Rusty_Shackleford
Fish Crazy
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2019
- Messages
- 307
- Reaction score
- 590
Does anyone still use flaked food?
- Thread starter AJ356
- Start date
TwoTankAmin
Fish Connoisseur
I feed an assortment of foods. Man years ago I used kensfish flakes, These days I still di but I make y own mix. I includes the color flakes, the immune booster, brine shrimp, earthworm, veggie. Most of my flake eaters are smaller fish and I grind the flake in my fingers before I feed it. some of the fish who eat it willingly are Tetras, white clouds, rasboras, CPDs. I feed the flake not ground to my redline barbs. But they are in the 6 foot tank with my clown loaches who will eat anything. My biggest clown (12 inch) actually etc. the flak from the surfacc, However, also feed a lot of other foods for the clowns which includes frozen and sinking pellets and sticks. The redlines eat that too.
I used to make my own mix of kens sinking sticks and still do so minimally. A few years ago I began feeding Ebo Aquaristik foods from Germany for sinking foods. I used to buy a few kilos at a time and they got shipped vial mail to me. However, sine the $800 exemption for for imports worth less than that was killed by he who not be mentioned on this site, I am thinking I may have done my last order from them.
Ebo makes some foods in almost powder form and I use the brine shrimp and the spirulina varieties of them which tend to sink, But they do so slowly enough that the same fish which eat the ground flake also eats them. They will also eat the frozen rotifers I got to replace the loss of cyclop-eeze. I stopped hatching BBS some time ago, but I will get a few of the Hikari frozen BBS cubes when I do frozen orders. But they are too expensive to use as a primary food for my plecos fry.
I think I probably feed almost 20 different foods in all. I afeed a variety of foods to all my fish. I do not rely on flakes for anyy of them. I recently added some Sera foods to my dry menu= bottom feeder, shrimp and their Stable Food wafers which I give to my smaller loaches and corys.
At my club meeting Friday our speaker was a black worm expert and she explained how one can culture their own worms and succeed with doing so. It was an interesting talk but years ago I made the decision that doing live was a bridge to far for me. But, I also know the the best food for most fish is live. Here is a good hint about keeping black works- do not refrigerate them. If you must. do not feed them directly from the fridge, that tends to kill them. She explained exactly how to raise and feed them. She put a few small bags of live black worms inot the auction at the end of the meeting.
Not related to food, what I won two days ago was an infrared laser guided thermometer NIB for $11 and a very small albino BN for $3. I like them to help with algae. I am now overrun with frogbit which I won at last months auction. I had so much at the end of a month that I had to put a bag of them into the auction. And to my surprise the bag of 10 Neocaridina \blue dream variety shrimp went into the mid $39 range, That is about 3 times what I usually get them sold for at the auction.
I used to make my own mix of kens sinking sticks and still do so minimally. A few years ago I began feeding Ebo Aquaristik foods from Germany for sinking foods. I used to buy a few kilos at a time and they got shipped vial mail to me. However, sine the $800 exemption for for imports worth less than that was killed by he who not be mentioned on this site, I am thinking I may have done my last order from them.
Ebo makes some foods in almost powder form and I use the brine shrimp and the spirulina varieties of them which tend to sink, But they do so slowly enough that the same fish which eat the ground flake also eats them. They will also eat the frozen rotifers I got to replace the loss of cyclop-eeze. I stopped hatching BBS some time ago, but I will get a few of the Hikari frozen BBS cubes when I do frozen orders. But they are too expensive to use as a primary food for my plecos fry.
I think I probably feed almost 20 different foods in all. I afeed a variety of foods to all my fish. I do not rely on flakes for anyy of them. I recently added some Sera foods to my dry menu= bottom feeder, shrimp and their Stable Food wafers which I give to my smaller loaches and corys.
At my club meeting Friday our speaker was a black worm expert and she explained how one can culture their own worms and succeed with doing so. It was an interesting talk but years ago I made the decision that doing live was a bridge to far for me. But, I also know the the best food for most fish is live. Here is a good hint about keeping black works- do not refrigerate them. If you must. do not feed them directly from the fridge, that tends to kill them. She explained exactly how to raise and feed them. She put a few small bags of live black worms inot the auction at the end of the meeting.
Not related to food, what I won two days ago was an infrared laser guided thermometer NIB for $11 and a very small albino BN for $3. I like them to help with algae. I am now overrun with frogbit which I won at last months auction. I had so much at the end of a month that I had to put a bag of them into the auction. And to my surprise the bag of 10 Neocaridina \blue dream variety shrimp went into the mid $39 range, That is about 3 times what I usually get them sold for at the auction.
We just can't get it here in the UK. I used to use it when it was available.
Rusty_Shackleford
Fish Crazy
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2019
- Messages
- 307
- Reaction score
- 590
That's a shame since it is a good food. I'm sure there are some great foods in Europe though. I'm sure the Germans have some good prepared foods available.
Let's face it all the innovations in filtration, lighting, food, etc. come from Europe.
Flake food and dry pellet foods are ok if they are used in conjunction with other foods as part of a varied diet. If you only feed flake or pellet foods, the fish won't do that well.
If you want to look for a good flake food, try to find one with fish, shrimp/ prawn and other foods ahead of the grains (wheat flour). If there are 4 or 5 seafood items before the grains and flour, it will be a better fish food compared to one where flour is the second or third ingredient. Same deal with food for us people and dogs and cats. Try to avoid foods with flour or sugar in the first 4 or 5 ingredients. Try to get fish food with whole fish or whole shrimp in rather than fish meal. Whole fish means they used the entire fish including internal organs, muscle tissue, bones, scales, etc. Fish meal usually means they used the parts people don't eat (bone, scales & head).
Don't get sucked into buying a fish food because it has a heap of vitamins and minerals in, or various herbs and spices. Basically if it grows on land, fish can't digest it that well and terrestrial plants are generally a gimmick. Most vitamins go off quickly when exposed to air and humidity. Fish flakes are very thin and go stale and soft due to moisture in the air and this also causes any vitamins to break down quicker.
If you buy flake or pellet foods, try to keep them in airtight containers. Try to use all the food up within 2-4 weeks. If you aren't going to use it all up in that time, put it into smaller bags and freeze them. Keep just enough out to last a couple of weeks and then grab some more out of the freezer. Use several bags when freezing fish food (put it in one and put that bag in another and maybe use a third bag. Get all the air out of the bags so there is less chance of moisture getting onto the food.
If you want to look for a good flake food, try to find one with fish, shrimp/ prawn and other foods ahead of the grains (wheat flour). If there are 4 or 5 seafood items before the grains and flour, it will be a better fish food compared to one where flour is the second or third ingredient. Same deal with food for us people and dogs and cats. Try to avoid foods with flour or sugar in the first 4 or 5 ingredients. Try to get fish food with whole fish or whole shrimp in rather than fish meal. Whole fish means they used the entire fish including internal organs, muscle tissue, bones, scales, etc. Fish meal usually means they used the parts people don't eat (bone, scales & head).
Don't get sucked into buying a fish food because it has a heap of vitamins and minerals in, or various herbs and spices. Basically if it grows on land, fish can't digest it that well and terrestrial plants are generally a gimmick. Most vitamins go off quickly when exposed to air and humidity. Fish flakes are very thin and go stale and soft due to moisture in the air and this also causes any vitamins to break down quicker.
If you buy flake or pellet foods, try to keep them in airtight containers. Try to use all the food up within 2-4 weeks. If you aren't going to use it all up in that time, put it into smaller bags and freeze them. Keep just enough out to last a couple of weeks and then grab some more out of the freezer. Use several bags when freezing fish food (put it in one and put that bag in another and maybe use a third bag. Get all the air out of the bags so there is less chance of moisture getting onto the food.
TwoTankAmin
Fish Connoisseur
I do not agree with the above.
Dr. Stephan Tanner formulated a fruit based food for Repashy, it is called Igapo Explorer. This was the second name as it began life as Fruut Luups. My clown loaches shred this food before it can bhit thwe bottom.
Our formula for all Rainforest Species. Contains Invertebrates, Nuts, Fruits, Seeds, Legumes, Herbs and Greens.
INGREDIENTS: Black Soldier Fly Larvae Meal, Krill Meal, Banana Powder, Squid Meal, Mango Powder, Pea Flour, Mulberry Fruit Powder, Dandelion Powder, Seaweed Flour, Almond Flour, Coconut Flour, Ground Flax Seed, Alfalfa Meal, Locust Bean Gum, Citric Acid, Lecithin, Stinging Nettle, Garlic, Ginger, Cinnamon, Phaffia Yeast, Dried Watermelon, Rosehips, Hibiscus Flower, Marigold Flower, Calendula Flower, Paprika, Turmeric, Dried Kelp, Calcium Propionate and Potassium Sorbate (as preservatives), Magnesium Amino Acid Chelate, Zinc Methionine Hydroxy Analogue Chelate, Manganese Methionine Hydroxy Analogue Chelate, Copper Methionine Hydroxy Analogue Chelate. Vitamins: (Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Calcium L-Ascorbyl-2-Monophosphate, Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Beta Carotene, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, Folic Acid, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex).
Sabino, J. and Sazima, I., 1999. Association between fruit-eating fish and foraging monkeys in western Brazil. Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters, 10(4), pp.309-312.
Full paper here: http://www.eventus.com.br/atbc2012/Fish&monkeys.pdf
Correa, S.B., Costa‐Pereira, R., Fleming, T., Goulding, M. and Anderson, J.T., 2015. Neotropical fish–fruit interactions: eco‐evolutionary dynamics and conservation. Biological Reviews, 90(4), pp.1263-1278.
ABSTRACT
Frugivorous fish play a prominent role in seed dispersal and reproductive dynamics of plant communities in riparian and floodplain habitats of tropical regions worldwide. In Neotropical wetlands, many plant species have fleshy fruits and synchronize their fruiting with the flood season, when fruit-eating fish forage in forest and savannahs for periods of up to 7 months. We conducted a comprehensive analysis to examine the evolutionary origin of fish–fruit interactions, describe fruit traits associated with seed dispersal and seed predation, and assess the influence of fish size on the effectiveness of seed dispersal by fish (ichthyochory). To date, 62 studies have documented 566 species of fruits and seeds from 82 plant families in the diets of 69 Neotropical fish species. Fish interactions with flowering plants are likely to be as old as 70 million years in the Neotropics, pre-dating most modern bird–fruit and mammal–fruit interactions, and contributing to long-distance seed dispersal and possibly the radiation of early angiosperms. Ichthyochory occurs across the angiosperm phylogeny, and is more frequent among advanced eudicots. Numerous fish species are capable of dispersing small seeds, but only a limited number of species can disperse large seeds. The size of dispersed seeds and the probability of seed dispersal both increase with fish size. Large-bodied species are the most effective seed dispersal agents and remain the primary target of fishing activities in the Neotropics. Thus, conservation efforts should focus on these species to ensure continuity of plant recruitment dynamics and maintenance of plant diversity in riparian and floodplain ecosystems.
full paper here: https://www.researchgate.net/profil...co-evolutionary-dynamics-and-conservation.pdf
(edited to change fruut Loops to its proper name, Fruut Luups)
Last edited:
The ingredients. Even if I compare it to other food, I have better results with this food. My fish thrive better on this food.
If fish food from the same source is meant for a specific brand , they'll change the ratio of the composition. I've compared those brandss with another in relation to the bulkpackaging that I order.
WhistlingBadger
Professional Cat Herder
Retired Moderator ⚒️
2x Tank of the Month 🏆
Fish of the Month 🌟
- Joined
- Dec 18, 2011
- Messages
- 7,532
- Reaction score
- 15,025
- Location
- Where the deer and the antelope play
I look at ingredients too. If the first several ingredients look like things that fish might actually eat in the wild, it’s probably good.
You disagree with lots of things I write.
Just because a fish, bird or animal can eat something, doesn't mean it digests it well or gets much nourishment from the item. People eat loads of grains and sugars and we are all getting fat and suffering from diabetes and heart disease. Pet dogs are the same, whereby most of their dry foods contain grains and lots of pet dogs are overweight and start to develop diabetes and other health issues caused by the wrong food.
Most freshwater fishes don't eat fruits or nuts, some do but most aquarium fishes don't. I don't know of any saltwater fishes that eat fruits or nuts. Pacu in South America eat Brazil nuts and various fruits but most fishes suited for aquariums don't. Fish don't eat grains like wheat, rice, oats, etc. Even people didn't start eating those regularly until about 10,000 years ago. Fish don't eat herbs although people do eat fish seasoned with herbs & spices. A lot of small freshwater fishes eat pollen and algae (single celled and filamentous algae). A lot of marine fishes eat algae and plankton (consists of fish, shrimp, coral and crustacean eggs and larvae, and single celled algae). Freshwater plankton has the same ingredients as marine plankton, minus the coral and fewer types of crustacean larvae.
The main foods for small freshwater fishes includes algae, aquatic plants, small fish and fish eggs, shrimp & shrimp eggs, small aquatic insects or small insects that land on the water surface, and aquatic worms or terrestrial worms that wash into the water.
There are a number of "fructivores", fruit eaters in the hobby, but they tend to be larger. A lot of fish depend heavily on what falls into the water. I don't think it's an accident that when you pull a net up from the bottom under bushes, in with the small fish you have spiders galore, ants, small beetles, sometimes berries and plant debris. Terrestrial food falls into tanks - pollen is often found in stomach content analysis of small species wild caught fish.
That is, if they are adapted to directly eat pollen. The hobby suffers greatly from overgeneralizing and half digested info about digestion. But fruit eaters ( a tiny minority of our fish) and insect eaters (a great majority) eat food that if not always terrestrial is certainly from the air world. The lines can be vague between the habitats suspended over water and the same plants under the water.
One of my favourite streams in Gabon had a tunnel of vines and plants arching overhead, and the fish below were living spicily, with fire ants constantly falling off their bridges as the wind blew. I saw fish smacking floating ants there. If we want to be true natural fishkeepers, we'd need constant ant infestations of our houses. Personally, I'll pass on that.
The whole question of stomach contents is a gross one to many people, but it's really informative if you do a serious search for info. A lot of scientific collectors do an analysis of the gut contents of the fish species they dissect, and there's no truer source of dietary info.
You also have to keep your own specialized curiosity in mind. If I only looked at killies, or Loracarid cattfish, or Malawi Cichlids, I would get a very skewed vision of fish diets and fish food design. It takes a lot of different formulas to cover all the bases.
That is, if they are adapted to directly eat pollen. The hobby suffers greatly from overgeneralizing and half digested info about digestion. But fruit eaters ( a tiny minority of our fish) and insect eaters (a great majority) eat food that if not always terrestrial is certainly from the air world. The lines can be vague between the habitats suspended over water and the same plants under the water.
One of my favourite streams in Gabon had a tunnel of vines and plants arching overhead, and the fish below were living spicily, with fire ants constantly falling off their bridges as the wind blew. I saw fish smacking floating ants there. If we want to be true natural fishkeepers, we'd need constant ant infestations of our houses. Personally, I'll pass on that.
The whole question of stomach contents is a gross one to many people, but it's really informative if you do a serious search for info. A lot of scientific collectors do an analysis of the gut contents of the fish species they dissect, and there's no truer source of dietary info.
You also have to keep your own specialized curiosity in mind. If I only looked at killies, or Loracarid cattfish, or Malawi Cichlids, I would get a very skewed vision of fish diets and fish food design. It takes a lot of different formulas to cover all the bases.
Last edited:
the pacu I kept 30 yeas ago, outlived most, for two reasons... 1st was my willingness to upgrade to a larger tank, as it was needed... 2nd was because I went outside the box on fish foods mine ate root vegetables like carrots, raw nuts, and "popcorn" sized shrimp, as it got older... it started out with the normal Cichlid pellets, but I began dicing up carrots the same size as the large pellets, and once he got used to that he graduated to eating whole carrots... BTW, I think the transition away from the prepared Cichlid pellets, to the more natural whole foods, brought out his colors much more than is often witnessed in larger pacu's... he ended up jumping, and knocking a weighted cover off a 230 gallon aquarium, one day, while I was not home, but I had him for over 10 years, back in the dark ages of fish keeping
Swampman
New Member
I feed flake. I crush it up for the fish. I feed Bug Bite. I also feed Artemia. Fish go crazy for it. Everyone in a while I feed newly hatched brine shrimp. Cheaper than frozen
I don’t feed flake anymore because it’s dirty . It falls apart into little granules and doesn’t get eaten . It isn’t the same as it used to be . I liked Wardley’s best but you can’t find it anymore .
I am the contrarian. When I resumed fishkeeping I promised myself to not overindulge and in turn get fedup and neglectful. So room temperature livebearers, small tanks and flake mixed with crushed bugbites.
\
\
Similar threads
Most reactions
-
345
-
177 -
169
-
135 -
129 -
117 -
110
-
100 -
96 -
89 -
86 -
81 -
75 -
A
63
-
58