# saltwater food to freshwater fish?



## RCinAL (Nov 14, 2010)

I have been searching for some small, sinking, *soft, *_freshwater_ pellets for a good while. I am tired of watching my small bottom feeders (Cory, Clown Loaches, Red Tailed Shark - all just babies) struggle for what seems like an eternity to try and consume those "concrete" shrimp pellets in the pink ziplock bag, which is all there is to buy around here. The smallest size is still huge for my particular fish and they usually just give up, probably from raw, bleeding lips :-(. I eventually have to vacuum most of it back out uneaten. 

The only _soft_ pellets I can find locally are for _saltwater_ fish. Does it matter? What's the big difference? There must be 5 different kinds of soft _saltwater_ pellets at the store, but none at all for _freshwater_ fish. 
What gives?:dunno:

I thought about soaking them in water for a while before tossing them in. Anybody tried this? They seem to stay hard as a rock till I have to vacuum them out so I have mixed feelings about doing it.

Thanks.


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## cbirk (Feb 5, 2010)

for my yoyo loaches and rainbow shark, I have a rotating diet of tropical flakes, tropical fish granuals which seem to float and sink haha, and frozen blood worms. You might also look into getting frozen baby brine shrimp. they are pretty small and once de-thawed are very easy for them to eat.

I also toss in some shrimp pellets every couple of days too, but my fish are adult 5-6 in long, so they don't have any problems with them.

Not sure on the salt water fish food. I would guess that it would contain vitamins and minerals needed specifically by salt water fish. I don't think it would be bad to feed them this if you had too, but I think having it as part of the regular diet would ultimately not do well for the fish. Thats just an educated guess though.


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## RCinAL (Nov 14, 2010)

cbirk said:


> for my yoyo loaches and rainbow shark, I have a rotating diet of tropical flakes, tropical fish granuals which seem to float and sink haha, and frozen blood worms. You might also look into getting frozen baby brine shrimp. they are pretty small and once de-thawed are very easy for them to eat.
> 
> I also toss in some shrimp pellets every couple of days too, but my fish are adult 5-6 in long, so they don't have any problems with them.
> 
> Not sure on the salt water fish food. I would guess that it would contain vitamins and minerals needed specifically by salt water fish. I don't think it would be bad to feed them this if you had too, but I think having it as part of the regular diet would ultimately not do well for the fish. Thats just an educated guess though.


Thanks for the input. I do feed all those foods you mentioned. But I am looking for a staple dry food for these fish that sinks and is easy for their little mouths to deal with. They LOVE the shrimp pellets, but it is just painful to watch them work so hard. And for some reason they don't go after flaked food with any real "gusto".

Anybody else know of a soft sinking freshwater pellet?


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## aunt kymmie (Jun 2, 2008)

You can always try feeding Ocean Nutrition's Formula Two. It's fresh frozen, sinks and is soft. I have a number of very juvenile dwarf cichlids, along with dwarf chain loaches and they are all too tiny to be able to get into eating the sinking wafers before my other adult fish get to it. 
Even though it's a saltwater formula IMHO I think it's fine to feed this food to community fish. If you read the ingredient list it's really not that different than other high quality freshwater foods.

PS. I also feed New Life Spectrum Thera-A small fish formula. These are the tinest of the sinking granules I've been able to find and even my little guys can handle them.


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## badxgillen (Aug 20, 2010)

*hmmm*

i dont know if this helps but i feed salt water foods to my fresh water and vice versa and have succesfully kept ,raised,and bred many differnt fishes and invertabrates over the years..in my opinion if it is high quality food and contains the proper vitamins nutrients and protiens ,fiber,and fat you should be good to go...so i say go for it.


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## RCinAL (Nov 14, 2010)

Thanks guys. I think I will try it. These fish get a great variety of foods anyway and I just can't see where adding another easy to eat food to their diets will harm them. It isn't like this all they will get.

BTW, badxgillen,

My Dwarf frogs are doing great on the food you recommended. Thay have put on much weight and as a result have become much better feeders in general. Thanks again!

I also added a clawed frog. Found one locally. It was the only one they had. He is about the same size as the dwarfs now and in the same tank, but I know I will have to relocate him as soon as he grows a bit. At the moment they are all getting along fine though. He loves the food you recommended also.


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## badxgillen (Aug 20, 2010)

*awsome*

thats really cool..i really want one but i would have to find it localy too wich is rare..do you have pics of the lil guy.


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## RCinAL (Nov 14, 2010)

badxgillen said:


> thats really cool..i really want one but i would have to find it localy too wich is rare..do you have pics of the lil guy.


I know this is sad this day and age, but I don't have the equipment to post pics on-line yet. I gave $8.99 for it at the local "mom and pop" LFS. We have a pretty good one in town. It is better than the chains but a bit more expensive and harder to get to. I use them every chance I get though to support the "little guys" in the business who have been here for us for so long and now must compete with the giant chain stores moving in. 

My clawed frog appears to be a male, but I could be wrong. He is very young. It is the dark, natural color. They did have 1 more on hand - an albino for $12.99. I just never warmed up to albino-colored critters though and chose to wait on another natural for the better price. The owner said he gets them in from time to time and to check back in a few weeks. Right now his body is about an inch long, but he is much more robust and thicker in the legs than the dwarfs. He isn't shy at all and really goes for the food, just like I remember my clawed frogs from the past. If you have never had one I would say by all means give them a try if you can. They are tamer in general than dwarfs and have a bit more personality. They do get bigger though and will eventually need more space.

Ralph


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## badxgillen (Aug 20, 2010)

*frogs*

i totaly agree about the mom and pops stores...ours has reasonale prices some higher than others but the livestock cant be beat..as well as the service...not a big fan of designer colors either...question? do the clawed frogs have a tendancy to climb out..not iimportant as i dont have one yet.but was wondering.it turns out that these frogs have most likely been banned for import to all the local fish stores here so i will have to wait for a captive raised one or a random event that places it in my care..got my fingers crossed..


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## RCinAL (Nov 14, 2010)

badxgillen said:


> i totaly agree about the mom and pops stores...ours has reasonale prices some higher than others but the livestock cant be beat..as well as the service...not a big fan of designer colors either...question? *do the clawed frogs have a tendancy to climb out*..not iimportant as i dont have one yet.but was wondering.it turns out that these frogs have most likely been banned for import to all the local fish stores here so i will have to wait for a captive raised one or a random event that places it in my care..got my fingers crossed..


*YES...* They will definitely escape from the smallest openings. And since they are completely aquatic, escape means death. I have lost every one I ever kept to this dilemma. You simply must have a frog tank with low water, or a very secure hood. Because of this I became obsessed with having a totally secure hood on all my tanks and now work diligently to make it happen. Absolutely nothing will escape from my tank again. 

I also saw where your state was added to the list of states that have outlawed their _sale_. Does this also mean you couldn't get one as a _gift _? Is it illegal there to own one_ period_ ?:dunno: I would be glad to _give_ you a frog or 2 if it wasn't illegal to do so. PM me.


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## redchigh (Jan 20, 2010)

Just do the research and see whats in it.

Fish meal- fine for freshwater.
Marine algae- fine for freshwater
frozen freshwater fish- fine for freshwater.

Pretty much the only thing I would worry about is frozen marine fish and inverts... Cyclops, bloodworms, tubifex, blackworms, etc are fine.

You could even use live blackworms... I be they'd go crazy. Feed them the occasional algae tablet, and they'll have a fairly balanced diet.


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## RCinAL (Nov 14, 2010)

RCinAL said:


> *YES...* They will definitely escape from the smallest openings. And since they are completely aquatic, escape means death. I have lost every one I ever kept to this dilemma. You simply must have a frog tank with low water, or a very secure hood. Because of this I became obsessed with having a totally secure hood on all my tanks and now work diligently to make it happen. Absolutely nothing will escape from my tank again.
> 
> I also saw where your state was added to the list of states that have outlawed their _sale_. Does this also mean you couldn't get one as a _gift _? Is it illegal there to own one_ period_ ?:dunno: I would be glad to _give_ you a frog or 2 if it wasn't illegal to do so. PM me.


UPDATE... I just read that it is illegal to _buy, sell, own_, or even _transport_ them in Oregon without a permit. 

And on the same page I also read that Grow-a-frog Kits (tadpoles) can be shipped to all 50 states! Who knows :dunno:. Don't think I would be able to risk it though.


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## badxgillen (Aug 20, 2010)

*what*

AAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW MAAAAAAAAAAANNNN!!!!!!!!!!....i will find a way...i have heard of people with them here...and i presume they are breedable so we will see...or maybe i wil get an educational kit for my son...ha


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## RCinAL (Nov 14, 2010)

badxgillen said:


> AAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW MAAAAAAAAAAANNNN!!!!!!!!!!....i will find a way...i have heard of people with them here...and i presume they are breedable so we will see...or maybe i wil get an educational kit for my son...ha


If they will ship it to you, the Grow-a-frog kits are unconditionally guaranteed to produce a healthy frog. I would do it in a heartbeat if it was the only way to get one. Google it.

I would certainly have picked you up a nice one and shipped it if I could. I had already dug out the live fish styrofoam shipping container I had been saving for just such an opportunity. If you find a loop-hole let me know.

Ralph


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## badxgillen (Aug 20, 2010)

*thank*

im on it ...thanks for the info and the genuine kindness..


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