Let's Talk About Fish Food

Hi Everyone!

Let's talk about fish food. There are so many products and types out there, so the possibilities for everyone's preferences are quite diverse. Are you mostly feeding flakes/pellets with extra treats? Are your extra treats often? Do your fish have a favorite treat? Do you generally only feed brine shrimp to get your fish in the mood for breeding? Have you found a favorite food to "perk up" your fish when they look like they need a bit extra or if they are healing from an injury? Do you make your own fish food?

I make my own mix from various brands.

I use Dainichi, NLS, Omega One and Ken's. I mix them all together pour some in a small airtight container that I keep beside my tanks. The balance is vacuum sealed and put in the freezer. The fish love to have a mix of all kinds of stuff. It almost seems like some prefer certain things over others. They all have great color and grow really well.

As a treat a few times a week I feed grindal worms. I culture about 6 small containers of them so I never have a short supply. Speaking of I need to go feed the worms. I feed them the same food the fish eat. Pumping them full of all those nutrients. They love it too. I generally just pick out the flakes and spurilina.

No problems with breeding they never stop.

I also mix several different pellet foods together. At least 8-10 diff brands. Once or twice a week I will feed freeze dried krill, plankton, shrimp, worms, mysis. I also give a treat of frozen blood worms, brine shrimp, mysis, krill. Yesterday some of them got lives night crawlers. And I have also made my own fish food, which I am going to make again this weekend. Haven t made any in about a year, so its time again.

To promote breeding? I guess all of what I feed works, my fish are always spawning.

I feed pellets in the morning before work and then when I get home. I am using Omega One cichlid pellets in small, medium and large sizes with a small sinking in the mix. I also use the Omega One algae wafers. I give a treat at night usually bait type earthworms, night crawlers or a frozen bloodworm, brine shrimp or other. I also love to get a dozen or so live crickets and watch the feeding frenzy. They love the crunchy little things!

So when I first started fish keeping everyone said Hikari was the best brand, has that opinion changed? So most of my foods are hikari brand but I do have a couple omega one foods too but mostly Hikari.

My goldies get fed either an algae wafer, piece of seaweed or some kelp flakes and then they also get some goldfish pellets. The rest of the fish are fed Hikari micro pellets, tiny pinch of flakes, some shrimp pellets, a tiny piece of algae disc is given(from the goldies wafer) and then every night I reach into the freezer and pull out whatever my fingers touch. Some times it's blood worms, mysis, brine, ect... and I melt one cube in a cup of water and disperse ot between all the tanks.

I usually buy all my non frozen food in tiny containers(except the goldfish)so that the food doesn't go bad before I can use it but I've got frozen food up the ying yang. I think if someone ever opened my freezers they'd be shocked by all the dead rodents(these belong to my snake medusa), worms and invertebrates that currently reside in it.

So I guess you could say I treat heavily as far as far as frozen foods go but the food they don't get as often is freeze dried tubiflex worms, mainly cause I never remember to give it to them So maybe I spoil my fish a little, they're good fish and shouldn't be forced to eat the same thing every day.

I would like to start making my own veggie puree for the goldies, not really a lot of frozen veggie food choice to buy.

Hikari has got a lot of bad press because of the use of MSG in their fish foods. Does not mean it is a bad product or that there are even issues, just the public's perception.

I use Omega One because it is very reasonably priced if bought on-line and my fish took to it pretty quickly. I recently ran out of the Omega One algae wafers and got some Hikari instead. I could not even break these up, they were like rock. When I put them in the tank my pleco would not even go near them. The Omega One wafers easily break apart by hand and the pleco comes out as soon as they hit the water. Even my big Midas enjoys chowing on these from time to time.

Ive tried NLS also and its not a bad product but the increase in color with the exclusive 10 day feeding is kind of a joke. This is not a miracle in a jar, maybe over a longer extended period you will notice a difference but the whole 10 day thing (I followed to the letter, NO other foods were provided during that time) not believable. Otherwise good product that the fish seemed to take to pretty well but costs a bit more than the Omega One.

The product I really want to try is the Extreme Aquatics foods. I just cant get any sample product to try.

I know what you mean about the hikari algae wafers, takes forever for them to soak but in the case of my goldfish it's actually kinda nice cause it keeps them occupied, they're constantly moving it around and eating it as it softens but as for smaller fish I can see why them soaking so slow can be sucky. But yeah I didn't know about the msg, the only bad juju I've heard about Hikari was the betta pellets, something about them changing the recipe and it not being as nutritious or something.

I just want to feed them the best,

My favorite food to feed hands down are earthworms. I love watching a male trying to pig out as every fish chases him trying to get the other half sticking out of his mouth. mmmmm carnage

i feed a mixture of pellets and sticks to my bigger cichlids, along with some dither fry, my other tanks are all mostly fed micro worms that i grow or a mixture of algea disks, or plant matter that i grow in my other tanks in particular frogbit, my severems will eat the entire root structure of these plants and i can grow a tank full every other week so its a constant food source. i make sure that all my food does not contain any copper. all in all i guess i grow most my food

Had to do it... must post pics

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So here is the stuff I am currently using. Tried to take pictures of worms but they kept crawling out of the frame...

Well I just spent 4 hours making my own food, and now it is sitting in the fridge thickening. Tomorrow I will spread it out on cookie sheets and then back into the fridge. Sunday they will get scored and stuck in the freezer. Hopefully ready for fish to try Sunday night for dinner.

How do you make your own food? what do you put in it?

My best guess would be to blanch veggies and puree them slightly,

madness and I were just talking about this the other evening. Most DIY recipes call for a gelatin to be used to hold all the items together. He made a batch without and it was messy but the fish loved it. Later he made another batch with the gelatin and they did not want it.

There are a lot of recipes out there and people use many different veggies, vitamins and meats. Look at what is found in fish foods and now imagine a mix of the real stuff, no processed stuff going on. You can use tilapia, shrimp, prawn, squid, beef heart, etc...

Madness will have to get on here and finish off with his recipe, but remember he is not responsible for what may happen.... (He has a ton of breeding fish, so something is getting them in the mood, besides the water!)

DMD123 wrote:madness and I were just talking about this the other evening. Most DIY recipes call for a gelatin to be used to hold all the items together. He made a batch without and it was messy but the fish loved it. Later he made another batch with the gelatin and they did not want it.

There are a lot of recipes out there and people use many different veggies, vitamins and meats. Look at what is found in fish foods and now imagine a mix of the real stuff, no processed stuff going on. You can use tilapia, shrimp, prawn, squid, beef heart, etc...

Madness will have to get on here and finish off with his recipe, but remember he is not responsible for what may happen.... (He has a ton of breeding fish, so something is getting them in the mood, besides the water!)

OMG You couldnt have hit the nail on the head any more directly. OK first a quick spawning update only cause'D' brought it up. Hogas, Carpintis, Zonatus, & Red Isletas all have free swimmers now. Just noticed that my WC white male Xilo has spawned with his new mate, a barred red Xilo. And just 15 min ago I noticed my female Festae laying eggs in the pot. Stupid B*****, the male is on the other side of the divider. DAH!!! So I quickly moved the divider in hopes that he will instantly get in the mood, (I mean hell, It works for us) So I guess we will see if it is successful.

As for the recipe of what I use. Well it all cost me 67$. The food should last a few months. Veggies are: spinach, green beans, peas, carrots, beats, zucchini.
Meats are: shrimp, prawns, clams, tilapia steaks, cod steaks, krill, scallops, squid, and beef heart.

Daily vitamins, vitamin c, fish pellets, whole garlic clove, and I think thats it.

Hey what about that secret ingredient, you know those "special" little blue pills... the ones that put the fish in the mood.

I work with a couple of foods. NLS, HBH super soft for good staples. Brine shrimp with spirilina, Romian lettuce, seaweed paper for treats cause they get em on the regular. My fish er' Fat and Happy! )

Now the Dovii are spawning. Got to be the food or the water. Or both?

Very Interesting People!

Hobbyorobsession - kudos for growing your own food.

Madness - my vote is that it's in the food. So - is it the ratio? Or the content?

Who else makes thier own food? Either by growing it, mixing dry goods or mixing "from scratch"? And what is your favorite component of your mix?

Just fed my wonder food to my fish tonight for dinner. With mixed opinions from all of them. My Umbees looked like they didnt care for it. All the fry loved it. The 300 gallon had mixed reviews, and the parachromis tank along with the vieja/parachromis tank devoured it. My grow outs loved it also. My hoga and zonatus parents along with the isletas, xilos and devil parents, didnt eat it at all. And the festae grow out tank also had mixed reviews. But my sons African tank loved it. OOOPS did I say that last part?

But I figured it may be tough to get them all to accept something new and different. I think I will feed it at breakfast time also. They will learn to eat their vegetables.

learning to eat veggies is always tough

Interesting that not all fish love the wonder food at first bite. I don't know enough about cichlids to know if it's a species food preference. Of course there are all types of personality of fish. Do you tend to follow the same recipe each time you make it? Have the fish been eating the made mix since you have had them or do you change up foods?

Same recipe for the most part. But have not made it for about 6 months. My blender blew up last time, so I said that I would not make it again until I could afford a good food processor. So it has been awhile since they (my long time family members) have eaten the food. The new members have never tried it.

But all-in-all I think it went well.

DMD123 wrote:

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I use almost the same line-up, but I try to add fresh vegetables whenever possible.

Great topic btw. I'll be checking frequently to see how your DIY fish food turns out Madness!

Well, I fed the family the homemade food for breakfast. With poor & good results again. The 300 acted like they were not hungry. Still none of my pairs that are in their own tank, touched it. My Vieja/Paratheraps tank, and my Parachromis tank devoured it again. All of my grow outs and babies, loved it still also. My Dovi and Festae were not impressed. So, looks like a work in progress for the big fish, but a wonderful success with the little ones.

I suggest the rest better start liking it, cause thats all they are getting to eat until they do.

For fun I got 25 large crickets and the fish just went to town on them. So a fun little treat!

Have been looking at trying the Xtreme aquatics foods and possibly Dainichi foods.

Massivore, NLS cichlid, frozen blood worms and frozen mysis.

Sometimes I toss in some shrimp or tilapia.

Algae wafers and cucumbers for the bottom feeders.

In nature these fish would not have many of the items found in fish foods. What I think is a missing element in fish foods is... Insects! Thats why I try to use the crickets as occasional snacks. I have been thinking about using the freeze dried crickets that are sold for reptiles, the instructions do say that they can be used for fish. Why are insects not used in fish foods? It is a primary food item for many fish.

Nightcrawlers make my fish explode in size. When I had a runt in my 75, I would feed him(miss ya trimac) a worm every day.. a week and a half in and he started fighting back

I use nightcrawlers too. I have had great success with them. The fish seem to readily take them and yep good growth by using this as a food item.

I went ahead and ordered some Xtreme to try out. You can go through Facebook and order the stuff as a sample size. It is a half a pound bag for $10, which includes shipping. Not too bad a price... will see if the fish will eat it.

Here is the link for those interested: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I just ordered another 5lb bucket of NLS for $50 w/free ship from Petsolutions.com. $10 per lb is not a bad deal.

Not a bad deal at all.

I have tried NLS already and was not blown away by the product. The claim of the color enhancement with a 10 day exclusive feeding is bunk. I used up the container and even went through a second before I switched back to Omega One.

The funny thing is I think the differences in food are pretty minor. You could not do any type of controlled testing to prove one product is better than another. This was an issue I brought out on MFK with the big NLS nut RD. He had to concede on that one and then started talking about the product with saltwater fish. I still have to go back to my original idea that a lot of the aquarium fish we keep have a high insect diet. These insects eat plant matter so essentially are gut loaded with the veggies fish need. So why do foods not contain them in it?

Where exactly is a Central American cichlid going to have access in nature to: herring, krill, salmon, etc...?

Follow up on the Xtreme.

Got the food I ordered quickly. So no problems that way.

I can tell you this I should not have listened to the person at Xtreme about the pellet size. They suggested the Pee Wee (1.5mm) for my 6"+ fish and my fish dont even see it. It is way too small for them! I was also expecting a slower sinking pellet but nope these start sinking as soon as they hit the water.

This was basically a useless purchase at this point, will not work in the big tank with the fish in there. So I will save it for whatever I growout or raise in my 29g. This is why I wanted a smaller sample to try , so that I wouldnt sit on $10 worth of food. Takes a long time to use up the little tiny pellets like these. Oh well more motivation to grow something out.

I feel ya DMD I feel the same way about the Omega marine pellets I purchased. The fish from the last order eat it but the 75 gallon is not impressed.

I use a mix of the the small, medium and large Omega One floating cichlid pellets and no problem. The sinking Omega One small cichlid pellets are just like the marine, just a little bit too small. You think they should at least be the same size as the floating.

Just thought I'd share. My mothers betta got a little spoiled and the only thing I could get him to eat was either frozen blood worms or tubiflex worms, had to be shaped like a worm. I knew he wasn't getting the nutrition he needed(despite his remarkable healing, we bought him as a white betta and he's almost all the way black now with green and red sheen ) I also have a newly acquired betta that is on the picky side(probably from not feeling too well). Anyways I've been trying several different brands of pellet foods with rejection after rejection. So last night when I was at the store I caved and bought some omega one betta buffet flakes(I prefer feeding pellets) well as soon as they hit the water they were devoured by every single betta. None of the bettas spit it out once. I've tried flake foods on my bettas before but they never seemed to want it but with the omega one there was no hesitation. Well worth the money spent(I think I paid $4 for .42oz) It certainly will be nice to not have to thaw out blood worms every single night.

I like the Omega One products. I recently switched my betta over to it also, but went with the pellets.

I didn't see any omega one pellets or I would have bought those instead. I'm always worried about swim bladder disease with the bettas and goldfish which is why I opt for pellets. But I guess flakes once or twice a week won't harm them. I usually almost always thaw out frozen food every night but I needed something that the bettas could eat when I wanted to feed the fish shrimp or beef heart.

I got my pellets at Petco. But I think Petsmart has them too. They just hide them over by the betta and not in the regular food.

Petsmart is where I was at, haven't been to petco for years, The brand they had by the bettas was either HBH or tetra, can't remember which and they're huge pellets, seemed the only bettas large enough to eat them were the dragon scale bettas, the rest of the bettas were too small to eat them so they sat in the bottom of the cups getting fuzzy. Which has presented another problem for me when I was looking for a food for them is that most brands of pellets were too big for some of my small bettas. I used to use Hikari betta pellets and my large/normal sized males could eat them but my females and small males couldn't so I just started feeding frozen worms every night.

I decided to try something new on my fish and bought some Tetra Color Crisps. Very impressed with how the fish go for it. Also it is a little more durable than a standard flake so there does not seem to be as much wasted food. I have decide to try some different types of food on my fish in an endeavor to make them less picky.

I have a small can of those, although it's almost empty. My fish seem to enjoy them too but the next can of flake I buy will be of a higher quality brand.

My fish will be eating flake for a very short period of time. They will be moved on to pellets as soon as possible. The pellets are just slightly large for them at this point so I decided to mix in the flake. I really like the Omega One products and if I were to feed flake I would use it.

My fish are not fond of the Tetra products. I end feeding it to the worms that I feed to my fish. The problem is I have oodles of it. The worms love it and the fish love the worms so I guess it is not that big of a problem.

My last group of fish did not like brine shrimp or hikari products. This time around I might try to get a lot more variety in their diet by mixing brands together to feed.

Well, they should love everything, cause I fed them at least a dozen or more different foods. Flakes, freeze dried, frozen, home made, pellets (hikari 6 diff types, nls, xtreame, omega, tetra, azoo, 3 more brands that i buy in bulk, gold fish vegies and fruits) They shouldn't be too picky.

The fish are doing well with the Tetra Color Crisps, Omega One small pellet (slightly too big), frozen brine shrimp, frozen bloodworms and small earthworms.

The only ones seeming to have issues are the zonatus which hides after be bashed his head in a mad dash. He hides by the spraybars near the top. The other one is the bocourti which swims along the back wall like it is fascinated swimming with its reflection, not showing interest in anything right now. (ate earthworms the first night)

Still trying to get the fish to stop getting spooked so easily. The hoga and red devils are still real jumpy and they get the silver dollars and others going. The synspilum is totally turning out awesome, very bold, personable and eats like a pig.

I decided to order Xtreme to try on my little fish. I had given my last batch away because it was too little for my fish. Who knew I would be back in the position that I was raising little fish again?

Here is an interesting chart on fish food: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Of course each company has its own way to make their product look better. I did find it interesting that the product I normally use (Omega One) had all the "good" ingredients.

the ingredients list on omega one are legit. love all the whole foods listed. my fish love it

fishman09 wrote:the ingredients list on omega one are legit. love all the whole foods listed. my fish love it

Unless you talk with RD, who has nothing but bad to say about it!