Best Fish Food?

I was wondering if there is a particular type or brand of flake food (tropical flakes for zebra danios) that is especially good. I plan to supplement with frozen foods, but would like a good staple!

 

Omega One is our preferred brand of dry food and HikarI is our preferred brand of frozen food.

 

nice information to have!! thanks cobetta!!!

 

I second the Omega One flakes. VERY good food for fish.

 

Just wanted to say thank you! I found some Omega One flakes and they seem to be a hit...not that my danios are the pickiest of eaters!

 

Cool. Sometimes fish can be a little picky when switching to the higher quality foods, so glad your Danios are happy to accept the change.

 

Yeah, some people have had problems with their fish switching to Omega One.

A general guideline when looking for food is to avoid anything that has "___ meal" (usually "fish meal") in it. This applies to other pet foods, as well. "Whole ____" or "____ Fillet" are what you should look for. Any sort of meal is the equivalent of enriched flour or high fructose corn syrup in food for humans.
This is why I avoid HikarI dry foods, despite their extreme popularity. The frozen stuff is awesome, but the dry stuff is mostly fish meal.

 

Omega One is also my first choice as a staple food. For variety, the New Life Spectrum brand is also very good.

 

True, I love their frozen foods and our Bettas, Angels, Julies & Killifish live on their frozen bloodworms, but the only dry product I get of theirs is the freeze-dried daphnia.. although if I were to get dry bloodworms, I'd get theirs.

This is why I avoid HikarI dry foods, despite their extreme popularity. The frozen stuff is awesome, but the dry stuff is mostly fish meal.

 

Good point. Freeze dried whatever should be fine, as it should only contain that one ingredient.

 

All of the 'New Life Spectrum" fish food products are top of the line for fish, a bit more expensive but the quality cannot be beat.

 

The great thing about feeding fish is that a single container will last for months. Even in my house, where I'm feeding multiple tanks, I only have to buy food every other month or so, which means that the extra dollar or two on the price tag really doesn't hurt all that much. Compared to feeding cats high-quality food, which takes an extre $20 a month or more, this isn't such a big deal.

 

The great thing about feeding fish is that a single container will last for months. Even in my house, where I'm feeding multiple tanks, I only have to buy food every other month or so, which means that the extra dollar or two on the price tag really doesn't hurt all that much. Compared to feeding cats high-quality food, which takes an extre $20 a month or more, this isn't such a big deal.

I agree, my 2.84 oz of New Life Spectrum 1mm sinking pellets that cost 12.00 has lasted months and still have a lot left in the jar. But I do add other things to their diet along with the pellets.
Our cats and dogs.. lol well that is another matter!

 

Yeah, I've started making my own cat food because I want them to have high quality food, but the stuff is getting really expensive.

 

I'm new to keeping my goldfish...what is the best foods for them?Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!!

 

I feed mine goldfish pellets. They float, they hold their shape until the fish eat them, as they soak, they slowly sink, but still hold their shape. They come in different sizes so you can get what ever size fits your goldies mouth. I don't like flakes because they dissolve too quickly and make too much of a mess in the tank. The pellets stay together much longer and don't cloud up the water and dissolve away quite so much. It makes it easier if you happen to overfeed or spill, you can fish them out with a net and let them dry and use them the next time. You can also get pellets that have color enhancers in if you want them. Mine also love treats like romaine lettuce, freeze dried tubifex worms, and of course the moss that grows in the pond...

 

Thanks again, I will look for that this weekend

 

Shellbell4ever;I feed mine pelletts also and the Hakari[sp] brand whic is an excellant food and they like lots of veggies lol just micro-wave veggies for a few second's and feed- when you get pelletts make sure they are the sinking-not floating as goldies are prone to swim bladder issues. Hope this help's you Shell bella

 

shih-tzu mom Thanks for the info I will be sure to get them this weekend I tried the pea's like my Betta's like the other night and they loved them!!What other veggies do you suggest I might try?

 

I give mine zuccini, broccli. ect; a lot of green veggies and they pretty well will eat them all lol and I also make my own cocktail once a week with bloodworms, zuccini, shrimp, peas, carrotts, anything I can think of in veggies. If you get the veggies started early they will love them and as far as meat goes not to much-treat as they love veggies and pelletts and veggies are better for them and their health, and when giving meat just give as a little treat-1-2-per week lol And Shell, you can get veggie wafers in the lfs but the fresh are better. Hope this helps you bella

 

Thanks again for the advise I will save a little after meal time here We all like our veggies don't we

 

So what do you do with the veggies. How do you prepare them for consumption? My guy turned completley white maybe 6 months ago. Anything I can do to bring back some color?

 

LongJohn;-goldies will loss some of their colour and it's nothing to worry about and there is a colour inhancer that you can get-And as far as your veggies for your goldies just nuke them with a little water in the micro and feed them lol -If you are using peas that is like a laxative for fish and you must remove the skins off of the peas and let them cool of course. hope this helps you a bit.-bella

 

What type of fish food doesn't give ammonia. is there any. my fish are as follows :

29g-6 cherry barbs,2 otos
5g-1 baby dalmation molly
q tank-10 tetras

 

All food, when it begins to decompose, will result in higher ammonia/nitrate readings in the tank, depending on whether your tank is cycled or not. Is that why you were asking?

Basically, if you don't overfeed, this is never an issue.

 

New Life Spectrum thera-A is the best, IMO.

 

I was just wondering if there was fish food that didnt give off a lot ammonia after decomposing. I was told tetra food isn't good.

 

where would I buy that at.

 

I was just wondering if there was fish food that didnt give off a lot ammonia after decomposing. I was told tetra food isn't good.

Low quality foods have a lot of extras and undigestable stuff. ALso, pellets are better than flakes. By pellets I mean bite sized pellets

 

How many pellets would I add per tank.

 

I don't know if these pellets come in various sizes. Sometimes they do. Just remember that a fish's stomach is roughly the size of its eye. You don't have many fish.

But still, you do want to offer your fish a varied diet. You wouldn't want to only feed pellets.

I get my food from kensfish.com. He has superior quality food, in my opinion.

I was just wondering if there was fish food that didnt give off a lot ammonia after decomposing. I was told tetra food isn't good.

I'd like to be sure you understand that you shouldn't have food decomposing if you feed properly. I feed every other day, my fish are healthy and my tanks are pristine.

 

Petco carries New Life Spectrum, and I agree that it is the best. Omega one (carried by petsmart) would be my second choice.

But still, you do want to offer your fish a varied diet. You wouldn't want to only feed pellets.

I have to disagree. If you feed a food that has all the nutrients your fish need, there is no need to feed a varied diet. There are very few foods that accomplish this, but if you use one a varied diet is not necessary. New Life Spectrum, in my opinion, is fine to feed exclusively. You don't need to vary the diet if on NLS. You will get differing opinions on this from different members, but my fish are healthy, active, and colorful on just New Life Spectrum.

 

thanks for sharing your experience with it, monmouth.

 

monmouth beat me too it.... but I agree with him.
Most people need to feed so many different types of food to make up for what is missing from each.
There are about 4 pellets out there that would be a great staple and you would not have the need to feed anything else. I don't use NLS, I don't care for it myself, but if you pick NLS you don't need all the other . NLS will have everything needed for your fish.


Brian

 

Fish flakes or pellets are good for your fish.

I feed my fish frozen brine shrimp (available at most LFS) about once a week..it's suppose to help improve color and make your fish more vibrant.

 

Actually, I feed more from an "eating one food must be really boring" point of view. Even if New York cheesecake drizzled with blueberries supplied me with perfect nutrition, would I want to eat it 3 times a day plus for snacks?

 

I know what you are saying Lynda.
I think it comes down to what people believe their fish needs compared to what their needs really are.

 

you should feed your fish a varied diet for other reasons not just to make up for what each one lacks. We don't eat a grey colored porridge for the same reason, live and frozen foods promote an instinctual predatory reaction in fish that I believe is important for them to have. Also, fish seem to be creatures of habit, but if you mix it up for them mine seem to be less finicky. It took me several weeks to get my peacock gudgeons off of live foods but with variance they now eat everything I put in their tank.



As far as water quality and food goes, don't overfeed and you won't have a problem with it, the food shouldn't be decomposing on the bottom, if it is then you are adding too much.

I prefer to use high quality pellets over flakes because the pellets stay intact and are easier to clean up in case they don't get eaten, they stay in one area where I dropped them and it takes just a sec with a turkey baster.

The reason why people say that tetra is no good is because of its ingredients. You can tell if a fish food is good by looking at the first 3 or 4 ingredients on their list, if it includes fish meal or some sort of grain, then get something else.

 

You want "whole fish meal" or something of that sort. I just switched to NLS, it's the one in the round, flattish container.

My fish seem to all have their own "personal preferences", like the serpae tetra absolutely refuses to eat anything except Aquarian Shrimp Pellets. And bloodworms and fresh foods like peas. (A NLS pellet fell on his nose and he ignored it)

I agree with Jeta, fish enjoy frozen foods to bring out predatory instincts, can't see that any better than if you feed them live mosquito larvae.

LyndaB, I have a gold Pristella tetra (see-through body) that has completely transparent organs (unlike Ghost Catfish, where the organs are contained in an opaque silver "sac"), and I would dare a guess that the stomach is quite a bit larger than the eye. Maybe two eyes. You can actually see food inside (what I see now are a bunch of discolored, mushy-looking NLS pellets, when I feed mosquito larvae, I could see gray blobs suddenly appear after he eats one). Not to say you should feed more, of course. Just an observation.

 

Actually, I feed more from an "eating one food must be really boring" point of view. Even if New York cheesecake drizzled with blueberries supplied me with perfect nutrition, would I want to eat it 3 times a day plus for snacks?

I think this is a simple case of anthropomorphism - attributing human characteristics to animals

I know what you are saying Lynda.
I think it comes down to what people believe their fish needs compared to what their needs really are.

Exactly.