"high Quality Fish Food"

[NonstickRon]

So, lots of fish bios say they "Show their best colors after having them in the aquarium for a few weeks and feeding them high quality fish food."

So uh...I know variety is good, brine, blood-worms, flakes, wafers, etc. Right now I'm just using brands I randomly selected.

Does anyone have opinions on which brands are the highest quality? Consider this a write in poll.

Food --------------- Brand I favor
Flakes --------------- Tetramin Tropical Flakes
Wafers --------------- Hikari Small Sinking Wafers
Blood Worms ------ Hikari Vitamin Enriched

 

[dnn3]

i use tetracolor flakes sinking granules,and all my frozen foods are bio pure brand.and i use hbh brand newt bites for my fire belly newt.

 

[fozziebear]

nutrafin max complete flake is a very good flake, id also recommend sera flake, also hikari do very good dry foods.

 

[NonstickRon]

Hmm. When I run out of flakes I'll buy some of that max complete stuff...the name sounds good anyway.

Dnn3, I was just looking at the blood worms I bought today (first time buying frozen food) and it says Bio Pure down one side, but its actually by Hikari. Says Hikari Sales on a different location on the wrapper. Is that the same thing you have?

As far as fish flakes, what does one even base a comparison on?

 

[dnn3]

yes it is hikari brand,and my fish seem to love it.they all seem happy at feeding time.

 

[kribensis12]

The best Flake/ brand ever in the History of Fish Keeping is " New Life Spectrum". I know people that swear by the stuff, and i've had people go as far as to tell me that if they quit making the food, they'll quit the hobby. I cant afford it. Its 10 dollars ( or E 5) for a Container. I am going to get some as soon as my fav lfs opens up.

 

[Ficious]

i use tetracolor and the regular tetramin pro health. i mix them with crushed shrimp pellets and algae wafers. also a dash of dried bloodworms for a treat. my zebra danios are beautiful and growing mature. my halfbeak..which wasnt so colorful...now has very very bright red fins. before they were just a slight fade of pink. i also have a new yellow fin halfbeak that is mature. im going to feed her only the terta color and see how it goes.



variety is good! but if you want colors, go for the foods that add more color! its some sort of enzyme not added in other foods.

 

[Sunny_Bee]

I feed my tropicals hikari micro pellets, bloodworms and spirulina flakes. My goldfish get pro gold brand pellets and hikari pellets.

I've also heard great things about new life spectrum foods.

 

[fishlover500]

I agree with kribensis, new life spectrum is a great food but deffinitely on the pricey side. I have the small pellets from them.

I also have wardley cichlid flakes, My cichilds love them.

 

[andywg]

How exactly are the above deciding what is a good flake?

Surely the way to tell is to first examine the constituent parts of the food (%age protein, carbs, vitamins etc.) and then look at what the fish you keep need and then test the food to see if it contains what it claims.

 

[NonstickRon]

How exactly are the above deciding what is a good flake?

Surely the way to tell is to first examine the constituent parts of the food (%age protein, carbs, vitamins etc.) and then look at what the fish you keep need and then test the food to see if it contains what it claims.

Thats one of my primary questions too. How do you determine the quality of a flake food?

For that matter, how do you for that matter find out which cocktail of nutrients are good for a particular fish? And why DON'T all fish foods have color enhancers in them?

 

[darklady]

ok i may seem a skin flint here but i actally go to my local hardware shop, wilkinsons, and buy their tropical fish food as i found that they ate it better than the most expensive stuff.

i also buy daphnia and bloodworm and brine shrimp freeze dried and add a little of that at the same time i feed them.

once a week at least i buy them live daphnia and bloodworms and so far i do not have any problems with my fish. if i so i will lok again at the feed.

as i have corys and plec i do add pellets for them which i find my other fish all enjoy also so in my case i just buy what i know my fish will eat happily

 

[OldMan47]

I buy frozen foods based on what the food is. If I want daphnia, I buy daphnia, etc. For flake and similar foods I buy spirulina that is made from spirulina. I don't care who wrapped packaging around it. A general flake that I am using right now is one that I found on line. It has specific ingredients listed and has an analysis of what is in it in terms of protein some other components. It is accepted well by my fish and they seem healthy on a diet of the stuff so it is my current favorite. The brand name flakes and pellets all seem to be about the same. There is no secret to making a decent flake food so most come out about the same.

 

[kribensis12]

Yeah. I determine a good Flake by:

Fillers. I hate fillers. That is what makes fish food so cheap. I prefer stuff like Omega One( on the pricey side aswell) , which is bound with a protien binder, instead of starch. The startch wont do a fish good, but protien sure will, especially for fry. I also detrimine one by smell. I know its weird, but if it smells good, my fish LOVE it. I also tell if it is a good flake from people i know's oppinion, and my fav lfs ( closed until november) feeds with " New Life SPectrum" to all there tanks. It must be good if they are usuing there most expensive food on there fish.

I am not a fan or Wardleys, they are pretty much the Crap of the fish food world ( in my OP). But sometimes, i dont care what brand it is. Like, i use Spirulina with all my feedings. Spiruilina is Spirulina no matter what brand. So, i buy a Big think of Ocean Nutrition Spiruilina for 3 dollars. I've been usuing the thing for 2 motnhs, and its half full still!

 

[fozziebear]

id say the highest quality fish food is not a dry one, either frozen or live is best, i do vary a lot i feed nutrafin max complete flake (which is vitamin enriched) sera microgran granulated food, which is the perfect size for my smaller fish, i also feed algae wafers for the cory's and oto's, and then as a treat say twice a week i feed frozen, and i get some live when i have the chance.