Article: What You Should Know About Fish Nutrition

Then I suppose we are in agreement. :D (Maybe my reading skills aren't that good. :blush:)



Can I ask why you prefer pellets to flakes? (Or was that in the top post as well?)
 
That was in the top post as well.

They fill fish up better, are cleaner to feed, and preserve nutrients better. Flakes expose every bit of nutrition to light, oxygen, and water. Pellets preseve nutrients from these factors better than flakes.
 
That was in the top post as well.
:blush:

Thanks. Once I've used up my flakes I will look into pellets... Do you need to use both floating and sinking pellets for the different species?
 
No. I only use sinking. Granted I may use floating if NLS came to their senses and made both, but right now they only have floating in certain sizes (too large for small community fish) except for their 'semi-floating', which really doesn't sink as fast. If you gently drop the pellets on the surface they will float much longer. But fed their small sinking pellets to all the fish in the shop I was running and never had any issues.
 
Ive recently moved to pellets too, i find them easier amd cleaner, im currently using JBL granomix, along with Prima pellets, the fish tend to consume them whole rather than breaking it up like with flake
 
You are also assuming that they don't get bored of foods. (Your assertion that hunger will overcome boredom is true of ALL living things, including humans. It isn't exactly evidence that fish don't get bored.) I have observational evidence (which is all that is really being used in this "scientific" discussion anyway) that my fish go after some food with more fervor than others. Specifically, the fish go nuts for defrosted bloodworms much more readily than any other food I feed. To me (and maybe to no one else) that is evidence that they are truly enjoying that particular type of food.


As I've already pointed out fish have the ability to discern one type of algae from another and will eat one and not eat the other. That indicates some level of ability to choose their food. It's not like they are mindless drones who will eat anything organic available to them. They can pick and choose when they are given options. Have you ever given your fish options? Give some bloodworms with some flake (or pellet if you prefer) at the same time and see which one they go for first.

Obviously hungry fish will eat whatever is placed before them, but that doesn't mean that they enjoy it. Prison inmates eat the food they are supplied with as well. That doesn't mean anything except their interest in surviving and getting rid of hunger pains. Your "scientific" discussion is based on your own assumptions of what a fish is capable of conceiving. You don't believe the fish are capable of enjoyment. That's fine. But, don't elevate your assumptions any higher than mine. Just because the fish can't smile or whistle a happy tune, doesn't mean that it is incapable of experiencing enjoyment. I've already cited behaviors that fish will display when given a CHOICE. They choose to "play" in fast moving water or water change movement. They could just hide in the bottom of the tank or hide. But they CHOOSE to be there. That choice happens for a reason and I believe that it is related to their enjoyment of those activities. And if they can choose that, you cannot PROVE that they don't enjoy certain foods and possibly even dislike others. In fact, I have cited observational evidence to SUPPORT that notion (eating one type of algae and not another).

just because a fish knows which food it prefers, does not mean they "enjoy" it. far less that they would get bored with it. cow eat grass all day. i aint ever seen a cow looking for something else to eat, board or not. same goes for horse and apparently, they have similar intelligence to tropical fish. sure a horse will go for the high, value, food. but not because it is bored with grass/hay. but because it knows it has a higher, energy, value.

truth is, there is not the slighted evidence that animals, apart from apes, get bore at all. and less still to say they would get board with food. thing is, through natural selection, animals that get board with their staple. would simply have died out. its not a survivable trait.

animals in zoos and cages, do not get board. they get psychoses, from their poor environment. suffer from lack of contact with others of their species. we see it as a result of lack of entertainment (boredom) but thats a view conceived from an apes point of view and, untimely, irrelevant..

if none apes, got bored with their food. we would have no animals like cows, sheep, pandas all single staple eaters. boredom needs a mind/brain that can wonder off, imagine if you please, only apes have that facility. (remembering to include, possibly, marine mammals).
speaking "scientifically". we have only evidence that precludes boredom, in lower animals. none (possibly as yet) to indicate it.
 
Though I am mostly in agreement with you. What about nutrients that can only come from frozen or fresh food? Obviously some nutrients are lost and degraded when it is prepared. Proteins and vitamins that are the least stable. I have some NLS foods. They have been in my freezer for like a year or more. My fish don't really like them IMO. I feed much cheaper hikari and Ken's pellets which they like. They are pretty clear with the NLS since they eat a tiny bit but then won't touch it lol. What does that mean as far as better? I'm fine with their current diet of affordable even cheap foods. I feed lots of fresh and frozen stuff from the grocers which is their favorite. Most my fish spawn regularly and show great colors, even wild caught so I'm not too worried with what I am feeding as they do good on it.
 
As stated in the article other things can make them like a particular food more. Foods higher in fat and protein can create a stronger response. This doesn't mean that food is needed or healthy. Long term that could be a problem for your fish. The problem is that it is hard to see the problem. We look for anything visible, short of something that extreme we have no idea. Fatty deposits can be developing for years, kill the fish, and we say 'well they were fine for years so it obviously wasn't the food'.

What nutrients can only be provided by frozen or fresh food and not in a pellet?
 
Just thought i'd add in here that this entire thread has been really informative, seeing different views of different fish keepers. (i also like how people with different views came to a mutual agreement and learned something from it, something rarely seen on the internet! haha)
It has persuaded me to move on to pellet foods but i will still feed a variety of food (frozen, live, pellet) Simply because, in my opinion, my fish seem to 'enjoy' different foods.
I think giving your fish a 'treat' is very important, as with any other pet! My gecko's go mental for waxworms, but they have very little nutrient and very high fat so i can only feed them a few every month... the live and frozen food simply serve as this treat!
 
Nice copy/paste, though it would have been better to credit the author. Scrap that.. after searching for where I had read it last year, it turned out to be your name there too.

I am a believer of the same thing though and it's the only food I feed to all my fish now for the past 6 months or so, other than some fresh veg but that's just for them to play with and stay away from my plants, mostly.
As for the question about giving them a variety and bored of the same food - I haven't found that at all. I did feed some live and some frozen food just to get it out of the freezer and where previously they would go crazy for it over the complete food, they just aren't interested anymore... NLS is all they want :nod:
 
I have some fish that wont eat dry foods no matter how nutritionally great they are for them. This includes wild piscivores and even some domestic discus. I thought your article was ok with some good information but its was quite badly written in the way that what(according to you) almost every fishkeeper is feeding their fish is 'flawed'. This is not the best way to speak to people, even if is it true. Most fish in their natural environment eat a wide range of foods, some high in protein some not. Detritus and plant matter is a major part of many fishes diet, do they include that in whatever pellet your promoting? (im not sure I havnt checked the label)- Nutritional value is the main point of food for all species(isn't it?). But hey, fish have few pleasures in life...Food and Sex(can you name more?) is all these fish do. Can we give them a varied diet that they enjoy much more than one pellet every single day of their lives even though it may not be nutritionally perfect...? You will now say something like... 'Science cant prove that fish blah blah' I say to 'your science' my fish enjoy a varied diet of decent dry and frozen foods, they breed and they are healthy. Can you sent me some of your brilliant pellets(for free) as it may help the health of my fish?
 
A nice read, it needs references though, to stand any credibility. Without references it remains rod be purely your veiw on fish food.
 
It is almost entirely my view on fish food. It is not meant as a research paper of an type, just a way to help people think about the food they feed a little differently.

What piscivores won't eat pellets? Which foods did you try.

Any discus should have little problems taking pellets.

No, I will not send some to you for free. If you care to try it with them there are more than enough cheap sources, you could easily get a small container for under $10 shipped.

What fish in the wild eat in total gives them everything they need, something not all captive diets do. Yes, the food I prefer does provide everything they need.

It shouldn't be taken as an insult to anyone or the diet they use. It is meant to help people realize that a diet they thought was perfect or as good as it gets may not be quite that.

As I have stated repeatedly a treat of almost any kind is fine as long as effectively all of the nutrition is coming from a high quality prepared food.

Please don't tell me or others what I am going to say. If I feel I want to say something I will, I don't need your help with that. If you are going to have a conversation with me and others please do, if you are going to argue with what you think I am going to say then there is no conversation and no need for you to post.
 
hello fishguy, im just starting out and setting up a community tank. ive read through your post and most of it makes sense, also keeping my fish on one diet with the occasional treat would be easier for me as a noobie. My question is if I have a tank of various sized fish would I need to buy lots of different sized pellets or would one tub of community pellets feed all. Also at what rate is best to feed them? I was looking at maybe getting an automatic feeder.. Thanks
 

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