Best Foods

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Fishy Smell

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Sep 24, 2012
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465
Ive been on the lookout for a while for foods that bring out the best colours and growth in my cichlids and i think ive stumbled across some great ones. I'm currently using Hikari sinking carnivore pellets and Hikari floating food sticks (for carnivores). They all love it, the colours are great and the growth seems more noticeable. Only been using for a few weeks.
Has anyone else had good results from this and does anyone have any other good suggestions?

Other stuff i use that go down well are Tetra colour enhancing flakes, NLS, cichlid gold and King British freeze dried Tubifex, but i'm finding this stuff even better.


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NLS is the best stuff out there, cobalt and some other brands can be considered a close second. I love my Thera A though!!


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check out kens fish they sell most of these brands plus there own , my fish love there green crumbles , 52% protein and alga is the second ingretiant
they have color pelets real cheap and krill and shrip cheap
shipping is high because it is sent priority but its not bad if you order a few types of fod
pellets run $3.50/1/2 lb

this is the web address for the color pellets

Ken's Premium Super Color Pellets 1.5mm
 
Same here - Thera A all the way.

However, if I could get Northfin food I would switch from NLS.

All you have to do is examine the ingredient list and you'll see the difference between a high quality diet and a poor quality diet.


Here is tetras color enhancing flakes

Fish Meal, Ground Brown Rice, Dried Yeast, Shrimp Meal, Wheat Gluten, Potato Protein, Feeding Oat Meal, Soybean Oil, Fish Oil, Algae Meal, Sorbitol, Lecithin, Ascorbic Acid, Inositol, Niacin, Riboflavin-5-Phosphate, A-Tocopherol-Acetate, D-Calcium-Pantothenate, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Vitamin A Palmitate, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex, Cyanocobalamin, Cholecalciferol, Blue 2 Lake, Canthaxanthin, Red 3 Dye, Yellow 5 Lake, Yellow 6 Lake, Ethoxyquin.


Here's northfins community food

Ingredients: Whole Antarctic Krill Meal, High Omega-3 (DHA) Herring Meal, Whole Sardine Meal, Wheat Flour, Kelp, Spirulina, Garlic, Astaxanthin (Haematococcus Algae), Calcium Montmorillonite Clay, Vitamin A Acetate, L-Ascorby-2-Polyphospate (Source of Vitamin C), D-Activated Animal-Sterol (D3), DL Alphatocopherol (E), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid, Thiamine, Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Biotin, Choline Chloride, Cobalt Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Selenium, Zinc.
 
Interesting that. I thought the Tetra stuff would be good quality and the fish certainly go for it.

I also feed prawns from time to time, and they go down well.


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Fish are like kids- what they like and crave to eat isn't usually what's good for them ?

Healthy foods can seem quite boring even to fish. It's our responsibility to provide them with a balanced nutritious diet that meets their individual requirements.

For my fish, that includes premium dry foods, frozen foods, and fruits and vegetables.


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Same here - Thera A all the way.

However, if I could get Northfin food I would switch from NLS.

All you have to do is examine the ingredient list and you'll see the difference between a high quality diet and a poor quality diet.


Here is tetras color enhancing flakes

Fish Meal, Ground Brown Rice, Dried Yeast, Shrimp Meal, Wheat Gluten, Potato Protein, Feeding Oat Meal, Soybean Oil, Fish Oil, Algae Meal, Sorbitol, Lecithin, Ascorbic Acid, Inositol, Niacin, Riboflavin-5-Phosphate, A-Tocopherol-Acetate, D-Calcium-Pantothenate, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Vitamin A Palmitate, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex, Cyanocobalamin, Cholecalciferol, Blue 2 Lake, Canthaxanthin, Red 3 Dye, Yellow 5 Lake, Yellow 6 Lake, Ethoxyquin.


Here's northfins community food

Ingredients: Whole Antarctic Krill Meal, High Omega-3 (DHA) Herring Meal, Whole Sardine Meal, Wheat Flour, Kelp, Spirulina, Garlic, Astaxanthin (Haematococcus Algae), Calcium Montmorillonite Clay, Vitamin A Acetate, L-Ascorby-2-Polyphospate (Source of Vitamin C), D-Activated Animal-Sterol (D3), DL Alphatocopherol (E), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid, Thiamine, Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Biotin, Choline Chloride, Cobalt Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Selenium, Zinc.

+1 to this... NLS thera a has been my staple pellet for my CA cichlids for a while and just recently got some Northfin cichlid formula to try and they love that stuff also. NLS still should be considered +1 though just because of how long they've been around. But as far as ingredients go, Northfin is right up there. Nothing else really compares to those 2 foods, IMO

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Northfin is a copycat of NLS and Dainichi, here is a guy who was a supplier of both foods then poof he stops selling those and brings out his own.

RD is known all over the aquatic community and knows more about fish nutrition than most manufacturers, here is a great read.

Northfin food
 
Northfin is a copycat of NLS and Dainichi, here is a guy who was a supplier of both foods then poof he stops selling those and brings out his own.

RD is known all over the aquatic community and knows more about fish nutrition than most manufacturers, here is a great read.

Northfin food


Wow interesting if tangled discussion. Unfortunately all I came away with is a confused noggin and a mistrust of what anyone claims.
My fish love Thera A and H2O stable wafers. They HATE the jumbo formula and surface feeder formula.
I bought a couple of buckets of new era food. The discus pellets are messy but my SA cichlids and bristlenose love them. The Pleco pellets were something of a novelty- now only my geos eat them when I break them up.
I always feel that in this hobby, no matter what I do (or feed) it's not right.


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Northfin is a copycat of NLS and Dainichi, here is a guy who was a supplier of both foods then poof he stops selling those and brings out his own.

RD is known all over the aquatic community and knows more about fish nutrition than most manufacturers, here is a great read.

Northfin food

Dainichi is garbage, only idea he really used from them is the use of clay. And as far as copying NLS goes, shouldn't we applaud fish food manufacturers for trying to use alot of the same quality ingredients that NLS uses? I think there's more than enough manufacturers out there going the cheap route when it comes to putting their fish foods together (hikari, tetra, etc). Seeing the similarities to NLS is the reason I've added it to my rotation of foods, along with NLS thera a (staple) and freeze dried krill. And while RD knows more than most when it comes to fish food nutrition, he also knows more than most about NLS... awesome food, but he's a little biased towards NLS so him not liking Northfin is understandable. I think alot of people have learned to take his opinions of all other foods with a grain of salt, especially NLS/Northfin.

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I make my own. That way I know what's in it and they love it.

But otherwise I use Omega flakes as a side meal as there isn't a single place in my little city that sells NLS.


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Yes I do. I prefer to make my own because then I don't have that added ingredient of "8% Ash" that I don't trust. It's also great because it has the variety for all types of cichlids. It covers your omnivores, herbivores, and carnivores.

Here's what I use:

-2 lbs Whole Shrimp (Some say to get ones with heads and all but the regular headless variety works just the same)
-2 lbs Green Peas
-100 grams Gelatin Powder
-2 tsp Spirulina (You can find this at a health food store - it's an extremely nutritious algae. It's also found naturally in Lake Malawi which is a bonus. Fun fact: it's the oldest cultivated algae going back to Mayan and Aztec periods)
-Liquid Vitamins for fish (Optional if you can find it - likely order online)

1) Thaw shrimp and peas and grind to a paste in a blender.
2) Add spirulina, multi-vitamins.
3) Heat the Gelatin as per the instructions on the box. Make sure it's completely dissolved as lumps aren't safe for smaller fish.
4) Scoop your shrimp/pea mix into the gelatin while still on low heat.
5) Pour into lined baking tray or ice cube container, or even plastic bags and lay flat. As long as it's a thin it's easy to cut.

Freeze for several hours and cut the frozen food into chunks and then freeze in zip lock bags for convenience.

You can also halve the recipe to try it out but I guarantee they'll love it. ?

The only expensive part to this food is the Spirulina but it is definitely worth it IMO. This food will last for a couple months. It does kinda dissolve in your tank so feed sparsely at first until you get the feel of how much they'll eat and you won't have to worry about any excess waste.

Note: Because of the high protein in this food I wouldn't recommend feeding it more than once a day.

I'll try and post a video of my fish eating this stuff. Colours them up amazingly.

Afterthought: If you want to look it up online it's called the European shrimp mix. And feel free to add other stuff - if you know your cichlids like zucchini or cucumber or beef heart - switch it up. Do what works best for you. I'd keep the peas though because they're great for digestion. ?

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Cool, thanks!

I've already bought the spirulina, and a vegan gelling agent- "Jel-it-in" lol. I already have the peas, so just need to go get some shrimp (prawns, here ;) )


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It's fantastic - they just love it. They even eat it out of my hands. ? But sometimes they mistake my fingers for the food lol!

The video is uploading, will post in a couple minutes hopefully. ?

EDIT: Taking forever to upload so I will post in the morning.

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