Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => Fish Food and Feeding => Topic started by: fcmf on January 23, 2019, 06:32:12 PM
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I've mentioned before that my gang have become fussy, ignoring or spitting out the palest colour and now even the red-coloured JBL NovoBel flakes. I'm just trying to figure out what brand to try next - back to TetraMin or API, or possibly something else. Has anyone tried Fish Science, Dennerle Complete, Vitalis (New Era), Nature's Grub, King British or any other brands? If so, what are your / your fishes' views?
[Edited to add, as an exchange of information: In terms of pellets, I'm finding that, once the initial / first month's excitement of a new food has worn off, popularity as assessed by swimming speed is in the following order - Dr Bassleer's Biofish food (herbal), Hikari Micro Pellets, Fish Science micro granules, Fluval Bug Bites for small fish.]
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I have used similar brands to you - JBL NovoBel, TetraMin, and API.
I have also use the Vitalis tropical flakes, and several brands of granules (Bug Bites, Dr Bassler), but haven't used any of the others that you have mentioned.
I'm not sure that my gang are good indicators of what to try with slightly more fussy fish, as none of my fish have been known to refuse any food presented to them. ::)
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Forgot to mention that I've also tried Fluval tropical flakes, which were greeted with the same enthusiasm as all other foods. :)
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I am currently using Omega One flakes.
My new betta is very picky. I have Atisons betta pellets and I bought some Northfin Betta pellets because the ingredients are so much better. But he doesn't like the Northfin pellets - I think they are harder than the Atisons. I soak the pellets first, he eats the Atisons straight down but he spits out the Northfin pellets, then eats the bits, then gets fed up and abandons them.
I know this is an old article but it is quite interesting on the subject of fish food ingredients. The link will take a while to load as the site has closed and the link is via Wayback Machine https://web.archive.org/web/20180818083717/http://www.oscarfish.com/fish-food-ingredients.html
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I know this is an old article but it is quite interesting on the subject of fish food ingredients. The link will take a while to load as the site has closed and the link is via Wayback Machine https://web.archive.org/web/20180818083717/http://www.oscarfish.com/fish-food-ingredients.html
Hi Sue,
That is an excellent link - thank you. As you say, it's an old article but most of what is said should still apply. Regarding the list of foods and their star rating, I note that Ocean Nutrition Spirulina Flakes only gets three stars. I compared the quoted ingredients from the website with those on this current product and they are quite different. For example, the first ingredient on the linked website is 'Plant meals' but now the first ingredient is 'Fish fillets'.
Another excellent resource is http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Quality_Fish_Food.html.
JPC
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Thanks, all - very helpful, and I'll read the links with interest this evening. Quite often, foods are rebranded/advertised as reformulated, so perhaps that's what's happened in some cases as per JPC's example.
[Since pre-soaking the Bug Bites which I think were posing the same problem as Sue's betta's experience of the Northfin pellets, they seem to have been consumed rather than spat out this evening, so thanks for the reminder to try that.]
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There are a few products that have changed names. New Era is now Vitalis, and Atisons betta pellets have been taken over by Ocean Nutrition.
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I'm a big fan of Hikari Micro pellets but must admit I've no huge preferences in flake food. I also use a sinking pellet, algae wafers and frozen and live foods. Again I've no huge preferences apart from always looking for the freshest live foods or foods with a decent expiry date on them. I have recently decided my next flake food purchase will be a colour enhancing flake. Has anyone tried these before?
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Hi Sue,
Regarding the list of foods and their star rating, I note that Ocean Nutrition Spirulina Flakes only gets three stars. I compared the quoted ingredients from the website with those on this current product and they are quite different. For example, the first ingredient on the linked website is 'Plant meals' but now the first ingredient is 'Fish fillets'.
JPC
Hi Folks,
Now I see that Ocean Nutrition appear to be reducing their manufacturing costs. On the latest Spirulina Flakes product shown on their website, the first item on the ingredients list is no longer fish fillets but fish meal. I've only had my tub of this product for a few months and it's already changed!
JPC
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I rate Hikari and Herons algae wafers for catfish and Plecos. I fed Tetra mini granules and Fish Science for a year but have now recently switched to New Life Spectrum Thera 0.5mm granules food as it's of a higher quality, containing Krill and colour enhancing for my Corydoras, Barbs, Mollies, Tetra, Shrimp and Danios. I also use Omega One flakes which are another high quality food containing whole salmon instead of fish meal, which is in alot of products. Another worthy one is Omega One shrimp pellets.
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Thanks for resurrecting this thread and for the helpful additions.
As an update since this thread:
In terms of flakes, I've since tried Sera Vipan - red-coloured flakes eaten with gusto but brown/yellow-coloured flakes get ignored or spat out. ::) I've bought Seachem Chlorella flakes but haven't opened the tub yet.
In terms of pellets, I bought the Tetra micro granules recently as my juvenile-ish cardinal tetras won't eat the aforementioned other brands' pellets as they seem too big - thankfully, these are much smaller and seem to be acceptable. [Glad the New Life Spectrum is working for you, TF - I forgot my fish had tried it several years ago - but were fussy. ::)]
I read a similar set of posts elsewhere recently and would concur with 1-2 posters who mentioned Tetra being the brand of fish food most readily accepted by fish, so possibly a go-to brand if struggling to get fish to eat.
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Since the thread started I have discovered Northfin food.
I started with their kelp wafers and Betta Bits, then bought their 0.5 mm Community Formula. They have recently extended their range - Bug Pro, which I've bought, and Community Flake which I'll buy next time I run out of flake.
The betta gets Betta Bits (obviously) and the community tank gets Community Formula and crushed kelp wafers one day, and crushed Bug Pro and flake (Omega One at the moment) the next.
There are a few stockists in the UK, one not terribly far from me, but I get it from Ebay.
https://www.northfin.com/fish-food/
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Hi Folks,
I've always been concerned how well processed fish foods retain their nutrients - particularly vitamins. I would have thought that flake foods were the most vulnerable in this respect due to their surface area to volume ratio. This must surely increase their likelihood of oxidation. Some pellets (Hikari?) are coated to reduce loss of nutrients. Regarding vitamins, I recently stumbled across JBL Atvitol, which is a liquid multivitamin supplement. A few drops on the fish food is all that's required.
I'm also using Repashy Soilent Green:
https://forums.thinkfish.co.uk/fish-food-and-feeding/repashy-foods/
Because this food is encased in a gel after preparation, it keeps for many weeks in the fridge. It's well-accepted by my fish. The Repashy range covers pretty much all fish species.
As for making dried foods more appealing to fish, I see that Seachem makes a product called GarlicGuard™. But, I've never tried it with my fish.
JPC
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Since my last post i have discovered that Aquarian tropical flakes are very effective at completely bunging up my Betta, in just one feed she goes from happy and healthy to full con constipation and struggling with swim bladder etc. I have binned the rest of the pot since... one to avoid.
Also... similar to JPC, I wish these products were available in smaller packs... I hate watching the best befores rapidly approaching when I’m no way near though finishing a pack...
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Hey, @Matt , the answer is to have enough fish not to worry about best before dates on the food.
I don't think I've ever had that problem. :rotfl:
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Also... similar to JPC, I wish these products were available in smaller packs... I hate watching the best befores rapidly approaching when I’m no way near though finishing a pack...
Hi @Matt & Everyone
That's one of the benefits of being a member of a fish club. Fish foods can sometimes be shared. But, as fish food is very lightweight, how about we share some of these foods between TF Members? It would only cost the price of a stamp or a few stamps to send to other TF Members. What do we think? Worth a try?
JPC
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I think that’s an excellent idea!!
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Hi @Matt
Seems like it's just you and me, then. I'll draw up a list of the fish/shrimp foods that I have. And, then, I'll send you the list via PM. You tell me what you could use and we take it from there. I'll aim to PM you with this list tomorrow.
JPC
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I have used Tetra Prima granules(dust like) which are smaller than micro granules and take awhile to sink so all fish have chance to feed. Good for tetras and smaller fish.
Fish Science foods are insect based but they do worm granules(44% protein) which are 40% worm based. I feed my Corydoras catfish this as they are Carnivorous.
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I have used Tetra Prima granules(dust like) which are smaller than micro granules and take awhile to sink so all fish have chance to feed. Good for tetras and smaller fish.
Fish Science foods are insect based but they do worm granules(44% protein) which are 40% worm based. I feed my Corydoras catfish this as they are Carnivorous.
Hi @terra firma
It's odd that Tetra don't appear to give much detail about Prima. I do like to see a nutritional breakdown - protein, fibre, ash, etc. And most companies also say what's in the fish food but I couldn't easily find that either. By contrast, Fish Science provide this information. Their Micro Granules look interesting and I admire the fact that they are available in a sensible-sized offering of just 6g. I also like the fact that there is less fish meal in this fish food. It's interesting that companies are now using insects in fish food. I use Fluval Bug Bites.
JPC
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Hi Folks,
If we're discussing alternatives to flake foods, we should at least mention live foods. Although I don't have any cultures 'on the go' at present, I'm a bit uncomfortable about that. TF users will know that I am a member of an aquarist society. Although the members do use dried, processed foods, they also use a lot of live foods. Now, we're talking Daphnia, Moina, Brine Shrimp, White Worms, Microworms, etc. One guy, who has bred more fish than I've had hot dinners, also makes up his own fish feed mixture using prawns, minced fish, etc.
If you are squeamish at the prospect of using/cultivating live foods, it is probably better to stick with tiny creatures such as the first three that I have mentioned above. The easiest (in my opinion) is Daphnia but some people find Moina even easier. Brine Shrimp, as the name suggests, needs to be cultivated in salt water. There is a thing called the Hobby Artemia Hatchery, which I have yet to try. This is what it looks like:
https://www.dohse-aquaristik.com/en/p/21700/Artemia-Hatchery
Many LFSs, such as MA, sell small bags of live fish foods such as those that I mentioned above. Indeed, this is often the starting point for my cultures. It is always wise to check these foods carefully, with a magnifying glass if necessary, to ensure there are no unwanted creatures in the bag.
So, there's lots of options over and above the staple flake food.
JPC :fishy1: