Feeding Your Fish

Objective:

Students will be able to explain proper technique for feeding the fish in their Aquademics™ aquarium.  They will know how much food to feed their fish at each feeding and how often to feed them.

Materials Needed:

• A fully-operational Aquademics™ aquarium
• A can of TetraMin® fish food
• A couple of cereal boxes that depict the nutritional food pyramid on the side.
• A copy of Tetra's Daily Nutrition Pyramid for Tropical Fish [See the Tetra Nutrition System at www.tetra-fish.com]

Activity:

Before discussing the proper technique for fish feeding, engage the students in a brief discussion about the importance of nutrition in their own diets.  Make a list on the board of all student responses to questions like:

• Why is it important to eat a balanced diet?
• What kinds of foods make up a healthy, balanced diet?
• Why do people need to eat several times each day?
• What happens when you skip a meal?
• What do you think it means to have good nutrition?

Show students a copy of the nutritional pyramid chart that can be found on the sides of most cereal boxes.  Briefly discuss the items on the pyramid.  Also point out that the ingredients of the cereal are listed as well as the percentage of daily nutrition requirements.

Distribute copies of Tetra's Daily Nutrition Pyramid for Tropical Fish.  Allow students to compare the fish feeding pyramid to the pyramid for human nutrition.   Encourage them to discuss the reasons why a nutritious diet for fish might be important to the fish's overall health.

Pass around the can of TetraMin®.  Ask students to read the list of ingredients printed on the can and also let them smell the food.  Ask them if the fish food ingredients sound like they will be nutritional for the fish.

Select a student to demonstrate how to sprinkle a few flakes of fish food into the aquarium.  Show students that the fish should be able to consume all of the sprinkled food within two to three minutes.  A student can be the official timer, using a stopwatch or the classroom clock.  Tell the class that different students will have the honor of feeding the fish each time and that this is a very important part of being a responsible aquarium owner.

Result:

This lesson will take the guesswork out of the fish feeding process.  Students will learn that proper feeding keeps their fish healthy and happy.

Note: Feeding is a very positive, interactive experience - students will quickly realize that their fish show great excitement (just like people!) when it's time to eat.  Stress that it is very important not to overfeed the fish.