Let's Talk About Fish Food

madness wrote:

If i use the food as a regular staple, I got 1lb or more, if it is just to feed occasionally as a change of pace, I got 1/2lb. Plus, for my fish, I mix all the food together. Once in a while I will feed each one of the foods separately so that they dont get use to just one type in the mix.

actually that is what i do just mix all my food together.

I have noticed that each fish has its favorite when I mix it up and each will pick the one they like. So I am not so sure about mixing... then again I have only 3 things in my mix right now.

DMD123 wrote:I have noticed that each fish has its favorite when I mix it up and each will pick the one they like. So I am not so sure about mixing... then again I have only 3 things in my mix right now.

I got 4 right now.. But as per of advice from Shawn I am cutting the large pellets out

I used to include the large pellets in my mix to slow down the greedy eaters like the silver dollars. Even my 11" Midas only ate the small and medium sizes.

With this new mix of fish I use small Super Color Omega One floating pellets, Xtreme Pee Wee cichlid pellets(sinking) and Tetra Color Crisp (flake).

My fish do not like the Xtreme so I might try the Omega One Marine pellets with garlic instead.

Food has been ordered. I requested some free samples, so we will see. If they send me some samples I will let you all know.

Thanks madness for getting that together for us all!

All you moochers. I will let you know when I get a date of arrival.

Food will be here next Friday.

Sweeeeeet!!!

Always fun meeting ya at the fish store

A few of us are eagerly awaiting the Ken's order for food!

Just some thoughts on the Omega One Marine Flakes with Garlic for you guys. I purchased this feeling that maybe it would be a better food item than Tetra Color Crisps.

I like Omega One products and have had good success with it on my fish. But I did not like this product. The flakes ranged from giant pieces to crumbs and some would not even break apart that easily when wet. They would float around in these large pieces. You could tell the fish did not like the yellowish ones. The fish did not even seem that interested in the food.

I have to give it to Tetra with the Crisp thing. It is just a bit sturdier of a flake and has uniform size and just seems to hold up a bit better. So even though it may not be as nutritious of a product it does seem better made/designed.

So I feel as if I wasted money on the Omega One but if I sneak it in with the Tetra the fish will eat it, just not by itself.

Looks like Ken's is not starting out on the right foot with me. I was told they were shipping immediately and would be here this Friday. Now it says that it shipped today, (5 days after I ordered) and will be here next Tuesday, the 20th.

Wow, not a good start.

I will let you know how the new company I PM'd you about is.

So tonight for dinner I had a salad. I had bought some small precooked frozen shrimp to put on it and after thawing I threw one in the tank. It sank to the bottom with all the fish staring at it.

This shrimp was meant for the new pleco. Well as I am leaving the room I watch all the fish go at this piece of shrimp and just start tearing it apart. So I cut up some for them and was surprised how they ate it.

In fact even the silver dollars were picking the food off the bottom which is very unusual behavior. It is kind of difficult for them with the large hook on the bottom to even do this maneuver. I had never tried this at all the last 3 years of fish keeping. I had tried bits of raw prawn and no success so I did not even think to try cooked shrimp.

Just one of those moments I had to share.

Did the finicky ones eat also?

madness wrote:Did the finicky ones eat also?

The only real fish with an issue is the bocourti. I put the others down that were looking real bad. He did perk up and look at it but did not eat. That is why I am going to try the Seachem stuff (kanaplex) I was telling you about. Mix it into food and put in water.

madness wrote:Looks like Ken's is not starting out on the right foot with me. I was told they were shipping immediately and would be here this Friday. Now it says that it shipped today, (5 days after I ordered) and will be here next Tuesday, the 20th.

Sounds like you're starting out like I did.
I hope it doesn't end the way my experience did!

Me too.

DMD123 wrote:A few of us are eagerly awaiting the Ken's order for food!

Just some thoughts on the Omega One Marine Flakes with Garlic for you guys. I purchased this feeling that maybe it would be a better food item than Tetra Color Crisps.

I like Omega One products and have had good success with it on my fish. But I did not like this product. The flakes ranged from giant pieces to crumbs and some would not even break apart that easily when wet. They would float around in these large pieces. You could tell the fish did not like the yellowish ones. The fish did not even seem that interested in the food.

I have to give it to Tetra with the Crisp thing. It is just a bit sturdier of a flake and has uniform size and just seems to hold up a bit better. So even though it may not be as nutritious of a product it does seem better made/designed.

So I feel as if I wasted money on the Omega One but if I sneak it in with the Tetra the fish will eat it, just not by itself.

I've got a batch without the garlic and I feel the Marine flake has changed how I view flake as a food for these guys. I had some old TetraMin and my guys wont even touch that stuff. But they devour the marine flakes and the water isn't cloudy.

Sorry to hear about your experience, cuz of you I'm tending to favor my omega one foods over hikari

I still like Omega One products just not impressed with the flake much. The inconsistent sizes and the fact some colors the fish dont eat bother me. But it is just like most other flake in that regard. The Tetra may not be as good but the whole crisp design was well done.

I feel that way about Tetra, my fish never ate the red stuff, crisps or flake. I dunno my small green terrors eat Omega up, I don't mind the multi size to it.

Can't wait to mix it up though when the order comes in!!!

Food just showed up. Dividing it up now.

Did they send any samples you requested?

yep

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I WANT SOME SAMPLES!!!

TerenceH wrote:I WANT SOME SAMPLES!!!

When do you want what you ordered?

Thinking I might put together a group buy from a excellent fish food place.... keep an eye out in the group buy section if your interested.

TerenceH wrote:I WANT SOME SAMPLES!!!

Oh you want freebies? So do I

Adonijah wrote:

TerenceH wrote:I WANT SOME SAMPLES!!!

Oh you want freebies? So do I

No... I ordered...

Selling one packet 1/2lb of Sinking pellet Brine Shrimp and 1/2 packet of sinking pellet spirulina from Kens.. I got a lot of these large pellets. I only need one bag not two. Depending on how far you make me drive it will be anywhere from $3(If you came to my apartments in kent!) to $10 if you make me drive my pos-valve-adjustment-needing car!

TerenceH wrote:

Adonijah wrote:

TerenceH wrote:I WANT SOME SAMPLES!!!

Oh you want freebies? So do I

No... I ordered...

Terance, I got you the 3 items you asked for, $12. As for the samples, there is no cost. I sent in a request for some free samples with the order and he sent about a dozen different items in sample bags. Adonijah and myself spent 100$+ so we each took 3 of what we wanted. There are still 5-6 bags of somethings left.

madness wrote:There are still 5-6 bags of somethings left.

Save me something when I pick up my stuff! Anything in a large sinking pellet type that a omnivore pleco would like.

Not sure whats left in the bag. But we will make it work.

Thanks!

DMD123 wrote:

madness wrote:There are still 5-6 bags of somethings left.

Save me something when I pick up my stuff! Anything in a large sinking pellet type that a omnivore pleco would like.

Look at the post I made, both bags are labeled with best for bottom feeders. I paid $2.50 each. If you come to my neck of the woods, dennys by 167 in Kent. I'll practicly give them away at $3.00 each. They are half lb bags. Awesome deal for $6.

Lemme know I may put them up on CL sayin I paid all this shipping for it and jack the price up, hahaha

I am not going to be in your neck of the woods for awhile. I am just looking to see if there exists any food that will draw the new L014 pleco out of hiding. It is a real beauty but only comes out at night. So just looking for a little bit to try, not big bags at this point.

Decided to bring this one back from the dead. I have been using Omega One for quite a few years now and am happy with it but I do find that sometimes the issues arise with pellet size. I still feed my 6"+ fish a lot of small size pellets because I feel the next step up is too much of a size increase. Today I decided to order and try some Hikari stuff out.

So I ordered some of this:
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Ive tried the sinking carnivore out before. I had a Jack Dempsey that loved the stuff. This time around I hope my new pike will take to it. First time with the food sticks. I have been mixing in some Tetra "Crisps" into the mix and it seems to go over well. I want the fish to be more adaptable to foods and not get hung up on one type so thus the mixing begins....

Anyone else use these Hikari products with success? (Im also think of trying the Massivore one of these days)

have tried the floating sticks and my fish loved them and they are definitely a food i would use if not so expensive. i just ordered a lb of kens cichlid pellets and an lb of kens krill pellets and combined was about 10$ which is awesome so well see how the fish like them.

My new pike ate half an algae wafer the other day so I know it will take pellets but it needs sinkers because it will not compete to surface feed. So the sinking Carnivore should work out great with an easy transition to Massivore when she gets bigger.

I think I might just try out some Kens one of these days too. The prices are pretty good.

D i LOVE hikari. use it for everything, along with NLS, omega, and freshly hatched BBS. i just wish theyd make discus formula in a larger pellet as my fish LOVE this stuff.

Wow that discus formula has a LOT of protein.

Crude Protein 50.0% min.
Crude Fat 12.0% min.
Crude Fiber 3.0% max.
Moisture 10.0% max.
Ash 1.0% max.

Massivore has only like 47%

I should have started all the fish on that discus formula, they would have bulked up quick!

yeah its good for bulk up and has all the color pigments youd want as well (discus need to be pretty) i use it on my peacock growouts as well. but like i said its tiny stuff and ur gravel would eat it up. maybe adding it to a gel formula could work well idk.

Got the new food in and tried it out last night. The fish acted like they hadn't ate in days and chowed on it like there was no tomorrow.

I think the appeal to the Oscars was the fact they have been fed small pellets and the sticks were beefier yet softer. The sev also like the food sticks. The sinking carnivore pellet was mainly with the pike in mind, I have not got it to eat pellets. But then all I had was floating. It has eaten goodies like worms and krill but I want it to eat pellets as a staple. So time to try to break it and get in on pellets. The parrot loved the carnivore and ate well. I dont think these items will be a total replacement for my Omega One just a mix in the diet so that the fish do not get too finicky or picky.

Man... my Pike sneaks up on the floating pellets, then strikes hard, sometimes hitting the tank lid, and startling me . Try a Garlic suppliment, makes fish eat anything. soak the pellets in Garlic (the kind made for fish) then watch the feeding frenzy.

My pike is pretty shy still. She just wont try and compete against the aggressive feeders. I do have some of the garlic stuff, just have not used it in a while so I will give it a shot. I completely forgot about using it! Thanks for the reminder.

garlic always works

I have had success with healthy fish but I originally bought it to coax some sick fish to eat. They apparently were too far gone to even be enticed by garlic.

thats pretty gone.

Just a follow up on the Hikari Food Sticks.

The fish totally devour the stuff. I have no issue with acceptance, they immediately took to it and love it. The problem.... It causes my water to smell! I thought it was just me and then I read on another forum someone else commented on this same issue. Its not like there is much wasted food, all the fish except the smaller Oscar eat it up without issue. The small Oscar grinds it up a bit but the small silver dollars tend to get the pieces. After I finish up the bag I might try something else because the water gets really stinky!

Since this is a food topic, noticed some sales this weekend.

Was on Pet Mountain's web site and they now carry the Xtreme Aquatic Foods.
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They also have free shipping this weekend with a $49 purchase instead of $75. Just use the code: MEMORIAL

Aqua Cave where I get my Omega One (Sells NLS) also has a sale going 10% off with code: MD10
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They have $4.95 shipping all the time.