Hikari pellets

[jjohnwm]

#1 genetics

#2 water quality

#3 diet

Genetics...at least once you actually have the fish...is a done deal, beyond your control. And water quality is simple; change enough of it often enough and it will be good...although there is far too much reliance on gadgets and potions and "overfiltration" by many aquarists.

But diet is a tricky one. You see many items on the market that trumpet themselves as a complete and balanced diet for aquarium fish. But stop and think what is included when we say "fish". That's an entire Class or Superclass of animal life; saying that a food is complete and balanced for "all fish" is akin to selling a bag of mysterious pellets that are claimed to provide balanced nutrition to "all mammals". And it isn't as simple as splitting them into herbivores, carnivores and omnivores, although that's certainly a step in the right direction; the type of foods that a given species has evolved to utilize covers a gigantically wide grey scale, ranging from 100% vegetarian to 100% carnivorous and every shading in between.

If you are doing something wrong in this area, you might not know it for a long time, perhaps not until it's too late and you discover the problem by necropsy. You can read the sides of fish food cans all you want, and applying a little common sense and simple deduction to your research should help you along the correct path...but it's hard to know for sure.

 

[RD.]

Complete and balanced simply refers to containing all of the essential amino acids, along with fatty acids, and various vitamins and minerals. Complete, probably, balanced may be slightly trickier. With regards to dietary needs, the vast majority of tropical species of fish have never been studied long term, so complete data with regards to diet is mostly unknown. So we work with the data available, and extrapolate that data as best as we can. For the most part, it seems to work, and compared to the foods of yesteryear I think that it works fairly well.

 

[fishdance]

Hikari is a Japanese brand world wide best selling fish food with well established branches internationally. It has been going since 1877 (circa 150 years). Think about that for a while... Having lived in Japan for many years, I've seen the dedication, pride and commitment in Japanese work culture.

Since the biggest killer of our pet fish is overfeeding, I like my fish food to have fillers. Long shelf life, good palatability, no residue to clean or cloud water clarity and fairly well priced. Staples available in bulk packs. Many of my fish prefer Hikari branded food over others.

This topic seems to come up regularly.

 

[RD.]

Hikari dried fish food, began production in the 1960s, and didn’t begin to really ramp up until the 1970s.

Hikari UK :: History of Kamihata Group

www.hikari.uk.com

My approach to feeding fish, has always been to avoid foods heavy in fillers (that end up as waste in filters and tank water) and feed a more digestible food, in smaller quantity. Also, to match as close as possible the fishes energy needs, so fatty deposits on liver etc do not take place, causing premature death. Feeding fish is part art, and part science, and a hungry fish tends to be a healthy fish.

 

[Trouser Cough]

Number five...i.e. alcohol...needs some attention.

I could learn much from you.

 

[jjohnwm]

Complete and balanced simply refers to containing all of the essential amino acids, along with fatty acids, and various vitamins and minerals.

I get the meaning...but I just don't think the word "simply" belongs in that sentence. IMHO there is nothing simple about it, even if we had a perfect understanding of the requirements of any given species...which I am certain we do not. As you say, nobody has done in-depth studies on this...and yet we expect to buy a convenient and inexpensive commercial dry food and call it good. That seems to be asking a lot.

My approach to feeding fish, has always been to avoid foods heavy in fillers (that end up as waste in filters and tank water) and feed a more digestible food, in smaller quantity. Also, to match as close as possible the fishes energy needs, so fatty deposits on liver etc do not take place, causing premature death. Feeding fish is part art, and part science, and a hungry fish tends to be a healthy fish.

That sounds logical, and certainly falls in line with the ad copy for many quality feeds, for both fish and also other animals and livestock. Now, here's my question: we are always hearing about the importance of getting enough dietary fiber in our own diets. Fibre...roughage...indigestible material...filler? Gotta keep those bowels churning. How can this not be completely at odds with your fish food philosophy?

Not trying to be argumentative here, simply wondering what the difference is...or if there is a difference. Obviously there are differences between fish and humans, but this seems so basic as to apply to both.

I've often wondered about the toilet facilities on the U.S.S. Enterprise. We never saw one on Star Trek. Did they use them, or did they just zap the poop directly out of everybody's colon and into space using the Transporter? If they didn't...if they still pooped the old-fashioned way...then I bet that their diets contained carefully controlled percentages of roughage to keep the cosmos regular.

Why wouldn't we feed our fish that same kind of roughage?

 

[Trouser Cough]

I've often wondered about the toilet facilities on the U.S.S. Enterprise. We never saw one on Star Trek.

Sacrilege! Captain Kirk would've never dropped a deuce!

That is an interesting possible parallel between filler and roughage though. Seems a tad vague.

 

[RD.]

There’s 100+ years of research in this area of aquaculture, unfortunately very little regarding most of the species kept in aquariums. But if we have proven that most tropical species kept in aquariums can live to a ripe old age in captivity, eating commercial dry foods, what more does one need for proof? Add to that many of the far more delicate species of marine species, again, why look for what “might” be missing? Does my fish need to live to be 20 yrs old, or is 10+ proof enough? In the wild, lucky to make it to 6 months, maybe 7-8 yrs if very lucky.

All commercial food contains fibre, never owned a fish that had an issue taking a crap in my tanks.

 

[Trouser Cough]

All commercial food contains fibre, never owned a fish that had an issue taking a crap in my tanks.

Some Flowerhorns can get bound up tight. I had a Fireman's Dream Flowerhorn that was prone to it.

 

[RD.]

Weak genetics, has nothing to do with fibre content in the diet.