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I have seen brine shrimp and daphnia in my local shop so I might pick some up as an alternative to bloodworm. The fish go crazy for it thoughFresh is always best but I realize how had that can be. Frozen blood worms have a lot of protein as does brine shrimp. Some feed black worms, daphnia, and other things. I can’t seem to locate these though. Anybody else?
This makes sense actually. All this time I've been thinking the frozen food has been the best food other than live food but the Cory pellets and sticky pellets both have higher nutritional values. I will go to the shop 2moro and look at some higher quality foods, if I'm honest it's not something I looked too much into before. Thanks for your help.The nutritional value of frozen foods is very minimal by comparison to quality prepared/dried foods. Compare Hikari frozen daphnia with 5% protein and frozen bloodworms with 6% protein, to Omega One shrimp pellets (38% protein) and Veggie Rounds (35%). There is also more fiber in the latter.
The value in frozen foods is their (assumed) greater appeal to fish, as they are the closest to live in texture. This is why we recommend frozen foods as "treats" but not staple foods.
The late Jack Wattley frequently wrote in his discus column that the best foods for raising discus were good quality prepared dried foods. These have more nutritive value and can provide all that fish require to be healthy. We need to keep this in mind and not get misled or off the track by "mandatory" live or frozen foods to spawn, etc.
Live foods can be ideal, but this requires a good blend; feeding only live worms for example is not going to improve fish health for many species. It is not easy (unless you live in tropical regions) to culture sufficient variety in live foods to provide good nourishment. Insect larvae is ideal, but mosquitos flying around the house are not so enticing, lol. Back in the 1980's I raised live wingless fruit flies primarily for my hatchetfish. And I fed live brine shrimp once a week, and live tubifex worms once a week. But I also fed prepared foods as the "staple." The latter are today much more nourishing and beneficial than back then.
Shrimp is a good food in any form as it is natural; most tropical watercourses have some forms of crustaceans, and these are part of the diet for most of our fish. Nothing seems better than live newly-hatched artemia (shrimp) for fry of most species. Dried leaves though also provide infusoria and all fry will readily eat this and be better in growth and health because of it. Infusoria is after all live food.
I agree. I feed both of the foods mentioned and stopped feeding frozen foods over a year ago. My fish are all healthy and thriving. Live food is problematic for me but I believe my fish get a healthy diet.The nutritional value of frozen foods is very minimal by comparison to quality prepared/dried foods.
This makes sense actually. All this time I've been thinking the frozen food has been the best food other than live food but the Cory pellets and sticky pellets both have higher nutritional values. I will go to the shop 2moro and look at some higher quality foods, if I'm honest it's not something I looked too much into before. Thanks for your help.
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Great information, @Byron. Thank you! I was under the belief that dried foods were at the bottom of the totem pole and little nutritional value. Looks like I had it backwoods. I do feed frozen dried San Francisco Bay brine shrimp which are high in protein. I thought it was something they had done to preserve the protein. Are freeze dried fine? Very informative. By the way, my main staple for my fish ate New Life Spectrum and Omega One, just as Byron has mentioned. Another good one Repashay gel food.The nutritional value of frozen foods is very minimal by comparison to quality prepared/dried foods. Compare Hikari frozen daphnia with 5% protein and frozen bloodworms with 6% protein, to Omega One shrimp pellets (38% protein) and Veggie Rounds (35%). There is also more fiber in the latter.
The value in frozen foods is their (assumed) greater appeal to fish, as they are the closest to live in texture. This is why we recommend frozen foods as "treats" but not staple foods.
The late Jack Wattley frequently wrote in his discus column that the best foods for raising discus were good quality prepared dried foods. These have more nutritive value and can provide all that fish require to be healthy. We need to keep this in mind and not get misled or off the track by "mandatory" live or frozen foods to spawn, etc.
Live foods can be ideal, but this requires a good blend; feeding only live worms for example is not going to improve fish health for many species. It is not easy (unless you live in tropical regions) to culture sufficient variety in live foods to provide good nourishment. Insect larvae is ideal, but mosquitos flying around the house are not so enticing, lol. Back in the 1980's I raised live wingless fruit flies primarily for my hatchetfish. And I fed live brine shrimp once a week, and live tubifex worms once a week. But I also fed prepared foods as the "staple." The latter are today much more nourishing and beneficial than back then.
Shrimp is a good food in any form as it is natural; most tropical watercourses have some forms of crustaceans, and these are part of the diet for most of our fish. Nothing seems better than live newly-hatched artemia (shrimp) for fry of most species. Dried leaves though also provide infusoria and all fry will readily eat this and be better in growth and health because of it. Infusoria is after all live food.
I'll have a look for those. The 2 I have atm are fishscience and king BritishThe brands to get are Omega One, New Life Spectrum, and there is another one or two that I can never remember the name of because they are not available here, but other members can list them. It is not only the protein, etc, but the "additives" and "fillers" that the cheaper brands use and these are not that good for fish.
Great information, @Byron. Thank you! I was under the belief that dried foods were at the bottom of the totem pole and little nutritional value. Looks like I had it backwoods. I do feed frozen dried San Francisco Bay brine shrimp which are high in protein. I thought it was something they had done to preserve the protein. Are freeze dried fine? Very informative. By the way, my main staple for my fish ate New Life Spectrum and Omega One, just as Byron has mentioned. Another good one Repashay gel food.
Oh, it was probably a little of both. Bad thing is I actually proofed it and didn’t catch it. Lol!@Deanasue Madame' TFF ? "backwoods" ? Did you mean backwards or were you waxing poetic about Texas ?
I'll have a look for those. The 2 I have atm are fishscience and king British
Yea from the UK, I like the king British food because it sticks to the glass and allows the Cory's to get their pellets without the angels etc chasing them. I'll head to my nearest specialised fish shop 2moro and see what brands they have. The king British food is from pets at home(I guess similar to petco) which is the big pet chain rather than just a specialised fish shop so they won't have a big a variety of fish food.If you use King British, I assume you are in the UK? I have never seen Omega One or New Life Spectrum in shops, I get mine on-line.
Northfin is another make with good ingredients; they seem to specialise in food for large fish though they do make betta pellets and small slow sinking pellets. And I see they have now introduced Bug Pro which sounds like the Big Bites everyone else is talking about. Again, I buy this brand on-line.
Northfin is a Canadian product so members across the other side of the Atlantic should able to find it.