What brand of food do you feed your fish? And Why?

[SwerveDriver]

What are your experiences with fish food? I currently have a cycled 15ga tank and I am still deciding on what fish to buy. When I do buy my fish I'll buy some food as well.

I'm just wondering what brand you like and if those colour enchancing, digestibility, minimal tank waste, floating brands are worth the extra value? Big Al has a generic brand that is low-cost, Hikari is well known but seems to cost more per oz, Marineland Bio-blends have a Bio-Gard, etc...

 

[grimlock3000]

I feed OSI Color Enhancing Flakes and Omega One Veggie Flakes as staple foods in my tanks. I have tried just about every flake food I have found and those two really seem to work the best. The fish like them, the flakes do not fall apart, and those brands have a reputation for quality. A lot of cheap flakes feel like colored paper to me.

For sinking foods, I go with Hikari Algae Wafers and Sinking Wafers for Bottom Feeders. The Hikari stuff does cost more, but it holds together much better in the water and the fish seem to go crazy for it.

One thing to keep in mind with fish food is that the stuff does not last forever and after a few months it starts losing its nutrition. You may be able to get a huge 8 oz can of "regular" food for the same price as a 1 oz can of high grade food, but if you end up throw away most of the 8oz can after 6 months, you did not save any money and you fish ate crap for 6 months.

But two or three small containers of high quality food and start from there. It is good to vary the food just in case one food has certain vitamins another does not.

 

[Devilishturtles]

Wow..I just feed mine tetra-min flakes. I supplement with those sinking shrimp pellets for the bottom feeders, and either Hikari or Wardley Algae wafers. Occasionally, I'll buy the Tetra Tropical Crisps, with color enhancers, because the fish LOVE them.

I also feed bloodworms, but the fish don't like those all that well... And at times some Zuchinni, or cucumber for the plecos.

 

[SwerveDriver]

One thing to keep in mind with fish food is that the stuff does not last forever and after a few months it starts losing its nutrition. You may be able to get a huge 8 oz can of "regular" food for the same price as a 1 oz can of high grade food, but if you end up throw away most of the 8oz can after 6 months, you did not save any money and you fish ate crap for 6 months.

That's a very good point, it's usually cheaper in bulk. I'll keep that in mind.

Is there any difference/benefits between flakes and pellets?

 

[RogerMcAllen]

I like pellets. There seems to be less waste, and uneaten pellets are much easier to clean up.

 

[AdamsZoological]

I use New Life Spectrum brand pellets, Hikari brand algae wafers, and both Hikari & Ocean Nutrition brand frozen foods (of many different varieties). I no longer use flakes, As to the reasons why, after trying just about every brand out there over the years, I've found my fish seem to look healthier, have much brighter colors, and reproduce better when feed these brands.

Angela

 

[Blackpearl]

I use the wardley fish flakes, the one that supposedly enhance the color of tropical fish.
Once a week I drop some sinking shrimp pellets, also from wardley.
Once every other week I feed them peas. On the next day I'll see green pleco poop everywhere...

 

[Punkymom]

My Oscars are fed Freeze Dried Krill by Wardley I think...Cichlid Sticks by Topfin??? And the color enchancing Cichlid Pellets by Hikari...I'll double check on those brands...the only one I'm not really sure of is the Sticks. My one Oscar has grown significantly more than the other one since I've had them. They get fed the same (hand fed on opposite sides) amount and at the same time everyday so I don't know why one is growing so much more than the other one. The one that's bigger now started out slightly smaller than the other one. Maybe I have a male and a female...who knows? My Goldfish gets fed some sort of Goldfish flake...that's all she gets. They're color enchancing. My Bettas get fed the Hikari Betta pellets and Freeze Dried Blood Worms. They also get frozen food by Hikari every once in a while. I'm not sure of the brand of worms...I think Topfin. I like the Bioblend food as well. I fed the tropical blend to my fish when I had different fish in my 55. I feed my Pleco Algae wafers...but I'm not sure of the brand. He also gets a couple of other sinking foods but I'm not sure of those either. I put them in little Tupper Ware type containers to make storing easier.

 

[poikilotherm]

I use Wardley flakes, Wardley (I think) algae wafers, freeze-dried Hikari blood worms, and freeze-dried Hikari Daphnia. Every other day I use the flakes, blood worms and an algae wafer or two.

Every day I also put a small shake of the daphnia in- it looks like the fish get pretty much everything before it hits the bottom, but it also is so dang fine (almost powdery) that (in my mind at least) the smaller fish get more benefit, and the larger fish burn off the calories trying to eat all the little bits :? I want the little fish to grow faster than the big fish. The daphnia jar seems to last forever. The key is only add a bit at any one time, so it doesn't all get into the gravel.

The Hikari stuff is pretty expensive, but I think it is consistently good, and prices online aren't too bad.

 

[Gunnie]

I pretty much use only Omega One foods for all my tanks. They are the only brand that I know of that uses no fish meal. It's not that fishmeal is bad, but it usually has flour & other stuff in it that fish wouldn't normally get. Omega One uses only whole salmon and other things like krill, octopus eggs....... which really brings out the color in my fish, and they love the food. I use the cichlid pellets for my oscars & jack dempseys, the color enhancing flakes for my baby angels and community tank, and the veggie rounds for my bottom feeders. Check out their website. It's some really great fish food.

 

[chasgood]

Nothing pricey, just a variety. I just rotate each feeding.

TetraColor flakes
TetraMin crisps
Tetra freeze dried Bloodworms
Marine labs Bio-Blend
HBH Shrimp pellets

 

[Punkymom]

Omega One is the brand of my Goldfish flakes.

 

[Talon242]

I try to vary the diet of my fish.
Hikari - Sinking wafers
- Algae wafers
- Brine Shimp
- Bloodworms
- Daphnia
Wardley shrimp pellets
TetraColor tropical flakes