Flowerhorn pellet food
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I only tried 3 types of pellets for my Flowerhorn. HiKari Cichlid Bio Gold Plus, Grand Sumo, and Grand Sumo Red. Out of the 3, I like the Grand Sumo Red more, as it brought out the red more in my SRD. As for other types of Flowerhorns without red, I would recommend the regular Grand Sumo.
Thank you. I've had good results as well. My importer told me as well that Grand Sumo red is a very good food and not to switch
You guys are whack. FH are cichlids, not unicorns. Feed them any high quality cichlid pellet and you will be good. If your fish doesn't color up, blame the genetics, not the food. If there are foods that drastically improve the nuchal hump size within a week of feeding, then they contain hormones. Certainly not unheard of within countries that don't have the regulations seen here in North America. Hormones are No Bueno!
Specialty FH foods are over hyped, and typically way over priced.
Specialty FH foods are over hyped, and typically way over priced.
Ha ha, "FH are cichlids, not unicorns." I've been wondering about this subject...Big heads aside (which I'm not really chasing with my Kamfa), do you think that the ones that speed up red coloration also have hormones or other bad stuff?
Also RD what's your recommended high quality cichlid food we can trust doesn't have hormones? How about Hikari Bio-gold and Fish Sticks or NLS Cichlasoma Formula? I've been alternating between Okiko Platinum, XO Red and also just picked up some Ionic Super Red Red (https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...od-for-super-red-red-color-ionic-250g.492172/) from my LFS, now I'm kinda wondering how healthy these 'speed up' foods really are...
Also RD what's your recommended high quality cichlid food we can trust doesn't have hormones? How about Hikari Bio-gold and Fish Sticks or NLS Cichlasoma Formula? I've been alternating between Okiko Platinum, XO Red and also just picked up some Ionic Super Red Red (https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...od-for-super-red-red-color-ionic-250g.492172/) from my LFS, now I'm kinda wondering how healthy these 'speed up' foods really are...
When I was keeping FH's, I raised them all on NLS. Formula didn't matter, I just fed whatever size pellet suited their size. Started with 1mm, worked my way up to 3mm sinking, and some large floating.
As far as the color red. Red color enhancing agents are typically astaxanthin based. They can be derived from natural products, such as algae, krill, shrimp, and even Phaffia yeast, or synthetic based, such as Carophyll Pink and/or Carophyll Red.
https://www.dsm.com/markets/anh/en_...ucts-carotenoids-carophyll-fishandshrimp.html
I can tell you that krill contains only a small fraction of astaxanthin compared to micro-algae Haematococcus pluvialis.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/haematococcus
NLS Ultra Red is loaded with astaxanthin, and if you are a Hikari fan their Blood Parrot food is also supposed to contain high levels of this color enhancing agent. I have fed both to my Midas etc, Ultra Red produced stronger color IMO.
Personally I avoid foods manufactured in Asia as I do not trust them.
As far as the color red. Red color enhancing agents are typically astaxanthin based. They can be derived from natural products, such as algae, krill, shrimp, and even Phaffia yeast, or synthetic based, such as Carophyll Pink and/or Carophyll Red.
https://www.dsm.com/markets/anh/en_...ucts-carotenoids-carophyll-fishandshrimp.html
I can tell you that krill contains only a small fraction of astaxanthin compared to micro-algae Haematococcus pluvialis.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/haematococcus
NLS Ultra Red is loaded with astaxanthin, and if you are a Hikari fan their Blood Parrot food is also supposed to contain high levels of this color enhancing agent. I have fed both to my Midas etc, Ultra Red produced stronger color IMO.
Personally I avoid foods manufactured in Asia as I do not trust them.
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BYW - typically when you see uber glow in the dark red fish in Asian shops, shows, etc, they are either pumped full of Carpohyll Red (very common), or jacked up on hormones. (also common, even at shows) This includes FH, RT, red mammon, discus, etc
I want to add something here, if you take a look at the ingredients of any FH foods and compare it to the ingredients of a regular cichlid food, you can clearly see that unlike the regular cichlid food, almost 90% of the ingredients of the FH food are some of these "natural products, such as algae, krill, shrimp, and even Phaffia yeast, or synthetic based, such as Carophyll Pink and/or Carophyll Red" like RD said.
But that doesn't meen FH foods are just crap, see FH are hybrids specifically bred for the vibrant colors and like any normal fish FH gets its pigments from it's food.( discus fish owners [especially strains with yellow coloration] will be aware of this)
So FH specific foods which claim to improve colouration actually do work.
But the one's which claim to improve kok are just crap filled with excess protein and hormones.
But that doesn't meen FH foods are just crap, see FH are hybrids specifically bred for the vibrant colors and like any normal fish FH gets its pigments from it's food.( discus fish owners [especially strains with yellow coloration] will be aware of this)
So FH specific foods which claim to improve colouration actually do work.
But the one's which claim to improve kok are just crap filled with excess protein and hormones.
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Thx Rd for input. No local shops on the island carry NLS but I can order from a big shop in Bangkok. The Okiko Platinum has astaxanthin, but it lists 63% protein so I only give it every 2 or 3 days.
