Feeding

[LilBangarang]

Hi. In my tank I have 3 giant danios, 3 panda cories, 3 yoyo loaches, and 1 clown pleco. I want to know how to feed them. I have some flake food and bloodworms for the danios, hikari sinking wafers for the bottom feeders, and algae wafers for the pleco. The cories and yoyos are all around 1 to 1 1/2 inches. Same as the clown pleco. I thought they were eating all of their food... I just did a water change that proved otherwise. How much should I be feeding them. Will a juvie pleco eat a whole algae wafer? How many sinkers should I feed to the cories and loaches? Any answers would be appreciated.

 

[Fishguy2727]

Just feed New Life Spectrum all the time. It is the best diet for all of them.

 

[Rosenweiss]

For the pleco, hikari sinking wafers is an excellent food. However, he may not eat the whole thing, so you may want to give him half a wafer every day. For the others, I'd feed only as much as they can eat in a couple minutes; if you give them too much food, it'll cause an ammonia spike. Also, I usually fast one day a week and feed shelled, boiled, mashed peas one day a week to clean out their systems.

Fishguy is right in saying that NLS is a quality food, but it's not the only quality food. Omega 1 and Hikari are both good quality as well. You will probably have good results if you replace your flake food with NLS, but you can continue to supplement with bloodworms (frozen, not freezedried), once a week.

 

[Fishguy2727]

There are many high quality foods out there, but that doesn't mean they are all equal.

 

[mfdrookie516]

There are many high quality foods out there, but that doesn't mean they are all equal.

Again, in your opinion.

 

[BBradbury]

Fish Food and Feeding

Hello Lil...

The fish food sold at the LFS is generally good. I select three or four kinds including flakes, freeze dried tubifex and brine shrimp and put them all in a food processor or blender and and blend them together. I feed a little of this mixture and a couple of different kinds of algae wafers once a day.

If you have fry in your tanks, then you'll need to feed the flake mixture a little more often.

Every couple of weeks, I feed chopped chunks of frozen brine shimp. In their natural habitat fish are lucky to find food a couple of times per week, so you don't need to feed much. It's best to feed a little less, nature has been doing it this way for a long time.

B

 

[jetajockey]

not another one of these threads!

 

[Rosenweiss]

Lol, I'm not getting into this with you, Fishguy. I recommended NLS; you've said your piece, now let the OP decide.

 

[Esoteric Backbone]

Feed the Pleco blanched zuchinni, I'm sure the other fish might eat some to.

 

[eco23]

I enjoyed following the last thread about this, and I hope this one is equally as entertaining, haha.

Question, when it is said to feed a certain food "exclusively", does that also count out frozen bloodworms, or is it only referring to not feeding other brands of flakes, granules, etc...?

 

[Rosenweiss]

I enjoyed following the last thread about this, and I hope this one is equally as entertaining, haha.

Question, when it is said to feed a certain food "exclusively", does that also count out frozen bloodworms, or is it only referring to not feeding other brands of flakes, granules, etc...?

When NLS-addicts say "exclusively," they tend to mean you don't need to supplement vegetables and live or frozen foods. This, IMO, is a ridiculous oversight.

 

[Fishguy2727]

They have different ingredients, by definition different. They are not equal.

Honestly I get sick of it. Every time I share my opinion and experience someone else (usually with no experience with what I am talking about) tries to say it is no better or different. By the end people are saying 'they are all good foods, just pick one'. There might as well not be a forum if people are just going to say 'research on your own, try things on your own, do what works for you'. The whole point of forums is for people to get ahead of learning by trial and error. I choose and recommend NLS because I have tried Tetra, Hikari, Omega One, Ocean Nutrition, and many more and the NLS has proven over and over and over to be a better food. I share this experience and the next reply is either 'agreed, I think it is the best too' or 'no, they are all good foods'. I am not saying Hikari is bad, I am saying that IME it is not as good as NLS. It is okay to disagree and share opinions. I just don't like how mine are wrong because I am confident in them.

Hikari is a good food, that is why it is suggested so much and used by so many advanced aquarists. But that doesn't mean that nothing is better than it or that nothing will ever be better than it. If anything we should hope and be waiting for the food that is going to come out that is even better than what we are using now, no matter what it is that we currently feed.

The big difference, and the reason for debate, is that so many foods now are so good. There is not a major short term difference in them. If you switch to a new food you may get a little better growth (which may be coincidental) or better colors (which also may be coincidental), but one guy feeding Hikari is not going to have fish that are thriving while the guy feeding another food is lucky to keep them alive at the end of the year. The difference is long term. Will the fish be colorful, healty, and breeding in ten years? Will the tetras live to be six years old instead of dying of 'old age' at three?

Please share experiences and not just blank statements. Say 'I fed Hikari to my stingrays and they did better than any other food I tried'. Say I tried NLS for three months and didn't see any difference in my fish so I switched back to Hikari and saw no changes'. Say something that shares experience instead of bringing down other people's opinions.

 

[Fishguy2727]

How is feeding exclusively an oversight?

 

[mfdrookie516]

The reason people say things in direct relation to your comments is because you dont say that it's in your opinion. You state it as factual, when it's not. It may be your experience, your opinion, your lifes accomplishment, but it's no more factual than if I were to say 'tetramin flakes cure birth defects' without saying that I had that experience.

 

[titchrules]

What's NLS ?
I currently do use tetramin flakes. But when I purchased I wasn't sure what kind of food to use. I don't really know any difference.
I would prefer to use flakes as it's safer with a small child around.

 

[jetajockey]

blasphemy!

 

[Fishguy2727]

How is feeding it exclusively a ridiculous oversight?

I state it as fact (or usually as my preference, for example 'I only feed and recommend...') because IME it is better. Factually the fish I fed Hikari to did not do as well as the ones I feed NLS to exclusively.

A response to my statement of 'in your opinion' or 'Hikari is just as good' is not helping the conversation either. Trying to say all foods are good so just pick one and go with it is not helping anyone. I have no problems discussing foods with anyone, but it should at least be an actual converation and not just 'no, others are just as good'. Sharing experiences is what will help. Ask why I have found NLS to be as good (unless I should start posting the article I wrote on my experience with it every time someone mentions food, which I am guessing is not what anyone wants). Share your experience with it (or lack thereof). Let's at least be honest about our experiences so that anyone reading the thread doesn't see 'Hikari is just as good' and think that person has actually tried NLS and found it to not be better than NLS.

 

[Fishguy2727]

Pellets are just as safe for children. Do your kids feed the tank?

IME pellets are cleaner and fill the fish up better. They also preserve their nutrition better. Oxygen and water both remove nutrients from the food and flakes expose every bit of nutrition to these effects. I would feed a pellet. Upgrade from Tetra, there are many options that are better. NLS has flakes, but even if you go with a different brand it will be an improvement.

 

[Rosenweiss]

It's an oversight because it's not tailored to each individual fish. You can't convince me that NLS is going to be the best supplement food for plecos and otos, who are vegetarians, or fish who prefer meaty foods. My glass catfish eat NLS happily but are even more thrilled with a weekly or bi-weekly feeding or frozen of live brine shrimp. My dwarf gourami eats NLS, but needs a vegetable supplement. My pleco, hillstream loach, and peacock gudeons all feed off of the hikari algae wafers,and why? Because NLS on its own isn't enough. =]

Fish need variety. I feed NLS, so I'm not against it, but I also hold by varying healthy foods.

 

[Homedog98]

Fishguy, when you say exclusively, I feel like you're telling me that NLS is all you're fish should eat every day. I like NLS, but honestly, fish need more then that! And I'm not talking about brands here, I'm talking about real food! I'm talking bloodworms, zucchini, brine shrimp, peas, anything that gives them some variety in their diets, not just NLS. Because fish have different needs that NLS sometimes just can't cater to! That's just how I interpret what you say by "feeding exclusively". Do you feed anything other then NLS?