For at least a few reasons, bottom-dwellers are a very important group of fish. They give us something to look at in the lower third of the picture frame that is our aquarium. Many are important scavengers that help clean up extra bits of food or enjoy grazing on unsightly algae. Others we keep just because they are so darned weird and interesting; a lot of oddball fish seem to be bottom-dwellers.

The care of bottom-dwelling species is almost always easy — if you are willing to meet their needs. As with all fish, you have to supply the appropriate water quality, the best habitat, the right tankmates and the necessary foods. The latter is especially important with bottom-dwelling fish, because food enters at the top of the aquarium, and bottom-dwellers are the last to see it. I’m going to give you some guidelines for feeding bottom-dwellers, and I’ll throw in a few tips to help you really do it right.

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