Kashim

I bought a veggie clip the other day and I wanted to give my fish some lettuce. I never fed them vegetables before. Am I supposed to microwave/cook the lettuce first? If so, for how long? Also, what else can I give them besides lettuce? Currently I have guppies, cherry barbs, neon tetras, gouramies and cories, so none of them are strictly herbivores. Would feeding them lettuce be beneficial? I might be getting a few otocats soon. I heard that otocats can die when they don't get enough algae to eat, so I'm wondering if supplementing them with veggies would help.

Angela_96

I never give my guppies lettuce, however I give romaine lettuce to my african cichlids and in one of my cichlid fry tanks I have a couple otos and they will sometimes munch on the lettuce or zuchinni (whatever the veggie of the day is). I just clean it and put it on the veggie clip, I don't cook it or anything. (that doesn't mean your guppies wouldn't like veggies, the last betta I had I gave it peas every other day)
You can feed your fish peas (peas that have no salt/sugar added) just take the mushy part out of the shell and put it in the tank a little for them at a time (as much as they would eat in a serving) zuchinni is a biggie for catfish and my cichilds I don't know about other fish. I also know cucumber is a good one for plecos, so I am sure an oto would like it as well.

MrsM3197

I do blanch my veggies before I feed them to the fishys. Not for long, just a quick dip for like lettuce and other tender greens, 15 sec for a harder veg like zuchinni. Not that it makes it any more palitable to the fish, lol, but just to make sure I have gotten everything completely cleaned off the veg that could make my fish sick. Absolutely suppliment your otos diet (if you get them) with veggies if you don't have enough algae growth for them. I really like using a veggies for my otos instead of algae wafers.