The use of alternative food items and smaller invertebrate species takes on greater importance when you are maintaining small, specialized animals or raising particularly delicate fry. The commercially available diets for such creatures might be limited to one or two items, so you must look elsewhere to arrange a balanced diet. For less demanding captives, live foods are less critical, but they do provide muchneeded dietary variety and may help stimulate reproduction. Experiment, if possible, with untried food animals and attempt to establish breeding colonies of those that show promise.