My Fish Hate New Life Spectrum

I was told on recent threads that the TetraMin flakes and HikarI sinking wafers I fed my tank, and the fish had always loved, were bad quality. I've just spent a small fortune on New Life Spectrum pellets that my fish seem to really dislike. I am using the 0.5mm pellets which was recommended for my tank of harlequin rasboras, albino cories and a dwarf gourami.

I have persevered for a few days and they are eating a few bites now but very unenthusiastically, with much spitting out. I tried mixing it with their old food but they just gobble up the TetraMin and ignore the NLS.

Shall I keep going with the NLS? I know they won't starve but I feel bad consigning them to a lifetime of food that is good for them but they hate. I want them to be happy

Is Tetra really so bad? They were active, colourful, apparently healthy and spawning on it. I don't know whether to go back to it or whether in a few weeks they will grow to love NLS.

 

You were feeding flakes...and then changed to pellets. Will they eat tetra pellets? Probably not.
Maybe try feeding flakes made by NLS, Omega one, Nat geo or things like that?

 

I use omega one foods for all my fish, the flakes are great

 

I'm in the UK, we can't get NLS flakes for love or money. I could only get the pellets from an eBay seller and there was a very limited range. I'll have a look for Omega One flakes, thanks for the suggestion. I've actually ordered Omega One shrimp pellets for my cories so will see how they get on with those first.

Should I keep trying with the pellets or will a fish used to flakes never really come round to them?

The trouble is that most of the foods that are recommended here aren't stocked in the UK. We have Tetra, Aquarian, HikarI (at a push) and that's about it. One excellent LFS stocks JBL which seems better quality but I never read about it anywhere so don't know how good it is.

My OP wasn't a slur on NLS by the way - I know it's excellent quality. It just feels a bit like trying to get my 4 year old to eat broccolI when all he wants is ice cream.

 

I use tetra foods, and it works. I would recommend Omega one though.

 

I'm actually not a fan of NLS pellets for smaller fish. I would get their all purpose flakes.

 

I think all well-known brands are good quality. I guess some may be better than others but I doubt any of them are "poor". Your fish will get used to the new food I'm sure. My fish love NLS micro pellets - the bettas, the guppies, the danios, the cories.
Vitalis is also s v popular with my fish. They like the softer texture.

 

I agree about the OmegaOne... I use their pellets though.

Dennerele has good foods... they sell in Europe (I can't remember if they have fish food specifically, but I'm pretty sure they do.) Sera is a good brand too (can't easily get either here - especially not Sera). Ooh, also, Azoo don't know if y'all get those there or not. But I looked at their foods, & they seem to also have very good quality.

I'll go double check about those three I suggested, but I think my memory is correct lol!

Edit: sera has other stuff like fish meal.. wrong on that one! Sorry (at least what I could find in English)
Dennerele - I'd LOVE to have their Betta food (actually geared towards insectivores), they have great top quality shrimp foods, so I'd assume that their fish food is nothing less.

 

Thanks for your input everyone! Really appreciated.

Techfool - that's reassuring to know your fish love the NLS micro pellets. To be honest with the amount I spent on it I want them to get used to it so it doesn't go to waste! I will keep trying. The fish get a variety of other things including defrosted brine shrimp and bloodworms throughout the week so they won't starve while they are getting used to the micro pellets. If they still seem to dislike it after a few weeks I will go back to flakes and try out different brands like Omega.

I looked up Dennerle, I have definitely heard of it and it is well respected for shrimp and aquascaping in particular. They do fish food by the looks of it but again I would have to order it from a handful of sellers. I will look up Sera and Azoo, thanks for the suggestions!

 

Lol.. if you're willing, I'd love to have u buy some of dennerele's Betta food and send it across the pond!! Can't find it here, only on U.K. based websites (even Amazon or eBay) :'(

Yea, after looking, I think I'd skip Sera

 

Lol.. if you're willing, I'd love to have u buy some of dennerele's Betta food and send it across the pond!! Can't find it here, only on U.K. based websites (even Amazon or eBay) :'(

Yea, after looking, I think I'd skip Sera

Try ProShrimp on ebay. They are based in the UK, but the shipping costs to the US is actually not bad. I get the Dennerle betta and pleco foods from them, among other things.

 

Oh yes Pro-Shrimp are great, I've ordered from them before and spoken to them when I was considering getting shrimp - they are very knowledgeable and helpful, and have good prices too. If that doesn't work out for you NightShade I'll be happy to post you over some!

I think my fish might be coming round to NLS. Weirdly, my cat is absolutely obsessed with it and keeps trying to get into the jar. He never bothered with the Tetra.

 

Thanks y'all! I will check them out!!

Hahaha!! Susiefoo... that cracks me up and reminds me of the fact that a few months ago, our little Boston Terrier got into ALL of my fishfood... lol... gone. Even the stupid seaweed sheets! I mean, really!?! Lol!! She has also stole my dang tomatoes off the vine ALL SUMMER LONG... We haven't gotten to eat but less than 1/4 of the tomatoes I slaved over... and I had to pick them green, or they were ones too high up! To be fair it's not just her... our Boxer would steal them too.... yup, TWO dogs, stealing tomatoes off the vine ever heard of such a thing?

And yes, we DO actually feed them.. they aren't starved in the slightest lol

 

LOL at your seaweed and vine tomato eating dogs. You can't say they don't have expensive tastes!

Is it weird that I sampled a tiny bit of the NLS myself, just to check it wasn't awful? It was actually rather tasty...

 

My fish took some time to adapt to eating the NLS. I found that soaking some for a while making them soft helped them get into eating them.
I have Swords, Cherry Barbs, Black Widows and Odessa's that all like them. Some of the fish will now eat them when I drop them in straight from the jar while others will gaurd them on the bottom waiting for them to soften.. its funny watching them suck it in and spit it out over and over like a jaw breaker..

This is also something I feed them every few days or so. Not daily and not just this type of food. I also had trouble with them eating Cobalt Pro Breeder Pellets without a pre-soak

 

I had the same problem. I crush the pellets til they’re almost powdery and mix with flakes so at least they are eating some of it. I leave some pellets whole to sink for my cories.

 

We all find foods that work for our fish. I was excited to try Omega for the first time and most of my fish were very unimpressed. They strongly prefer Doctors Fosters and Smith flake I purchase in bulk sizes for a fraction of the price. As long as the food has good nutritional specs I stopped worrying about what brand it is.

 

LOL at your seaweed and vine tomato eating dogs. You can't say they don't have expensive tastes!

Is it weird that I sampled a tiny bit of the NLS myself, just to check it wasn't awful? It was actually rather tasty...

Gross . I actually made dough bait using old NLS pellets and other brands. Obviously I had to turn it all into mud first. NLS was the worst. Absolutely foul. And this is coming from a guy who likes the smell of chum.

 

What can I say. I was hungry.

 

Thanks for your input everyone! Really appreciated.

Techfool - that's reassuring to know your fish love the NLS micro pellets. To be honest with the amount I spent on it I want them to get used to it so it doesn't go to waste! I will keep trying. The fish get a variety of other things including defrosted brine shrimp and bloodworms throughout the week so they won't starve while they are getting used to the micro pellets. If they still seem to dislike it after a few weeks I will go back to flakes and try out different brands like Omega.

I looked up Dennerle, I have definitely heard of it and it is well respected for shrimp and aquascaping in particular. They do fish food by the looks of it but again I would have to order it from a handful of sellers. I will look up Sera and Azoo, thanks for the suggestions!

They will eventually eat them. Dont feed them any other foods but, the pellets, believe me, they will start eating them when they get hungry enough. Its a high quality,nutritious brand--- one of the best.

 

Agree with discusluv. I've never seen healthy fish starve themselves out. They'll come around even if the food is mediocre quality and NLS has a very good REP.

 

Thanks both, that was my instinct too - I was advised to mix new and old foods but I don't think this will work as they won't try the new one when they still have the one they're used to! I will just give them NLS from tomorrow (brine shrimp day today) and they can take it or leave it. Hard face emoticon.

 

Oh sorry, one more question (if anyone reads this ) - will the NLS small pellets do as a staple food for my albino corydoras? Or do I need to feed them separate shrimp pellets/wafers etc?

And to keep it extra fresh, should I pour out a small supply into a container and either keep the rest stored away or in the freezer?

 

Like others have said, they'll come around to the NLS. I recommend feeding a variety of high quality foods. That way they don't recognize one thing as 'food' and everything else as 'not food.'

Of all the foods I've fed my Betta NLS pellets were the hardest to get him to eat, and when watching I noticed he'd strike at them then spit them out, wait a few minutes, then eat them off the bottom a few minutes later. I started soaking them longer and he rarely does this any more. I think NLS may be harder and require more time to soften than other foods.

 

Stick with NLS. I feed thera a and float in my tanks from NLS. This is easily my fish's least favorite food but it gets eaten eventually.

 

I know how difficult it is, I transitioned my discus off beef-heart to NLS Cichlid pellets and Thera-A after they hit their adult size-- it was difficult. They wouldn't eat them for 3-4 days.
I held out and they eventually started eating them.
Now they get the NLS pellet, NLS flake, and freeze-dried black-worms.