Are you feeding your fish the best food?

[AbbeysDad]

Food for thought....

A long time ago I researched fish foods. In the old days, diehard hobbyists raised and fed a lot of live foods because commercial fish foods just didn't provide adequate nutrition for best health and breeding. This is not really as true today, but buyer beware...

A close look at the ingredient list will reveal that a lot of fish foods are primarily grains (listed first) like wheat, oat, rice flour and/or gluten followed by fishmeal.
Now fishmeal is the ground, processed, and dried result of various lower quality fish catches and cannery waste. It is produced and preservatives are added and it's stored in warehouses (sometimes for months) until a fish food manufacturer orders it. Because it's dry powdered, grains must be used as the protein binder to make the fish food. The trouble is that fish can't really digest/process grains, so it passes right through as waste.
This is not unlike other lower quality pet foods that use grains as filler in their primary ingredient list.

The higher quality fish foods will use fresh fish (salmon, cod, herring, krill...) as the primary ingredients. Fish that are fed these foods produce far less waste and may likely be healthier over time.

So are all fish foods that list grains as the primary ingredient followed by fishmeal bad? Well that's debatable, especially with the various vitamin and mineral concoctions nowadays. However, I tend to think that a more natural diet is best and fish in the wild don't eat grains.

Ref:
Almost Natural
Omega One

Disclaimer: Like most of you, I'm just a tropical fish hobbyist and have no affiliation with any fish food manufacturer,

 

[mhancock]

I've seen some interesting recipes to make your own which could be a good use of discounted fish from supermarket if you can get away with lots of "fish food cubes" in the freezer!

 

[fish48]

many fish keepers seem to believe that live foods are bad for their fish. some feed frozen foods such as blood worms although it is still not as good as being alive.
some proper live foods should be giving to the fish as part of their diet.

 

[AbbeysDad]

many fish keepers seem to believe that live foods are bad for their fish. some feed frozen foods such as blood worms although it is still not as good as being alive.
some proper live foods should be giving to the fish as part of their diet.

I think the problem with live foods is that you often can't provide a sufficient diversity of live foods to promote a balanced diet. I feel it's better to rely on a high quality commercial food and use various live or frozen foods as a treat once or twice a week. I've been giving mine frozen brine shrimp loaded with spirulina as a treat following the WWC. At first the fish were confused/ambivalent but now they attack the shrimp to get all they can.

 

[NickAu]

I feed my fist Live food, Frozen food and pellets.
Tropical Quintet - Ocean Nutrition


I breed
Maggots, Just pop some food in a old soup can and hang it someplace in summer in no time live maggots.
Mosquito wrigglers, a bucket of water outside is all I need.
Earth worms, I have a small worm farm.
Fruit fly, I catch these around the mango tree.
Plus there are lots of Red Cherry Shrimp in my tanks and the fish are free to eat any they catch.

Pellets.

Everybody loves these.
Dainichi Discus FX 1mm

Xtreme Community Crave Flakes - 85g
My Bettas do not get flakes
[URL='http/shrimplovers.com.au/product/ocean-nutrition-atison-s-betta-pro']Ocean Nutrition Atison's Betta PRO 15g

Xtreme Cat Scrapers 9mm Wafer - 278g



http://shrimplovers.com.au/product/ocean-nutrition-atison-s-betta-pro
[/URL]

 

[AbbeysDad]

@NickAu - it looks like your live & frozen foods are good, but the dry commercial foods appear to be mostly fish meals and grains.
I don't think these are quite as good as the foods made from fresh fish. But again, often the right additives can also make a difference.

 

[ShinySideUp]

Since one can't be absolutely sure of the nutritional content of any particular food I find it best to provide several different types. I use sinking catfish pellets, granules, algae flakes and New Era flake food, all interspersed with frozen bloodworm and frozen brine shrimp. I also try to ensure that food is dispersed throughout the tank so that my Clown loaches don't hoover everything up leaving the Kuhlies and the Cory's with nothing.

 

[NickAu]

I don't think these are quite as good as the foods made from fresh fish.

There is no fish food flake or pellet thats made from whole fresh fish

 

[Byron]

There is no fish food flake or pellet thats made from whole fresh fish

Yes, Nick, there are prepared foods made from fresh fish. New Life Spectrum is all fresh fish (several species), vitamins and minerals. There are no cereals or meals mentioned. Omega One is also made from fresh whole fish (various species like salmon, herring, cod, etc), and they do have "wheat flour" listed, but not "fishmeal." Michael linked Omega One in his intial post, and I have just checked the label on my Omega One veggie foods that I use along with NLS.

While live foods can be used top coax some hesitant species to spawn, for the majority of fish the good prepared foods are nutritious on their own. Getting a good nutritional balance with live foods alone is not easy, for most of us anyway. I never feed live foods (I did many years ago, though as treats not staples, when a closeby fish store had live foods weekly). I feed frozen daphnia and bloodworms once a week, on the water change day a couple hours after the change, as a treat for the fish tolerating my crashing about their space and they now expect this by their behaviour.

Jack Wattley is one of the most successful discus breeders alive, and he recommends prepared foods alone. I agree with ShinySideUp that a variety of brands is a good idea; some fish clearly have preferences, and feeding several kinds of food ensures variety and likely a more nutritious diet.

Byron.

 

[NickAu]

New Life Spectrum Thera+A Ingredients Analysis
Krill Meal, the primary ingredient, is an excellent source of proteins, amino acids, omega 3 oils, and color enhancing carotenoids. The Krill Meal utilized in NLS foods are manufactured from preferred Antarctic Krill.

Whole Fish meal is the second listed ingredient and while we have no way of measuring the quality of the meal being used, we’ll give NLS the benefit of the doubt, confirmed by the results of using this food and its reputation, that a quality meal is utilized.

http://www.oscarfish.com/5-star-foods/243-new-life-spectrum-theraa-ingredients-analysis.html

I see the words Meal used a lot, I dont see the words Fresh Fish used.

 

[Byron]

http://www.oscarfish.com/5-star-foods/243-new-life-spectrum-theraa-ingredients-analysis.html

I see the words Meal used a lot, I dont see the words Fresh Fish used.

I've never used this product. I use the Freshwater Optimum Flake with garlic, and on the label it is whole fish and no cereal/meal.

 

[AbbeysDad]

From OmegaSea.net....
"Only fresh seafoods are used in our formulas - it’s as simple as that. All other fish food manufactures rely on fishmeal as the main ingredient in their foods. Check the ingredient labels! Omega One fish foods are fishmeal and hydrosylate-free, which means they contain a higher level of natural nutrition than any other fish foods in the world."

I also pointed to Almost Natural foods. Ed uses fresh and frozen fish for his foods, but not fish meals.

Fishmeals are most often made with inferior fish that can't be used for other commercial purposes...during manufacture, meals have preservatives added for a long storage life. They may sit in a warehouse for up to a year before ordered by a fish food manufacturer. They are then added with grains, other ingredients and MORE PRESERVATIVES and sits in warehouses and your LPS store shelves until purchased.

 

[budified]

Omega One Super Color Flakes ingredients list

 

[budified]

Omega One Veggie Rounds ingredients list

 

[NickAu]

My Bettas just point blank refuse to eat New Life Spectrum Betta pellets. My Crowntail went 8 days without food and still refused to eat NLS, Every day I would offer him a pellet, and every day he took it in his mouth and spat it out, pre soaked or not it didn't matter at least he tries it, My Halfmoon just swims away, When I had the female PK she would take it in her mouth and spit it out after she chewed it up.

Anyway This makes interesting reading

Fish Food Ingredients Analysis
Written by Kmuda.
http://www.oscarfish.com/fish-food-ingredients.html