Fattening fish up..?

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

Most, if not all of the commercially available fish foods claim to be the absolute epitome of fishy nutrition and, by feeding fish a little and often, appropriate growth is to be expected.

That said, is there a specifically good fish food out there, proven to be especially effective at facilitating good growth?
Or is it all good.
I've got three lady Dwarf Gourami, with good appetites and they enjoyed the Fluval Big Bites flake, a tablet with added mealworm and a small piece of a Spirulina algae wafer. They'll be trying frozen bloodworm, mosquito larvae, cyclops, daphnia and artemia.

EDIT: for literacy.

 

[Ichthys]

Yes. Hikari Massivore. Originally produced as large (soft) pellets for big fish. My last BGK grew half an inch per year as an adult (the going rate for them). I would feed it Massivore very occasionally, and it would have a noticeable growth spurt, just from one feed. It’s now available for smaller fish. Very high in protein, and aquaculture technology/ingredients to enable the fish to get the most out of it.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

Yes. Hikari Massivore. Originally produced as large (soft) pellets for big fish. My last BGK grew half an inch per year as an adult (the going rate for them). I would feed it Massivore very occasionally, and it would have a noticeable growth spurt, just from one feed. It’s now available for smaller fish. Very high in protein, and aquaculture technology/ingredients to enable the fish to get the most out of it.

Thank you for that...any negatives?
(Obviously, I assume that you believe that it is actually healthy for fish ).

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

My last BGK...

Black Ghost Knifefish?

 

[Ichthys]

Yes, Black Ghost.

I don’t actually know how healthy it is, which is partly why I’ve only ever fed it occasionally. I don’t particularly want my fish growing like they’re on steroids... but I’d assume an occasional feed would be ok.

It was originally marketed (developed?) for tankbusters such as Asian Arowanas.

I haven’t heard of any negatives specifically. I would look at food-fish farming for answers there...

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Frozen mysis, bloodworm and brine shrimp can all work well, defrost and rinse them well as they tend to be very high in phosphates.

If you want to culture your own foods decapsulated brine shrimp eggs are cheap and easy to grow. Feed either freshly hatched brine shrimp while they still have the egg sac attached or gut pack the brine shrimp with a good pytho or powdered eggs first and then feed (feed to the fish within 30 minutes of feeding the brine shrimp). Brine shrimp by themselves don't have a lot of nutritional value otherwise.

Vinegar eels are normally just used for feeding small fry but are easy to culture and will survive in freshwater for several days swimming around. This means you can leave some in as a bit of a "grazing" snack between meals without fouling up your water quality too much. They don't have a ton of nutritional value but as a bit of a supplement they can work great.

Daphnia are another good live food because they will live quite happily in the tank until they get eaten and its pretty easy to set up a separate culture of them. They are bigger than brineshrimp and vinegar eels so probably more suitable for what you need.

The "live" foods that you intend to leave about for grazing will eventually get pulled out by the filter so don't go to overboard with adding them.

Personally I find live foods tend to be a lot better than even good quality flake of pellet foods for getting fish in good condition quickly. I would still use a good quality flake or pellet food as well though.

 

[Ichthys]

For fry, the fastest growth is obtained from lobster eggs. Some of the frozen food manufacturers do them. They’re the same size as brine shrimp eggs.
For bigger fish, the best growth from a ‘normal food’ comes from earthworms/compost worms, ime.

 

[AbbeysDad]

I'm a bit disappointed in Hikari foods. When I was researching for the article Commercial Fish Foods and contacted them, I pointed out my concern for foods with excessive grain/grain starch. Hikari's response was condescending and not very forth coming compared to other manufacturers.

These days there are many high quality fish foods on the market. But you need to read the ingredients to better ensure that grain/grain starch is lower in the list.

For commercial foods, I like Omega One Tropical Flakes and I often mix it with Tetramin Tropical Flakes and/or another high quality fish food. I call it Special Blend.
You might also check out 'Almost Natural'. (I included a link but the website seems 'broken' at this writing). Ed is a tropical fish hobbyist that makes fish food. He buys table ready fish when it's on sale for his food blends - excellent foods at value pricing but the shipping takes the cost to the high end.

For live foods I've become a huge 'fan' of cultured white worms, but you need a cool place to culture. Very high in protein and fish go nuts for them. I also culture and feed Red Russian Daphnia (See Outdoor Daphnia Bins and Daphnia Take 2) as well as collect and feed mosquito larvae in season.

With fry, many breeders prefer baby brine shrimp even though this is not a food that would be found in natural fresh waters. It is very nutritious and fry do well eating it. It's not sustainable, and does become somewhat labor intensive hatching new batches every day.. There is also micro, walter, and banana worms along with vinegar eels. While white worms, daphnia, and scuds may be more for larger fry and young adults.

A key to growing out fry is frequent feeding - at least 3 (or more) times a day. It makes a big difference. Then too, a varied, balanced diet especially as they get older.

Edit: I like to mix commercial foods because as good as they may be, different manufacturers with different blends and processing offer diversity which I feel may lead to better balanced nutrition. Mixed creates a blend so alternating foods is not required.
Also, frozen foods might be used, but these can get a bit pricey over time.