fishgirl

Hi, Everyone, I'm a newbie to keeping fish I have heard that you can give peas to your fish. How do I know when to give them a Pea? Can you give them as a treat? Does it have to a fresh cooked pea? can you give cooked frozen? canned? how long do you leave it in the tank?
I have 6 platties, one dwarf grommie, 2 cory cats, 6 ghost shrimp.
Susan

BettaBuddy ~ Miley

OK - idk if its the same but i have bettas and i give them a frozen pea (cut up, thawed and pealed)

I take a small container of very hot warm dechlorinated water and put them in it nd when they arent frozen peel them, cut them and give them to them. Miley

Butterfly

yep thats how I do mine also. Or if we're having canned peas for dinner I rinse one off and break the peel and drop it in and the loaches will pick them up and swim all over the tank while they eat them. Then I have to remove the peel LOL
carol

Chief_waterchanger

Peas are kinda overdone, honestly. They are a good occasional fish food, and natural laxative for the fish. However, in my opinion feeding them to a fish on a weekly basis religiously is overkill. Again, in my opinion it is like taking peptobismol (the pink mint stomach relaxer) even when your stomach isn't upset. But again, that is my opinion and others probably will and are more than welcome to differ.

Radcliffe

I thaw frozen raw peas and peel them before adding them to the tank. My mollys and ottos seem to like them more than other fish do- but then they are both fish that need green in their diets. I consider them to be an occasional addition to a varied diet.

--R

COBettaCouple

mmmm.. pepto bismol milkshakes.. a daily treat! :P

Amorinthe

I see this continue to come up, but I can't think of when a fish would get a pea in the wild. I mean, isn't the reason that we spend all this money on tank set up to emulate a more natural setting? I can't see how giving tropical fish peeled peas is natural.

COBettaCouple

they may not get peas in a natural setting but no matter what we do, an aquarium isn't a natural setting. we do things and feed things to compensate for the differences and peas are part of that compensation.

jsalemi

Fish in the wild have access to other sources of vegetative matter in the water they live in, like decaying leaves, plant seeds, etc. A pea is nothing more than a plant seed, so while it may not be native food to the fish, it's certainly natural.

Unless, of course, you plan on flying all over the world and gathering your own fish food from the lakes and streams where your fish come from.

Chief_waterchanger

Fish also do not eat processed flake food or freeze dried anything in the wild... nor do they stay in glass boxes stuck with stuff from different continents... or stay that close to one another, unless they are schoolers, in which case they stay in much larger numbers than people normally keep them in the hobby...

If we are to knock one thing for being unnatural to the fish, please knock it all. Or of course vise versa.

neverendingninja

Word.

darkwolf29a

I give my fish peas once a week, to help keep them regular. Hey, we eat fiber daily for it, so...

It's not natural but it's also not harmful. I mean, they might not eat peas in the wild, but they'd find something to compensate for it...and I'm compensating for what ever they are eating.

COBettaCouple

something about peas appeals to them.. every fish we have goes wild for them.

neverendingninja

Most likely because it fills a niche in their diet that would otherwise be void. You know, research shows that children and animals who have deficiencies in their diets will eat dirt, poop, grass, or other normally "unnatural" just because they know, by instinct, that it has what they are missing.

Chief_waterchanger

Lol. Stop denying your children the poop they need! (hehe, couldn't resist)

COBettaCouple

true.. when we have kids, i'll have to remember to feed them enough poop.