that I don't overstock my tank with too many fish. The result is that one canister of my fish food can last quite a long time. Nowadays I only keep tiny fish like tetras, guppies and platies after experiencing losing my precious luohan once due to infection and lack of time for its care.

About garlic, I am not much concerned about its food value to fish. Does the taste of garlic make fish like it? That, is what I am more interested in. Anyone has any experience in this regard?

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## GHD97

I agree with Urban Aquaria, most people add garlic to their fish food purely for its antiseptic qualities or to cure intestinal worms. However I haven't had any experience with feeding garlic, so maybe someone could share their experience here? :Smile: @Urban aquaria I heard some online reviews that New life spectrum is one of the best brands of dried fish foods that offer a complete diet for fish^^ might try it someday :Very Happy:

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## sqwerc

I notice my discus also have the "eat and split and eat" habit. Feeding tetrabits. When it comes to bloodworm they don't hold back haha gobble gobble gobble.

I can understand the disappointment of pets not eating. I keep an Arowana and it is really fussy - used to eat pallets but I tired giving him prawns once and now it won't bother with the pallets. Trying to train it again but not succeeding... lol

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## Urban Aquaria

> Ah, thanks for the info. One problem I face is that I don't overstock my tank with too many fish. The result is that one canister of my fish food can last quite a long time. Nowadays I only keep tiny fish like tetras, guppies and platies after experiencing losing my precious luohan once due to infection and lack of time for its care.


Yeah, it took me more than a year to finish using up the smallest pack of Hikari micro pellets, even with multiple tanks of fishes. I usually feed the fishes only every 2-3 days, so one small pack of pellets can really last a long time. 

I guess you could probably divide a can of pellets into smaller sealed packets and share with other friends with fish tanks too.





> About garlic, I am not much concerned about its food value to fish. Does the taste of garlic make fish like it? That, is what I am more interested in. Anyone has any experience in this regard?


Can't really gauge if the fishes actually like the taste, mine still go for it the same as other brands of pellet food... but one thing is for sure, the garlic smell is super strong once you open the cap.  :Grin:

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## tetrakid

I'll try and infuse the garlic flavour into the pellets for a period of time and see how's the result with the feeding. Will let you know.

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## felix_fx2

Please feedback about the garlic infusing after you try.  :Smile:

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## tetrakid

> Please feedback about the garlic infusing after you try.


Yes, I will use fresh garlic for testing. It will take about a week. If it works, I will always use it.
I will also like to get prawn powder or ground shrimp to make fish fry food mixed with egg yolk, soya powder, spirulina powder, etc. :Smile:

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## GHD97

There's a fish farm called Gan Fish Farm if I'm not wrong in Lim Chu Kang area :Smile:  they sell some homemade fish food in powder form...quite cheap :Smile:  but if you're interested in the taste, IMO it smelled bad, like powdered worms or something...but I used to mix medicine in it to feed my LuoHan which had intestinal worms. It covered the taste I feel :Smile:  so it should be quite attractive to fish.

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## tetrakid

> There's a fish farm called Gan Fish Farm if I'm not wrong in Lim Chu Kang area they sell some homemade fish food in powder form...quite cheap but if you're interested in the taste, IMO it smelled bad, like powdered worms or something...but I used to mix medicine in it to feed my LuoHan which had intestinal worms. It covered the taste I feel so it should be quite attractive to fish.


For big fish, I have no problem with making good food. I can use beef heart, shrimp, etc. I may buy those food if I have bigger fish eg. kois. When I had my luohan, I fed it only fried shrimp sold in lfs, which is quite expensive.

I am only interested in making food for small fish and tiny fry.

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## GHD97

> For big fish, I have no problem with making good food. I can use beef heart, shrimp, etc. I may buy those food if I have bigger fish eg. kois. When I had my luohan, I fed it only fried shrimp sold in lfs, which is quite expensive.
> 
> I am only interested in making food for small fish and tiny fry.


Yeah...cut out all the excess I spouted in the previous post. The food they sell is very fine powder :Smile:  The fish farm sells lots of those pure black guppies. I raised my guppy fry purely with their powder food :Smile:  it's small enough even for new born guppy fry.

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## tetrakid

> Yeah...cut out all the excess I spouted in the previous post. The food they sell is very fine powder The fish farm sells lots of those pure black guppies. I raised my guppy fry purely with their powder food it's small enough even for new born guppy fry.


Thanks for the recommendation. I may go and get it some time. It may be the answer to my fry food problem. I don't like to hatch brine shrimp every other day, so I need a reliable solution. I may also breed some guppies later.

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