# Tropical fish food



## Mean Harri (Dec 14, 2009)

Just wondering what ya'll use. Specifically for small Tetras and cory cats. 
Are the typical store brands good food?
I was thinking about ordering food from Kensfish. I don't know much about fish food. Dog and cat food I can tell you all you want to know. Fish food? pffft I got nothing.

Comment/discuss


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## Angel079 (Feb 14, 2007)

I like using mixes (also on my Tetra tank yes) various frozen foods; mini pellets and flakes.

I used to always buy Tetra foods; but recently just for the heck of it ordered at Petsolution anyway and ordered their brand of the mini pellets and lemme tell ya any & all tank mates are all over that stuff when I feed them that.

Any & All brands are very balances food sources these days but what I find best is really mixing a bunch different foods so they're not doomed to 1 diet only, know what I mean?


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## Mean Harri (Dec 14, 2009)

Just came across this site. Anyone ever hear of/use it? Natural Tropical Fish Food - Fish Food Online Store


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## iamntbatman (Jan 3, 2008)

For prepared foods, brands like Omega One, Nutrafin and Ocean Nutrition are pretty much the top of the heap. Certain Hikari prepared foods are also very good. Middle of the road brands include Tetra and Wardley. The bottom shelf stuff is pretty much store brand (Top Fin) and is junk. I try to get the top shelf stuff when it's on sale in large quantities, but I use middle of the road stuff for things like algae wafers and shrimp pellets that the top brands don't make (or if they do, I haven't seen them). Compare the ingredients in Omega One pellets (Whole salmon, whole herring, whole shrimp) to Top Fin (Fish meal, ground brown rice, dried yeast). I like Hikari for frozen foods but I get those Sally's flat packs for brine shrimp.

My "normal" fish, i.e. the ones that readily eat prepared foods, get prepared foods for every meal of the week except for two or three. The type depends on the fish, or sometimes I just switch it up for the heck of it. Flakes and pellets, sinking pellets/wafers for bottom feeders, etc. I have a few stubborn fish that only eat frozen and live foods so I have to feed those accordingly. Also, veggie-eating fish get fresh veggies once a week or so.

Basically, variety is the spice of life.

Edit: I've also heard good things about thatfishplace's store brand.


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## Mean Harri (Dec 14, 2009)

Thanks batman. I've also read that New Life Spectrum is supposed to be some top shelf stuff as well. I don't know who sells it though. I'll have to dig around.


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## aunt kymmie (Jun 2, 2008)

New Life Spectrum is one of the foods I feed. I consider it one of the "top shelf" brands. If you can find it get the Spectrum Thera + A by New Life. I like it as it contains garlic.


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## Mean Harri (Dec 14, 2009)

I checked out Omega One's sight. They have a Marine garlic but say it can be used with FW fish as well. They seem really high end. I may try that route. NLS too. I need to look.


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## iamntbatman (Jan 3, 2008)

Whoops, forgot that one. NLS is good stuff, too. Unfortunately the one LFS that sells it around here went out of business so I don't have any of their foods anymore.


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## 1077 (Apr 16, 2008)

Can't find a single store in my area that carries New Life Spectrum. I usually mix a variety of freezedried and flake foods for tetras ,,by several different brand names,, into rubbermaid or tuppeware container and store in fridge. 
For cory's it's mostly frozen foods offered at night after lights out along with what they find after feeding the other fish during the day. All fish are fed once a day with exception of guppy fry.


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## JohnnyD44 (Dec 5, 2008)

I'm glad I read up on here...I might change the food I use...ever since i started this hobby I use the plain and simple "Tetra Color" flakes......

I might step it up and maybe my fish will be healthier and grow faster!


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## iamntbatman (Jan 3, 2008)

You might also notice how much more enthusiastic fish are about eating the higher quality foods. Mine chomp down on Omega One but turn up their noses at Tetra these days, the little snobs. Haha.


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## Pep (Dec 29, 2009)

I have been using the NLS pellets and the Omega flakes so far. My fish are ok with the flakes but they seem to love the pellets especially the cherry barbs and the dwarf neon rainbows. I fed them frozen bloodworms for the first time on Monday and they went wild over them once they figured out what they were. And yesterday they were fed, also for the first time, freeze dried brine shrimp that I had soaked for a while. That turned into an all out feeding frenzy so I guess they liked it 

What are Sallys flat packs for brine shrimp bat? Do they come in little frozen pockets like Hikari blood worms?


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## iamntbatman (Jan 3, 2008)

Flat packs are the packages that just contain a big frozen slab of whatever it is as opposed to the cubes. The cubes are pretty nice but are hard to divide up into smaller pieces so in some cases I prefer the flat packs. They're also usually cheaper by weight than the cubes. Sally's is just a name brand. Currently I have Sally's brine and krill and Hikari blood worms and mysis.


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## Pep (Dec 29, 2009)

Thanks Batman. I found some Hikari frozen brine shrimp cubes last night before I read this so bought them. I read on a number of places that frozen is better than freeze dried and it makes sense to me. I'll check into the flat packs after these are done. I'll have to check into krill and mysis as well. Always good to give the fish variety is my belief. Make sure to cover different needs that way plus we like variety so why wouldn't they :-D


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## Mikaila31 (Dec 18, 2008)

I've been using Hikari micro pellets that Petsmart pricematched for me at $3 a bag. I bough like 4-5 bags over a year ago. I also have been feeding hikari algae and cory waffers. I have a tub of the NLS small fish forumla I've used a little, but tossed it in the freezer a week ago since I got to use up the Hikari stuff first. I bought two large anglefish over a month ago and they needed bigger food. I ordered from Kensfish.com, cuz I see this stuff at the local fish auctions. I was also out of algae wafers, so I needed those. I ordered 1.5lbs of food for $20! So far it is working great, though the fish defiantly new there was a difference between hikari and the Ken's stuff. They digg into both of them now like they always do. 

So I have over 2lbs of fish food now, that will probably last me 4 years:lol:. Its all in the chest freezer right now. I use the RX med bottles to hold fish food I'm actually using ATM, then refill them from the freezer when they are empty. That way everything stays fresh.

I'll defiantly be sticking with the Ken's stuff, NLS and Hikari might be a little better but the cost is not worth it IMO. Kens "premium super color crumble #1" is almost a copy of Hikari micro pellets except with higher protein and fat. Not all Ken's food contains garlic, which may be why my fish were kinda wary of it at first. NLS and Hikari both have garlic which is a appetite stimulant( and immune system stimulant).


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## Mean Harri (Dec 14, 2009)

Great info. Thanks all. For some reason I really enjoy the research and knowledge about animal feeds in general. I educated myself about dog food some years ago. Same with cat food. Now it's fish food. Fish food is a bit different but not much. 
Oldfishlady posted somewhere around here about a fresh garlic/blanched spinach/shrimp mix that she makes, freezes and breaks off what she needs to feed to the fish. I'd like to try that.


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## aunt kymmie (Jun 2, 2008)

Mean Harri said:


> Great info. Thanks all. For some reason I really enjoy the research and knowledge about animal feeds in general. I educated myself about dog food some years ago. Same with cat food. Now it's fish food. Fish food is a bit different but not much.
> Oldfishlady posted somewhere around here about a fresh garlic/blanched spinach/shrimp mix that she makes, freezes and breaks off what she needs to feed to the fish. I'd like to try that.


I'm going to try the same.


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## Mean Harri (Dec 14, 2009)

*Update*

Just wanted to throw an update out there and an observation. 
I was using Aqueon food that was sent free from Drs Foster and Smith just to get my fish and tank started.
I recently purchased Omega One freshwater flake, Omega One super color small pellets, and their freeze dried Mysis shrimp.

The flake food is not like what I was using. Meaning, it is not like other "cheaper" brands that use cheap ingredients. While this food was not expensive, in my opinion, it is made of high quality ingredients and with real whole fish, not meals. It is for that reason I have noticed a complete difference when feeding. Cheaper made flake is easily disintegrated in the water. My fish could take a larger sized flake and inhale it easily. With this new flake, and because it is made with "real meat", not carbs and starches, the fish can not inhale a larger sized flake. They have to work on it a bit. Keep in mind I have Silver tip Tetras. They are small to begin with. 

The Aqueon flake could also be compared to brands that are normally seen on the shelves of Walmart, Petsmart, etc... I did get the Omeaga One at Petsmart, however. Yes, they sell it. It is by far a superior food to mostly everything out there. New Life Spectrum is also another top shelf food. NLS does however, use "fish meals".

The Omega One flake smells like real meat. It's texture is much more substantial in both feeling it, looking at it, smelling it, and observing it in the tank. I would caution anyone who may try this product, or any top shelf product, because of its better quality the consumption rate is a little slower. The fish have to work a little longer to consume the same amount. Therefore caution to your feeding rate allowing the fish to consume it before adding more is crucial. Not adding too much at once can prevent over feeding. I can see in my observations how overfeeding by switching to a more substantial ingredient based food could be easily done.


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