Herbivore diet plan

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I would personally never feed gel foods to large cichlid species due to the mess, but that's just me. My goal has always been less water/filter maintenance, not more.

Sinister-Kisses said:
Plus, when you realize just HOW MUCH food you make from that Repashy jar, it's actually no worse than other mainstream foods as far as price goes...and a much better quality than most of them.
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Not when you factor in the nutrient values drop considerably when you add water to the Repashy dry powder mix. The guaranteed analysis only applies to the dry powder, not the final mix once water is added by the consumer. This has always been my rub with gel food manufacturers. What your fish end up consuming, is a LOT of water, which is a non nutrient. Not saying that alone is a terrible thing, but it certainly needs to be taken into consideration when one is comparing dry formulas, to mixes that mostly consist of water. Most gel formulas are simply a dry pellet type formulation ground into a fine powder, with a binding agent that gums it all up once boiled water is added, and the food is allowed to sit.

My go to food for adding more aquatic plant matter to a fishes diet is NLS AlgaeMax.
 
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I disagree. Obviously, this is not a food I'm feeding my cichlids every day. It's part of a mixed, varied diet. Currently my CA cichlids eat the Grub Pie/Redrum mix once a week, max...probably averaging more like once every week and a half.

As I mentioned, the rotation will include NLS AlgaeMax and Northfin Veggie pellets. BUT - both of those foods are NOT completely herbivore/vegetarian mixes, they both have animal protein in them as well. This is the only option I've seen that does NOT include krill, squid, salmon, whatever they throw into various fish foods.
 
I really like repashy. I was feeding Morning Wood to my plecos and was very pleased with the results. I want to return to using it but I'm only going to do so if I order the 4lb containers and since I want to mix 4 different powders together that's $400(US). I have determined thought that that is one years worth of feed though.
 
Sinister-Kisses said:
I disagree.
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With what? lol That it's not messy, when fed to large cichlids? Or that it doesn't provide a cost savings, compared to dry food?
One just has to do the math, to get a fair cost comparison, and IME all gel foods are messy, compared to dry foods. Home made gel foods, or otherwise. The bigger the fish, the bigger the mess.

Sinister-Kisses said:
BUT - both of those foods are NOT completely herbivore/vegetarian mixes, they both have animal protein in them as well. This is the only option I've seen that does NOT include krill, squid, salmon, whatever they throw into various fish foods.
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In the wild, the vast majority of fish classified as herbivores, do not consume a diet of 100% plant matter, so that never factored into the equation for me personally. Most herbivores also glean some animal protein from their food stuffs, in the wild. On that note, I wrote the following many years ago.

In the wild, the cichlids found in the Rift Lakes have evolved & adapted to living in certain niches of the lake, which over time has forced them to become specialized feeders. (as per Ad Konings) Yet all of these specialized feeders will readily eat anything that's available. (as per Ad Konings) While a fish classified as a strict herbivore (such as a Tropheus moorii) may indeed spend its entire day scraping the aufwuchs, I can assure you that they would much rather eat a handful of worms if given the opportunity. In the wild they eat low quality foods because that's the only foods available, not because they choose to!

And while Tropheus and various Mbuna species may in fact be classified by the scientific community as strict herbivores, the reality is that even though algae dominates the stomach contents, the actual foods that make them grow are insect nymphs and larvae, crustaceans, snails, mites, micro-organisms, and zoo plankton, not vegetable matter. (as per Ad Konings)

Their long digestive tracts are designed as such so that in nature they can break down the complex plant matter that they consume, which doesn't mean that they can't properly assimilate more easily digestible forms of protein. Apparently this is a concept that some hobbyists fail to grasp.


Keep in mind that the vast majority of fish are opportunistic feeders, and are all omnivorous to a certain extent. Cichlids classified as carnivores don't just eat meat, any more than a herbivorous cichlid just consumes vegetable matter.
 
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LOL, no prob. You asked, I answered.

Good luck.
 
Yes, but your argument against it is not based on quality or ingredient list, simply your dislike for gel food. You disliking that it's a gel doesn't mean it isn't a valid, high quality food option. As I said, I chop it up into size as small, or smaller, than the NLS pellet food you're pushing so hard, so mess isn't really an issue I'm worried about.
 
Pushing so hard??? I mentioned one formula, of one brand of food that I feed, once. LOL

Like I said, good luck.
 
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This thread...you also linked a massive 10 year old multi page discussion that you were also vocal in ;)
 
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