Frozen/live food as treat?

[Vivo]

Why do "they" say to feed fish frozen/live food only as a treat every few days?  It it bad for them?  I know to vary the diet of omnivorous fish, but what about carnivorous fish like bettas?

[Daniel]

I feed all my fish live food everyday and I haven't noticed any ill effects.

When I kept a lot bettas a while back, they got live food everyday without any noticeable ill effects.

In the wild fish eat foods provided by their environments and seem to do okay.

[KBOzzie59]

Not sure who they are, my Pelvicachromis Taeniatus get it daily. 

 

From seriouslyfish.com

"It will accept most foods offered but live and frozen varieties should form the bulk of the diet."

[Maggie]

I would feed mine live brine shrimp every day, but there's a lag time between batches so it turns out to be only about 5 out of 7 days, until I get another hatchery (but first really should use up some of the other food I bought). I base this on what highly successful aquarists on this forum have said. I also feed them flake/pellets at other meals for variety.

Edited November 17, 2020 by Maggie
added sentence

[tolstoy21]

 

39 minutes ago, Vivo said:

Why do "they" say to feed fish frozen/live food only as a treat every few days?

I just imagined they said that because it's more expensive to feed it more often than other food varieties.

I find some fish will overeat frozen food before they overeat flake food. (Just like my kid will overeat pizza and not broccoli).

If I go heavy on frozen brine the fish ravenously gobble up every last bit and all look like they are pregnant. If I go heavy on flake food, they just let the excess settle to the bottom.  But this is variable, for instance, my Odessa Barbs will eat beyond capacity anything that hits the water. 

Edited November 17, 2020 by tolstoy21

[StaceyTNBCkicker]

My fish do the same. If I give flake they will eat their fill, but allow it to fall. If I feed frozen, they will gobble til they literally look ready to burst! They get frozen once every other day. They get flake small amounts twice daily. Live and frozen is good for enticing breeding in many species.