Frozen food, which brand?

[Byron]

I have to disagree with Byron and say frozen foods are nutritional. Freezing food for long periods of time can cause them to lose some nutritional value, however they don't lose much. If they did we wouldn't have so many frozen foods available to people, meat, veges, icecream (not necessarily nutritional but yummy).

Colin, this is just not factual. First, you cannot logically compare human frozen foods to frozen fish foods. I won't even pursue that, but directly counter your statement that frozen fish foods are nutritional. They are not.

Read the labels. Hikari frozen bloodworms are 6% protein, 0.9% fiber, 89% moisture--in other words, little nutrition but mostly water. Hikari frozen daphnia is 5% protein, 0.9% fiber and 89% moisture--again little nutritional value and mostly water.

The very low protein value is critical because protein primarily comes from animal not vegetable so worms and daphnia being this low are clearly not much nutritional value.

Compare that to the prepared dried foods like Omega One Veggie Flake with 33% protein, 4% fiber and 8.5% moisture, or New Life Spectrum freshwater flake with 49% protein, 4% fiber and 9% moisture, plus several vitamin supplements. And, these two brands do not contain any cereal/meal/fillers [AbbeysDad refers to these "bad" things in a subsequent post].

There is good reason why professional aquarists like Jack Wattley tell us that prepared foods are the most nutritional value. The frozen is mostly water, and fine for treats to stimulate fish but should not be the sole diet as too much is missing.

 

[Byron]

I have Hikari freeze dried daphnia and bloodworms that I feed every now and then.

Be careful with freeze-dried foods. These are not always safe. If you just add them to the tank, and the fish eat them fairly quickly, the foods can expand due to the contact with water inside the fish and cause severe bloating. Soaking the food in tank water well before feeding is said by some to alleviate this. I remember when freeze-dried foods first became popular and everyone jumped on the bandwagon, but that has changed. Good quality flake and pellet food is much, much healthier and safer. I do not feed any freeze-dried foods and haven't for some time now.

 

[AbbeysDad]

I think we need to be careful when comparing dried prepared foods with live or frozen foods. Yes, live and frozen foods have more moisture, but dried prepared foods often have a lot of grain/grain starch as binder/filler and this grain results in higher crude protein values...but the fish can't utilize these carbs resulting in more fish waste and lower water quality.
Admittedly prepared foods can provide the bigger bang for the buck nutritionally and in the pocketbook over live/frozen foods, but direct comparisons are like comparing apples and oranges. And after all, nature doesn't drop processed seafood into tropical fresh waters.

 

[Colin_T]

Flake and dry foods have a low moisture content because they are dry and spoil if damp. Some dry foods also have unwanted fillers made from wheat and other grains, which fish can't digest.

Yes some frozen foods are primarily moisture (bloodworm), but the live insect larvae also contains a lot of moisture and they are eaten by fish in the wild. Daphnia is primarily roughage and might have nutritional value from algae in them. Adult brineshrimp is mostly water but can have nutritional value if it has been fed algae before being frozen.

Newly hatched brineshrimp (less than 2 days old) is extremely nutritious either live or frozen.

Adult insects generally have less moisture than the larvae because they are not in water and no longer growing. Fish regularly eat insects and insect larvae in the wild so this is a natural part of their diet.

Frozen fish, prawn, squid and other marine based meats are highly nutritious, and can be used as a basic diet for most fish. Fish and prawn are naturally eaten by fresh and salt water fishes in the wild. So I suppose it depends on which frozen foods are being used. Insects and their larvae will not be as nutritious as raw fish or prawn that has a lot more protein than dry food.

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Do adult aquarium fishes need such high protein diets?
In my opinion they don't. Lots of adult aquarium fishes are overweight and don't need as much food as they get. Captive fishes get handed lots of food and don't get to swim much to burn off the excess calories. We need to remember that most fish take their body temperature from the surrounding water and only use the food they eat to grow and move. Wild fishes also get to travel long distances each day, so receiving a regular high protein diet might not be in the best interests of adult aquarium fish.

Young fish and baby fish do need high protein diets to help them grow, but they should be fed less food and less often when mature and not being conditioned for breeding.

If you feed a variety of foods (live, frozen and dry), the fish should not have any nutritional deficiencies and will be less likely to go on a hunger strike if their main food source is no longer available. Hunger strikes can occur when fish are only fed one type of food and not offered different types of food.

 

[AbbeysDad]

If you dry out the Daphnia tubs that were outside, then leave them dry for a couple of months, there will probably be dormant eggs in the bottom that will hatch out and start a new culture. Just fill the tub with green water and wait a week, there should be daphnia everywhere.

No need! I'm culturing daphnia in the basement in three (3) Sterlite bins under a shop light and plan to continue all winter long...

Also, I found green water to be more hassle than productive so I developed a recipe for feeding which includes yeast, spirulina, and some other magic powders/flours that I've found dramatically increases reproduction.
Footnote: daphnia are live bearers and typically only 'saddle' and drop eggs when water conditions get bad (poor water quality, lacking food, bad weather, etc.).

Variety is what it's about. Feed the fish a variety of different foods for best results

AGREED....Although with the high quality of prepared commercial foods these days, at least the premium foods, this is less of an issue now than it was in the old days.

 

[NickAu]

All this feed dry food idea is fine and dandy, unless you keep fish that would rather starve than take a flake or pellet.

The key is to mix it up, feeding just say blood worm all the time is no good.

Im only going on feeding Bumblebee Gobys, I have the following frozen food.

Brine shrimp
Bloodworm
Daphnia
Mysis shrimp
Krill
Cyclops
Frozen fish fillet, the little boogers love Barramundi fillet.
Frozen octopus
Frozen shrimp

Live foods.
Endler fry
Red Cherry shrimp
Earth worm
Mosquito larvae ( when in season )
Fruit fly ( when in season )
Black worm.
Baby brine shrimp
Daphnia

And in a few days they will get live brine shrimp.

 

[Colin_T]

All this feed dry food idea is fine and dandy, unless you keep fish that would rather starve than take a flake or pellet.

Commercially prepared fish foods were made for the average person so it was easier for them to feed their fish. Unlike us crazy fish keepers that spend several hours a day catching, collecting, grinding, cutting and mashing food for our pets

A lot of marine fish will ignore flake foods too so we have to use frozen (but defrosted) foods for them.

 

[cowgirluntamed]

If I ever have a fish room and get the large fish I want...I will probably dabble with making some food for them then. As for the small fish, I will stick with mostly flakes and pellets and go buy some frozen for a treat now and then.

I may try fluval bug bites or even the sera o-nip things as treats as well. I haven't looked up ingredients for these but have heard good reviews for them, especially if it's only treat based.

So, basically, variety is the spice of life. Lol.

 

[Colin_T]

So, basically, variety is the spice of life. Lol

Quite literally. The more variety of food animals (including people) and fish eat, the more different types of beneficial bacteria we develop in our intestines. And the beneficial bacteria in our gut help with our immune system, mental health and physical well being. We are for all intents and purposes, giant high rise apartment complexes for different bacteria. We have a symbiotic relationship with them and provide them with food and accommodation, and they provide us with certain chemicals and nutrients we can't get from other sources.

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Now, go and make a microworm culture. It's really easy, like making a bowl of cereal for breakfast. It is so simple and will provide a great supplemental food for your guppies and tetras.

 

[cowgirluntamed]

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Now, go and make a microworm culture. It's really easy, like making a bowl of cereal for breakfast. It is so simple and will provide a great supplemental food for your guppies and tetras.

Maybe eventually.....lol. Thanks for the tips!

 

[AbbeysDad]

Commercially prepared fish foods were made for the average person so it was easier for them to feed their fish.....

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Gotta disagree here. When I got into the hobby 50+ years ago, commercial fish foods were pretty poor, and I still have an issue with some mfg's that use low grade fish meal as their primary ingredient. But not all fish meal is the same and times have changed with many competing companies like OceanSea, San Francisco Bay Brand / Ocean Nutrition, New Life Spectrum, Tetra, and Hikari to name a few have developed premium fish foods. These foods not only offer diverse ingredients, but are fortified with vitamins and minerals for superior nutritional balance. A diversity/balance you'd be hard pressed to achieve with a few live or frozen foods.
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I'll grant you that few things beat the frenzy that occurs when live (and some frozen) foods are introduced. And some fish may be finicky to prepared foods at first. I've had fish go nuts for brine shrimp, mosquito larvae, daphnia, and detritus worms, but totally ignore small earthworms, fly larvae and thawed, frozen blood worms. Go figure.
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Even with commercially prepared foods I'm creating a special blend rather than relying on one company's recipe.

 

[NickAu]

Nemesis was having trouble in the sorority tank, she became withdrawn was hiding and wasn't eating so I moved her into the tank with my BBG's

She is about 7 months old, shows you how big my BBG's and healthy they are. She has been in there about a week now and rules that tank with an iron fin.

These fish including the Betta eat nothing but live or frozen food

I have just ordered 100 glass shrimp @65 cents each to be live food in this tank

And yes the glass needs cleaning.

 

[Colin_T]

You can collect your own glass shrimp from most freshwater creeks, streams and rivers in most countries, including Australia. Get a couple of bait traps from BigW or anywhere that sells fishing gear, add some dry bait to the small bag in the trap and put the trap in the local creek. Wait an hour then lift the trap and carefully pour the contents into a bucket of water.

Alternatively drag a net through the grass along the edge of a creek and the shrimp and small fish will be hiding in there. There might be snakes too so watch out for them.