Which flake is the best, or among the best?

[gu2high]

I am looking to use falkes as routinie fish food, but is wondering which one to buy? Currently is considering Omega One Freshwater Flakes. Is this the good one? I want the best and the one liked most by community fish. I am tired of inferior one which is wasted in the tank as fish don't like it.

I have heard good things about Hikari Tropical Flakes, New Life Spectrum Formula, and Aquarian Flake, but they are not sale in Petsmart stores/website. If any of them is really better, then I can buy it from other places.

 

[Aquarium Freak]

I use colour bits for all my tanks and there colouring is awesome and they are all little fatties. You should feed other foods to and not just flakes. In my experience fish tend to prefer a diet of flakes, crumbles, sinking pellets, blood worms, brine shrimp, peas, zuchini and lettuce the best. On occasions I also feed my cichlids some beef heart but it spoils very quickly in the water and should not be fed regularly. When I have a scrap of meat and I take it over to the Oscars and Arrowana they litterly jump out of the tank so you have to be careful they do not leap to far and hit the floor lol.
HTH

 

[Purrbox]

I've had good luck with Hikari and Omega One brand foods. The most important thing is to pay attention the ingrediants and feed a variety of foods. That way you help to ensure that your fish are getting everything they need, as no food is likely to meet all of their requirements.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I am a BIG fan of NLS and feed it exclusively for pre-made foods.

 

[gu2high]

I do use lots of different foods, including frozen, fresh, and freeze-dried. I am running out of flake food and I don't like the currently used one as I notice my fish don't like it very much and many pieces of it either sinks to bottom or goes to filter. I want to buy a real good flake for daily feeding.

I think the best way to compare different ones is to feed both flakes together at different end of tank for certain days, then watch most of fish go to which end to eat.

 

[neilanh]

I have yet to see any of my fish eat any flake food.. lol

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I wanted to add, I don't feed flake of any kind. My fish prefer the NLS pellets. The Africans just make a huge mess out of flakes.

 

[JTAM963]

I've been feeding Omega One cichlid flakes and hikari cichlid pellets...pellets are much better because if they don't eat them you can net out remianing food...

 

[gu2high]

For small fish, the flake is a easy food. I notice that for the same brand like NLS, flake is much expensive than pellet for the same weight. Maybe priced like 1oz flakes = 3oz pellets. Does it mean flakes have high quality and pellets have more poor things mixed in? I checked NLS, most of them are sinking pellets.

For the cichlid, they are normally big fish, I agree that pellets is better for them.

 

[MyCatsDrool]

I use mostly NLS pellets and Ocean Nut. Flake. I sometimes use Wardleys because a friend gifted me a giant can of it.

 

[zenkatydid]

what is NLS?

 

[cbk.o4]

New Life Spectrum

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I have several different types of NLS pellets. A larger pellet for my adult Africans. smaller size peller for the larger African fry, tiny pellet for smaller African fry, and small pellet for my Community fish (Tetras, Angels). The only one of these that actually sinks is the smaller pellet for the large African fry. The others just sit on the surface until the fish knock them down.

gu2high- I actually found the complete opposite. The NLS pellets are quite a bit more expensive than flake around here.

 

[gu2high]

Well, my mistake. NLS is exceptional. They are pellets and more expensive than many flakes. But other good flakes are more expensive for the same weight, e.g.,

New Life Spectrum Small Fish Formula - 275 g $13.99, 2270 g $49.99 on Amazon
but for flakes,
Omega One Super Color Flakes Fish Food 62g $8.29, 150g $15.99 on Petsmart
Aquarian Gold Flake 191g $13.64 on Amazon

Actually, I was talking about the same brand. If they provide choice of pellets and flakes, the flakes is always more expensive than pellets for the same amount of weight.

I am using Hikari Tropical Micro Pellets and small fish do like it but not crazy about it. But I find Hikari Fancy Guppy Food is exceptional good. My guppy fry is crazy about it and I don't waste any pellets when I feed them as my fry eat all of it right away. For other pellets or granules, I find my community fish eat and spit. I don't know why they spit, maybe not very attractive taste or not right texture.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

The only thing I can think of is that flakes weigh less than pellets so maybe that's why it is more expensive. It takes more flakes in weight to equal the same weight in pellets.

 

[Zagz]

I use NLS for my fish as well. My goldies won't eat it so I feed them Wardley's flakes. Strangely enough all my NLS pellets sink.

 

[Apocalypse_Gold]

My cories started swimming to the top to eat when I started feeding nls pellets. I had been using omega one almost exclusively until I had a fish die from swallowing one of the many bone shards that it contains. If you can check all the flakes before you feed then go ahead. I still use other Omega One products.

 

[gu2high]

Strangely enough all my NLS pellets sink.

They are sinking pellets according to NLS website. If they float, it is because its small size and water surface tension force to hold it temporally.

Strangely, many flakes/fish foods don't show an expired date/best before date. My Omega One bloodworm doesn't. But Hikari shows it on all their packages. Does NLS show an exired date?

 

[Fishyfanatic]

The largest pellets that we have float and make it easy for the Africans to get to. I don't think NLS puts an expiration date on their foods but we always use them in under 6 months.

 

[Zagz]

My fish go through it faster than 6 months to be sure. I don't worry about if they have expiration dates. Too many hungry fish LOL.