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How to feed green peas to your pet fish

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One of the most beneficial food you can feed to your pet fish is green peas.

This at Aquarium Blueprints guide will reveal the benefits, as well as the directions, of adding this food type to the diet of your aquatic pets.

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Best green peas to feed your fish

Not all packaged green peas are suitable for your fish to consume. Canned peas, for example, come with added preservatives that may not be ideal for your aquatic pets to eat. You should also worry about any fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides that may have been used in growing this fruit.

Due to the aforementioned reasons, we highly recommend getting organic frozen peas as the won’t be laced by fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides and salt. If you are looking for green peas at your local grocery store, you should seek the ones that are already harvested outside of their pods. The packaging should have an organic label on it as well. In this guide, we will be using the 365 Organic Green Peas from Everyday Value, which you can buy on Amazon with this link. (#CommissionsEarned)

Everyday Value Organic Green Peas Ingredients

The ingredients for the Everyday Value Organic Green Peas are the following (based on a Serving Size of 2/3 of a Cup or 89 g):

  • Total Fat: 0 g
  • Saturated Fat: 0 g
  • Trans Fat: 0 g
  • Cholesterol: 0 mg
  • Sodium: 0 mg
  • Total Carbohydrates: 12 g
  • Dietary Fiber 4 g
  • Sugars 4 g
  • Protein 5 g

You can also find a list of minerals and vitamins from this brand below:

  • Vitamin A
  • Vitamin C
  • Calcium
  • Iron

Vitamin A, Vitamin C and Calcium will aid in the bone growth of your fish. Vitamin C will also help your pets when it comes to preventing diseases, improving digestion as well as speeding up the healing process.

Using peas as laxatives for your pet fish

Feeding green peas is a common home remedy/life hack as laxatives for aquarium fish. Due to the high fiber content, the fruit will help quickly flush out the contents in the stomach of your fish. If your pet is suffering from bloat, constipation and/or swim bladder disease, then you should first try to empty its stomach. If green peas don’t resolve the issues, then you can then move on to medications.

How much should you feed?

We recommend feeding as much green peas as your fish is willing to eat over several minutes. If your pets ate everything, then you can try feeding more. If you see some leftovers, and your fish aren’t interested in eating more, then you can try feeding less during the next meal time. You may also want to remove the excess food to prevent ammonia, nitrite and nitrate spikes that results from its decomposition.

How frequently should you feed?

We recommend feeding green peas to your pet fish once a week as a laxative. Although the peas does have some vital minerals and minerals, they should already get those nutrients from dedicated fish food. If you decide to feed more frequently, you should spread out the green pea meals as evenly as possible in between other food types such as flakes and blood worms. This is so that your fish will get the chance to absorb the vital nutrients from the other fish food. For example, if you decide to feed peas two times a week, make sure to spread the feedings between 3 to 4 days apart.

If your aquatic pet are suffering from bloat, constipation and/or swim bladder disease, then you should feed green peas daily to see if the green peas will resolve these issues.

How to feed frozen green peas to your aquarium fish

To feed frozen peas to your fish, you can take the following steps:

1. Use a small bowl and fill it with boiling water. You don’t need to fill up the bowl all the way. You just need enough to completely soak the peas. Place the frozen green peas into the bowl with boiling water.

2. Wait for the water to cool to around room temperature. Make sure you put any unused peas back into the freezer for future use as soon as possible as the warmer temperature and exposure to oxygen will degrade the food.

Note: An alternative method you can use to prepare green peas for your aquarium fish is by placing the food in a small bowl of lukewarm water and then microwaving it. Make sure you add a top to the bowl as the peas may end up exploding. Since this method can get messy, we recommend the boiled water method instead.

3. Afterwards, take the peas out of the bowl and then peel the outer skin off with your fingers to get the two seedlings out. The seeds should feel soft and mushy. If they feel solid and hard, you can put the exposed peas back into the water of your small bowl for a little while longer.

4. You can then drop the seeds into the tank for your fish to eat. If the seeds are too big to fit into the mouths of your smaller fish, you can cut the food to smaller pieces with a clean knife or razor blade. You can also use your hands (make sure to thoroughly rinse your hands beforehand) to rip the seedlings to smaller portions.

How to get your fish interested in eating green peas?

If your fish aren’t interested in eating green peas when you first offered the food, we recommend fasting them without any food a day before the next feeding attempt. Having nothing to eat for 24 hours may make the peas look for appealing. You can also try mixing the green peas with food that your pets have no problem eating.

Recap

We recommend feeding green peas to your pet fish to help out with stomach ailments such as bloating, constipation and swim bladder disease. You should look for frozen organic peas with no additives.

To feed, you should place the frozen peas into boiling water and then let it cool down to room temperature. You can then remove the skin from the seedlings and then slice the seeds to smaller portions. Afterwards, you can drop the peas into the tank.

If the fish aren’t eating the peas, you can try fasting your aquatic pets a day before with no food offerings. You can also try mixing the peas with other fish food.