In the wild a guppy or endlers survival often depends on the synchronicity of their diet to the seasons with fierce competition. This drive is related to natural selection and is also why you can kill your fish by overfeeding. They are evolutionarily programmed with the radical ambition to constantly consume and there is nothing you can do to change this. Similar to a goat or a cow, guppies and endlers are constantly foraging whatever is available to them at all times, supplying a steady income of food from a number of natural resources, taking nothing for granted. Too many keepers make the mistake of feeding their fish when it suits them without considering that the consequences are counter intuitive to the benefits of keeping them.

In nature its often feast or famine, but even during famine there is always something they can depend on : Plants & Algae. Conversely, feasting can occur during a swarm of daphnia in the spring, black worms sticking out of the sand during a flood or even a fresh brood of baby shrimp in the foliage. Manufactured fish food is a wonderful resource and a luxury we all take for granted but knowing how much to feed and how often is commonly overlooked.

It is not natural for guppies or endlers to eat once a day, every day without consequence and the complaint I see the most is the same reason people buy "breeder nets". Their fry are being eaten because pregnant females are being conditioned to survival instincts instead of thriving instincts. I find that frequent feeding small amounts more frequently 4 - 8 times daily, only what the fish in the aquarium can devour within less than 30 seconds or less - condition these species to thrive. This simulates a natural competition for food paired with ample opportunity, leading naturally to a thriving hierarchy which in return enhances the genetics, appearance, behavior and overall bond we have with our beloved fisheys.

Diets Are Seasonal

Besides the google.bot, no one reading this is an automated robot and neither is mother nature. Gluttony and fasting are not only natural, they are healthy and we should keep this in mind while maintaining biological homeostasis across the aquarium. We want whats best for our fisheys, thus we get them the best food money can buy, culture all sorts of live foods and often feed them excessively.

Pizza is delicious but imagine if you had to eat it every night? Our guppies have evolved to synchronize their diets with the seasons and hence these changes often communicate to our fish instinctually when is the right time to procreate. Although their lives revolve around procreation & will breed regardless - there is a perfect time for everything and the fish know what is advantageous to their procreation. Just how water changes emulate a seasonal rain or a flood / a freshening of the water column; alterations of the diet can also communicate a seasonal change advantageous to procreation. This is why fish breeders across the globe change water frequently and feed live food religiously for nearly every species. While live food comes and goes in the wild, algae and plants are always there to fall back on which is just one of the many reasons your aquarium should be heavily planted.

Overzealous Tyrants

What do your fry, snails, plants, water and filters all have in common? They are all indicators as to what the proficiencies and deficiencies are in your aquarium. For instance one of the most commonly overlooked indicators are the number of fry that make it to maturity. Large fry numbers are the ultimate indication of happy guppies in a successful aquarium & happy guppies have a habit of being the most beautiful.

Lets say you just started a new aquarium; you put in 1 male guppy and 5 females in & after 3 months only 8 fry have made it to maturity and you have witnessed the females being super aggressive. By the time you see the fry there are only 1-2 left; something is wrong and it could be your lack of consistent feeding tuned to the cravings of pregnant guppy, could be a lack of plants and cover for the fry to hide in a aquarium that is too small or it could even be the breeder you got them from was a cut throat cheapo that treated them to the bare minimum without empathy and they are stuck in survival mode. Quite often its all of the above. On the other hand lets say you start a new aquarium with 1 male guppy and 5 females; 3 months later you have 80 fry reaching maturity but you also have 100,000,000,000 snails, water is yellow, smells foul, algae is out of control; you have succeeded in feeding enough but at the detriment of your water quality ; a lethal eventuality.

Its just like the world around us - were all connected and everything is an indication of another; cause and effect. Mother Nature has given us every indicator / resource an eco system needs to thrive which is why plants, algae, snails and shrimp are paramount to any peaceful freshwater ecosystem.

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