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Rosy Barbs are an omnivorous fish that eat both meaty protein and plant/vegetable matter. This means that they will eat whatever food is available to them at the time. Which makes them easy to feed.
In the home aquarium Rosy Barbs can be fed on flake/granule/pellet foods to form their staple diet. In addition you can also feed them some live/dried/frozen small insects, insect eggs and insect larvae. Rosy Barbs also eat blanched green vegetables. And giving them a varied diet is better for their overall health.
Keep reading for some easy-care feeding tips and useful information.
Tip: Because Rosy Barbs are a small fish all food needs to be small enough for them to eat. So you may have to do some crushing, chopping and/or mincing to break the food down enough for them to manage. It’s simple to do and isn’t time consuming. And it’s definitely worth the small effort involved.
What Should I Feed To My Rosy Barbs?
Rosy Barbs are not fussy when it comes to food. They are opportunistic feeders that will eat anything that comes their way. And just like most freshwater aquarium fish, flake foods are a good place to start until you have a little more experience, or you’re just ready expand their menu.
Let’s take a look at which foods you can offer to your Rosy Barbs at feeding time
Flake/Granular/Micro-Pellet Foods For Rosy Barbs
Flake, granular and/or micro-pellet foods are the easiest way to provide the basis of your Rosy Barbs’ diet. Good quality foods in these forms contain both protein and vegetable matter and also added nutrients. It’s best to choose ones that have a high protein content if you don’t plan to feed them with another protein source. But, overall, these food types will provide a complete and nutrition filled diet for your Rosy Barbs. They are also the easiest and least messy way to feed your fish.
If you’re new to the fish keeping hobby these types of foods are a great way to start. And even when you become more experienced in the fish keeping hobby they are likely to still form the basic food source for your fish.
Although Rosy Barbs will feed at all levels of the tank, flake, granular and micro-pellet foods are usually slow sinking. Which gives your fish a chance to eat them as they gradually fall through the water column.
The Easy Way To Feed Insects To Your Rosy Barbs
Fortunately, feeding your Rosy Barbs a protein packed treat is easy to do. Live, dried and frozen protein foods for your fish are available at Pet Stores, Aquatic Dealers and Online.
Here’s Some Of The Protein Foods That You Can Offer To Your Rosy Barbs
- Brine Shrimp (newly hatched)
- Daphnia (tiny freshwater crustacean)
- Mosquito Larvae (worm-like baby mosquito)
- Blood Worms (larvae of the midge fly)
- Tubifex Worms (preferably dried ones to reduce risk of infection)
You can also offer Micro Worms and Banana Worms both of which your Rosy Barbs are likely to enjoy.
Feeding can be a bit trial and error to begin with depending on what your fish were used to eating before you bought them. But you’ll soon get to know what their favourites are.
Tip: If you go for dried insects/worms it helps to rehydrate them before adding them to the tank. Soak them in a little tank water for about 20 minutes or so before feeding them to your fish. When rehydrated they will be easier for your fish to eat. They also sink into the aquarium water more easily instead of floating around for ages.
Both Fluval and Hikari, for example, do a range of protein rich/insect rich foods. These are dried but easy to break down to feed to your fish. I’ve been feeding Fluval Bug Bites Tropical Formula For Small Fish (Amazon link), along with other foods, in all of my aquariums. The fish love it. I crunch some of it down as I add it to the tank so that even my smallest fish get their fair share.
If you’re interested in making your own live culture of Brine Shrimp for your Rosy Barbs you will find the YouTube video link below helpful. The video is by KeepingFishSimple and it shows a cheap but effective way to hatch out Brine Shrimp eggs.
If you’re not into DIY methods there are lots of different Brine Shrimp Hatcheries (Amazon link) available to buy.
Feeding Vegetables To Your Rosy Barbs
Even though Rosy Barbs love their protein foods they also enjoy eating vegetables. And giving them a vegetable treat is easy to do. Vegetables, particularly of the green variety, are good for your fish’s digestive system.
Some of the green vegetables you can offer to your Rosy Barbs include:
- Lettuce
- Shelled Peas
- Courgette (Zucchini)
- Kale
- Broccoli
There are lots of other green vegetables that you can offer to your Rosy Barbs. So it’s worth experimenting a little to see which ones they prefer. Why not try Spinach or Savoy Cabbage?
You need to bear in mind that fish don’t always eat what you offer them the first time round. So it’s worth trying again just to see what happens.
It’s surprising what you find your fish take a fancy to. And if your Rosy Barbs don’t like a particular thing you might find that their tankmates do.
Tip: You need to soften the vegetables before offering them to your fish. You can soften them by either steaming, simmering or microwaving them. Then leave the veggies to go cold before adding them to the tank.
Remove any uneaten vegetables from the tank once your fish have finished feeding to avoid contaminating the water with decaying vegetable matter.
How Much/How Often Should I Feed My Rosy Barbs?
You should feed your Rosy Barbs twice a day. The best way to feed them is to split the daily food between two smaller meals rather than one larger one. It’s better for their digestive system and also reduces the risk of overfeeding. Only feed them as much as they can eat in about 2 minutes without any leftovers. You don’t want any leftover food polluting the tank.
Note: Rosy Barbs are a greedy small fish and will just eat and eat and eat if given the opportunity. So be careful not to overfeed them. Overfeeding not only spoils the tank water conditions it can cause serious health problems for your fish.
Tip: If you feed your Rosy Barbs a treat of vegetables or meaty protein it counts as part of the daily feed not as an extra meal. So you need to take this in to account when judging how much you need to feed them that day.
Do Rosy Barbs Eat Algae?
Rosy Barbs do eat algae but they prefer soft algae. So they’re unlikely to eat the tougher types of algae that are growing in your tank. They’re known to be partial to hair algae which makes them great for keeping this particular sort of algae down in your aquarium.
Despite the fact that Rosy Barbs prefer softer algae they will happily nibble on Algae Wafers. Choose Algae Wafers that contain Spirulina. Spirulina helps to prevent bloating and other digestive problems. And although your Rosy Barbs are unlikely to eat the whole thing in one go (depending on how many fish you’re feeding) they do enjoy it as a treat. And if your Rosy Barbs live in a community tank their tankmates will be more than happy to help them to finish off the algae wafer. Just remember to remove the remains of the wafer once everyone has finished feeding.
Do Rosy Barbs Eat Aquarium Plants?
Rosy Barbs will nibble on your aquarium plants. Opinions differ about whether it’s the broad or fine leaved plants that they’re more likely to eat. Like a lot of things in the fish keeping hobby it comes down to personal experience.
Although they nibble on the plants it doesn’t necessarily mean that they will totally destroy them. But again that might come down to your own experience and the tastes of your own Rosy Barbs.
However, Rosy Barbs benefit from living in a planted tank. So it’s worth experimenting with different live plants to see how they do in the tank over time.
Tip: Rosy Barbs don’t usually completely destroy live aquarium plants. But if you do find they’re nibbling too much on them try swapping the softer, juicier plants for coarser ones. Or you can swap to artificial/fake plants instead.
What Do Rosy Barb Fry (Babies) Eat?
Rosy Barb fry eat pretty much the same foods as their parents do. However, the food needs to be made extremely small for them to manage. It’s important to provide them with a variety of foods to promote optimal growth and good health.
Here’s Some Of The Foods That Your Rosy Barb Fry Will Enjoy:
- Baby Brine Shrimp (protein food)
- Daphnia (protein food)
- Micro Worms (protein food)
- Mosquito Larvae (protein food)
- Micro Powdered Fry Foods (a pre-powdered complete food such as Hikari First Bites)
- Liquid Fry Foods (a complete food such as Interpet Liquifry No 2)
- Powdered Down Flake Foods (a complete food)
The foods on the list above may be available at your local Pet Store or Aquatic Dealer. Or you can order them Online.
Rosy Barb fry will also nibble on any vegetables that you offer to the adult fish. They will also nibble on the live plants in their aquarium.
Whatever combination of foods you choose to feed to your fry make sure the food is small enough for these tiny fish to eat. Despite their tiny size, they have a big appetite. Just be careful not to overfeed your tank.