Bug Bites Fish Food,

[AquaAlex1993]

Fluval has come out with a new fish food called Bug Bites. I tried their sample and all of my fish LOVE it. My widebar and redhook silver $ love it, my chocolate cichlid, severum cichlid, and even my Lima shovelnose catfish ate them which is cool because I never seen him eat pellets.
I am a fan of the food and will be buying them myself.
So MFKER'S, what do you think of Bug Bites?

 

[Yuki Rihwa]

Just heard that product from you
Does it good for saltwater fish?

 

[AquaAlex1993]

Just heard that product from you
Does it good for saltwater fish?

I haven't tried it for my saltwater fish , but I imagine they'd love it.

 

[Fizzicks]

How did you get ahold of a sample?
Ive got some red hooks that done quite eat as heavy as id like.

 

[AquaAlex1993]

How did you get ahold of a sample?
Ive got some red hooks that done quite eat as heavy as id like.

I found the fill out forum on Facebook thanks to a friend of mine...
HURRY! MFKER'S you still have time to get samples, the deadline is tomorrow July 30, 2017...
sign up here and it sends you a sample and enters you into the drawing for free bug bites for a year.
https://bugbites.shortstack.com/frBGKb

 

[RD.]

I posted the following recently in another thread ......

This food isn't exactly new, it's been on the market for over a year. I started feed trials with it last year. Probably just took a while to reach parts of the USA.


Pros

1. all species of fish readily eat it, except one, my adult midas. He prefers anything but, the bugs. I would expect most polys to eat it without too much issue. I suspect the high fat level adds to the taste/smell.

2. A sustainable & novel form of protein is used.

Cons

1. Protein is not just from fly larvae, they also include some form of salmon, fish protein concentrate, and peas. I would have preferred to not see terrestrial plant matter (peas) being utilized as protein (might as well be soybeans), or fish protein concentrate, and would have preferred to see a LOT more fly larvae meal.

2. It's a high energy food with a minimum of 12.5% crude fat, which means the average fat level, or typical analysis, would be closer to 15%. IMO that's far too high for most tropical fish to consume as a daily staple. Especially species of fish that don't expend a lot of energy in an aquarium.

2. No aquatic plant matter. None. No spirulina, no kelp, no form of algae or seaweed. Even fish classified as strict carnivores in nature typically consume some aquatic plant matter via the guts of their prey. I personally like to see aquatic plant matter in all formulas of fish food. The lack of this is a big negative in my book.

3. Potato - why? If the company was more specific one would know, but without further details it could be used as another terrestrial based protein (potato protein concentrate) or as a binding agent (potato starch). Who knows? Either way, no thanks to feeding potatoes to carnivores - the wheat in this formula should suffice as a binding agent.

If combined (peas/potato/wheat) the inclusion rate of terrestrial based plant matter in this formula might be alarming.



Due to the higher protein, and high fat levels, this formula would probably work well as a conditioning food for fish getting ready to spawn, but due to the reasons listed above I would not feed as a daily staple, to polys, or anything else.


Just my Canadian 2 cents worth .....

 

[AquaAlex1993]

I posted the following recently in another thread ......

This food isn't exactly new, it's been on the market for over a year. I started feed trials with it last year. Probably just took a while to reach parts of the USA.


Pros

1. all species of fish readily eat it, except one, my adult midas. He prefers anything but, the bugs. I would expect most polys to eat it without too much issue. I suspect the high fat level adds to the taste/smell.

2. A sustainable & novel form of protein is used.

Cons

1. Protein is not just from fly larvae, they also include some form of salmon, fish protein concentrate, and peas. I would have preferred to not see terrestrial plant matter (peas) being utilized as protein (might as well be soybeans), or fish protein concentrate, and would have preferred to see a LOT more fly larvae meal.

2. It's a high energy food with a minimum of 12.5% crude fat, which means the average fat level, or typical analysis, would be closer to 15%. IMO that's far too high for most tropical fish to consume as a daily staple. Especially species of fish that don't expend a lot of energy in an aquarium.

2. No aquatic plant matter. None. No spirulina, no kelp, no form of algae or seaweed. Even fish classified as strict carnivores in nature typically consume some aquatic plant matter via the guts of their prey. I personally like to see aquatic plant matter in all formulas of fish food. The lack of this is a big negative in my book.

3. Potato - why? If the company was more specific one would know, but without further details it could be used as another terrestrial based protein (potato protein concentrate) or as a binding agent (potato starch). Who knows? Either way, no thanks to feeding potatoes to carnivores - the wheat in this formula should suffice as a binding agent.

If combined (peas/potato/wheat) the inclusion rate of terrestrial based plant matter in this formula might be alarming.



Due to the higher protein, and high fat levels, this formula would probably work well as a conditioning food for fish getting ready to spawn, but due to the reasons listed above I would not feed as a daily staple, to polys, or anything else.


Just my Canadian 2 cents worth .....

That is a good read. Never knew that about it because I did not really read into it much.
My Lima Shovelnose catfish eats it which is kind of cool because he only eats shrimp and cut up fish chunks. So I think it adds a good extra to his diet.
My silverdollars swim all day so shouldn't bother them too much, plus the extra fat should help the widebars and redhooks get some of that intense red/orange coloration as they grow.
I agree, def not a staple food maybe a every other day or week treat.

 

[RD.]

Yeah, I posted that in the poly section, not exactly high energy fish. Also, just an FYI, but extra fat isn't going to assist in coloration of a fish. For that, especially red hooks, I would recommend NLS Ultra Red, which is a formula that is very high in carotenoids such as astaxanthin and canthaxanthin.

 

[AquaAlex1993]

Yeah, I posted that in the poly section, not exactly high energy fish. Also, just an FYI, but extra fat isn't going to assist in coloration of a fish. For that, especially red hooks, I would recommend NLS Ultra Red, which is a formula that is very high in carotenoids such as astaxanthin and canthaxanthin.

Awesome! Thank you very much. I will purchase it when I go to the LFS. My LFS carries NLS, hopefully they have it. Worst comes to worst, if they don't have it, how would the Hikari Blood Parrot pellets work? It claims to make blood parrots red and says it has those protiens in it.

 

[RD.]

IME, and I have used both foods, I believe that the carotenoid levels are higher in the NLS, and overall it is a much higher quality food. BP food will work as a red color enhancer as well, if that's the way that you must go. I prefer not to feed corn flakes, rice bran, etc so I avoid most Hikari foods. Worst comes to worst, order in bulk online - many vendors offer free shipping.