Food for thought

[Tanyoberu]

I try to feed my fish a variety of foods to keep them excited and healthy. But why is fish food so darn expensive vs. food for human consumption?

Ex. Go buy a small bag of krill and you're spending ~5.00 for a few ounces. But go to a supermarket and buy shrimp (on sale) and you come out cheaper.

I feed my puffers and eels crayfish. I'm friends with the LFS guy so I get 10-20 for about $15.00 - 20.00. I saw some crayfish packaged with about 50 in the pack for 4.99 (These were seasoned so I didn't buy.)

But take cat food or dog food. Isn't that cheaper? What's the aquarist to do?

 

[gomezladdams]

I used to make my own prepared foods,havent in a long time but thinking about it lately.Still right now about 1/2 of my fishes diet comes from the supermarket.

 

[Burbotman]

Feeding our fish can be very expensive.
My gang loves Hikari sinking carnivore pellets, however at $15 for a small bag, they get it only as a treat.
I use the supermarket and my garden as food sources.
Beef Heart
Market Prawns
Smelt
Worms
Grasshoppers


Much cheaper and the fish love it

 

[Honda12]

I agree food from petstores can get expensive. I can't wait till I can get my little ray off blackworms. The thing eats probably about a dollers worth a day at least. Cant wait till I can get it on smelt and shrimp from the supermarket. It will be so much cheaper.

 

[rottbo]

you can buy bulk quantities of fish food for cheap i found a 50 lb bag of trout food for $60 and it is high in protein i have yet to see if my fish will like it but this is what ted uses in his 2400 heated outdoor pond and all of his fish love it

 

[Honda12]

That much food might work for people who have that many big fish but it would take me a long time to use 50lbs of food. On of my LFS though does sell for like that for raiseig fish.

 

[Tanyoberu]

I love the spring for the worms that come out to mingle. I'll go pluck them by the 100's especially after a nice rain. It's just getting them to release all of that dirt is tedious. My method is to string them by the heads and allow water to drip on them all night in a sink. I wish there was a worm laxative on the market hehe. I'd buy that for a dollar!

 

[twitchynose]

You're worm-hunting is a good idea. Why bother with pet store food? With all the frozen stuff you can get at the grocery store and the stuff you can find in your yard ... it saves a lot of money.

 

[ewurm]

Fish food is not high in demand compared with people or dog food, thus the price. A lot is heavily processed as well.

 

[Jason_S]

the trick is figuring out where to buy it. www.kensfish.com has some excellent foods, some home made and others are name brand, for excellent prices. you can also buy most prepared foods from www.bigalsonline.com for about half what you'd pay for it at an lfs. shipping charges won't usually go over $10 so if you buy enough at a time then the savings are still well worth it.