Micro pellet

Performance & sizing

Core numbers for matching this unit to your tank and electrical plan.

Power

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Flow rate

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Noise

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Dimensions

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Price range

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Tank fit (L)

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Consumables & maintenance

Follow the manufacturer schedule for seals, impellers, media, and other consumables.

Description

A micro pellet exists to solve a sizing problem. Fish take a particle whole or they leave it, and the Merck Veterinary Manual puts the whole question of feed form into one line: the feed should be in particles easily ingested by the fish. Pellets are made in graded sizes and in floating and sinking versions, which lets a keeper match both the mouth and the layer the fish actually feeds in instead of hoping something drifts past at the right moment. Measured against crushed flake, the pellet's advantage is density. Merck records that flaked feeds are much lighter than pelleted ones, and its ration figures are given by body weight: roughly 3 % daily for an adult on maintenance, up to 5 % for fry and fingerlings. A small fish that fills up on a very light feed can look fed and still be short. Where a sinking micro pellet earns the most is the floor of the tank. It is the practical way to do what Merck asks for and most community tanks skip, which is targeted feeding of Corydoras and loricariids rather than leaving them the leftovers. Two caveats travel with it. Published nutritional requirements exist for only a handful of fish species, so no single pellet is a complete answer to a mixed tank; Merck's own response to that gap is to feed a variety, which has the side benefit of stopping fish from fixating on one item. And the pellet has to be genuinely small, which is a thing worth checking against the fish rather than against the label. Buy the grade that fits the mouths you actually have; a pellet bought to cover every fish in the tank tends to be too big for the smallest of them, and the smallest are the ones with the least margin.

Source

• merckvetmanual.com — https://www.merckvetmanual.com/exotic-and-laboratory-animals/aquarium-fish/nutritional-diseases-of-fish

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