Good Brand of food for Rainbows?

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Ozzie Boss

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I bought 6 new millennium rainbows about a week ago, and I am having trouble in feeding them. The first couple of days they were shy, and hid from me. They would not come out and eat. Now they are a bit more outgoing and wanting to eat. However, they mouth the food and spit it out. They have done this with the flake food and granules, but Iā€™m not sure if they are spitting out the blood worms because if I get too close they hide. My question is if anyone can recommend a good staple food for my rainbows. It may be that they donā€™t like this brand which is not surprising as it is ā€œWardleysā€ which I heard is garbage. Iā€™m trying to finish the food and buy something else, but at this point Iā€™m going to trash it.
 
I use to feed my fish Wardleys Tropical flakes and goldfish flakes. We also used it in the shop. I think I also used Sera Flora (vege flake by Sera).

The big issue is your tank. Why are the fish hiding and acting stressed? Fix that and they will eat.

Check your water quality for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH and GH.
Make sure there is 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, less than 20ppm of nitrate, pH above 7.0, GH above 150ppm.

Make sure you have a picture/ backing on the tank.
Have plants in the tank, especially a few floating plants like Water Sprite.

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Stress from tank lights coming on when the room is dark can be an issue. Fish don't have eyelids and don't tolerate going from complete dark to bright light (or vice versa) instantly.

In the morning open the curtains or turn the room light on at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the tank light on. This will reduce the stress on the fish and they won't go from a dark tank to a bright tank instantly.

At night turn the room light on and then turn the tank light off. Wait at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the room light out. This allows the fish to settle down for the night instead of going from a brightly lit tank to complete darkness instantly.

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If the fish are kept in a quiet part of the house where nobody goes, they will become nervous and skittish.
You can hang a mobile in the room and use a fan to blow it around. Tie some bits of ribbon (about 12 inches long) to the front of the fan and they will wave about when the fan is on. Have the fan on ocellate (goes left to right and back).

Have a small television on in the room, you don't need the sound on. The flashing light and movement on the screen can help the fish get use to things moving around them.

Try to keep the aquarium in a room where lots of people move past it and the fish will calm down assuming the water is good.
 
The fish were stressed most likely because I bought them when they just came in from Florida. So they had to adjust to the shop and my tankā€™s water all in one day. They looked fine all they had was torn fins. They were skittish during the first week, but now they seem to be fine.
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Water perimeters werenā€™t good. The ammonia creeped up to 0.50 due to me feeding heavy, but I just did a 70-80 percent water change. I do a 25-50 water change daily as the tank is over stocked with 6 rainbows in a 10 gallon (This is for quarantine)
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate: 0ppm
GH: 180ppm
PH: Above 7.6 if I remember.
ā€”ā€”ā€”-

The reason I bring up the brand is that fish never eat the flake when in QT. The Acara didnā€™t eat it and the rainbows donā€™t seem to eat it, however I did notice no more flakes in the tank so I do think they eat in the end, fish only eat the flake in the main tank. The new fish see the angels pig on it, and sooner or later the new fish starts eating it like a pig for example: the acara that used to not touch it. But I want to switch to a good that most fish would eat without having to starve them for a bit.
 
you can try different food if you like, but my guess is the problem lies with the quarantine tank and the fish you are getting. If you see new fish that have just arrived at the shop, ask them to hold the fish for a week, say your going away for a week and don't want new fish unattended at home.

get new fish a week after they have come in and before new stock comes in.

get new fish a few days after the shop has done water changes.

if you have rainbowfish that are newly imported, add salt to help clam them down and reduce the chance of fungal, bacterial and protozoan infections.
 
Low quality fish foods use low quality fish meal made from post processing waste (heads, skin/scales, bone) ground, loaded with preservative, dried, and stored in a warehouse for sometimes a lengthy time until ordered by a fish food mfg. To make fish food, copious amounts of grain/grain starch is required as a binder filler. Back in the day, many fish foods listed grain/grain starch as the 1st ingredient (or 2nd after fish meal.
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Omega One uses fresh fish instead of fish meal, making potentially a high quality food. For Almost Natural, Ed uses table quality fish in his fish food blends.
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As we know, ingredients on the label are listed in order by weight.
I recently read an article that suggested that labeling is such that fresh fish may also include the ice it's packed in...and when manufactured to a dry state, it would likely appear much lower in the ingredient list! The article went on to indicate that the very best fish foods may list WHOLE FISH MEAL as the first ingredient.
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I still consider Omega One and Almost Natural as top contenders in the high quality food category. Also worthy of mention are the following that use whole fish meal:

Tetra Tetramin Tropical Flakes
New Life Spectrum Optimum
Cobalt Tropical Flakes
Ocean Nutrition Community Flakes

There may be others.
The bottom line is to check the label for ingredients and analysis.

Disclaimer: Except for hobbyist/consumer, I have no affiliation with any fish food manufacturer.
 
Disclaimer: Except for hobbyist/consumer, I have no affiliation with any fish food manufacturer.
LOL.... are you trying to avoid a law suit for giving advice that might be taken and used in a malicious manor :)

just kidding, kind of funny to see a statement like that on a forum :)
 
LOL.... are you trying to avoid a law suit for giving advice that might be taken and used in a malicious manor :)

just kidding, kind of funny to see a statement like that on a forum :)

I tend to add a statement like that whenever I recommend a product or products so that the passerby doesn't suspect that I'm being paid to go on forums and talk up their product(s).
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However, if you're a fish food manufacturer and would like to donate to my fish room, I have lots of hungry fish!....:yahoo: (I crack myself up)
 
However, if you're a fish food manufacturer and would like to donate to my fish room, I have lots of hungry fish!....:yahoo: (I crack myself up)
I can see you now, sitting outside a company in China, little fish bowl next to you and a sign saying, "need food for hungry fish".

Then the movie comes out, something like Oliver's Twist. AbbeysDad singing, please sir, my fish are hungry, can I have some more? :)
 
Lol. I understand why you put that disclaimer no worries . I just bought omega oneā€™s flakes. I have heard good things about omega one. I currently use their cichlid pellets for my Acara. He goes crazy for them. Thanks.
 

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