Fish Food Expiration Dates

[soritan]

In a recent correspondance with a lovely person selling Brig. snails, I was told that I am supposed to throw out my fish food every 9 months, even if the expiration date says it's still good. It was suggested that my betta is suffering from malnutrition because I am not feeding him fresh food -- my food expires Janurary 2008, but I opened it 9 months ago. I find that hard to beleive, and I can't seem to find supporting details on this forum, or on google... but it got me wondering enough to post here.

Does fish food lose all nutritional value after just 9 months? Is the expiration date only relevent to an unopened package of food?

 

[Mr Miagi]

Yes. Fish food starts to lose its quality and nutrition as soon as its basically processed. I make sure I replace food as often as I can, and therefore, just buy the smallest tubs you can. NEVER buy bulk or huge packets. The food losses all quality, and holds little to no nutrition for your fish.

The easiest way to ensure your fish has healthy, somewhat nutritionous food, is buy smallest packets, and once they finish, buy more small packets so you continue to buy the fresh stuff.

 

[soritan]

Well, I do buy the smallest packets already, but with 1 betta the food didn't go very quickly, especially since I also feed frozen foods, and I figured I had until Janurary 2008 to use it.

Well, explative deleted.

 

[Synirr]

The obvious solution is to buy more bettas so the food gets eaten more quickly, I never have this problem!

 

[soritan]

Synirr, you enabler you.

I cast thee out!

 

[Mr Miagi]

The obvious solution is to buy more bettas so the food gets eaten more quickly, I never have this problem!

Well there you go! Your solution! Now you cant complain about that!

 

[Synirr]

....Or get some bigger fish! My midas hybrid and oscar have no problem downing the biggest bag of Hikari cichlid gold in less than 5 months

 

[soritan]

Oo I wonder if vacuum sealing the food will help? They sell vacuum seal jars here, that are reusable... holds whatever's inside in an airless state.

I wish I could get more bettas, but I don't trust myself with that kind of responsibility at this point. Whenever I have more than 2 at a time I seem to lose patience for the labor involved in their care. At the moment, I have 3 bettas, but I find that I tend to only count 2 of them, because they're both in 5g tanks, and my female is in a 20g tank. She eats flake food with gusto, every time I try and feed my harlequins she goes at it as well.

 

[soritan]

Sooo... pardon my density, but about how long does an open package of fish food last? Is it the 9 months I quoted initially, or -?

 

[Nippyfish]

Sooo... pardon my density, but about how long does an open package of fish food last? Is it the 9 months I quoted initially, or -?

To be honest I've never heard of it being as long as 9 months. My understanding has been that flake food should be replaced every 30 days After 2 weeks the vitamins begin to dissipate. I imagine pellet food might last a little longer but I'm not sure exactly what the manufacturer recommends.

Personally, I'm lazy so I throw mine out like every 3 months but I rarely use the dry foods anyway. I figure they get plenty of nutrients from the frozen stuff.

 

[steelhealr]

Pitch is after 3 months or so. It may cost a few pennies more, but, purchased smaller containers/packets and rotate foods.....flake, frozen, freeze dried, live. SH

 

[Qays]

what do you do with the wasted fish food?

There are fish starving around the world and we throw away their food!

 

[bunjiweb]

So where are these vitamins, or nutrition dissapearing to, I really would love to know if anyone has solid fact that the nutritional value of a dried food should deteriorate so quickly?

Ben

 

[soritan]

Yeah, when I was researching vitmains for my own consumption, with particular interest in expiration dates, most sites I encountered said, "The expiration dates on vitamins do not indicate that vitamins go bad at this date -- it is simply that they can no longer garuntee the printed nutritional value on the package after this time, as it starts to dissapte." And vitamins are in that big, open bottle. I suppose they last a full year because of the coat on the pill. Hn.


Every 30 days? Holy crap! I couldn't afford to feed my fish if that were so. 3 or 9 months I could live with, but dang, 30 days is a bit much...

 

[Nippyfish]

According to Hikari, breakdown is accelerated by sunlight, heat and humidity. (You know, everything you find in a fishroom.)