How do you know if your using a quailty fish food?

[NotoriousSway]

I have seen many threads with the question "what do I feed my fish?" or "what is the best fish food?", most people reply with a statement saying to get a fish food with the ingredients that is appropriate for you fish. Also it is usually stated to use a quality fish food and to look at the ingredients on the label to ascertain the quality of the fish food. But can this be trusted? and if so what does all these facts and percentages really mean? Well, I just read article called "Understanding Fish Food Labels" that explains all of this in layman's terms. I feel that I now have a better understanding of what these labels mean and thought MFK members should check it out.

Link:
http://www3.telus.net/AfricanRiftLakeCichlids/FoodLabels.htm


Let me know what you guys think.....

 

[MalawiTango]

its a good read but long. that whole thing with the listing all types of fish individually so you see the wheat flour down the list of ingredients was interesting.

 

[Bre]

I read fish labels the same as dog food...For example your good dog foods will have chicken as its main ingredient rather then corn. Just chicken as the main ingredient is better then chicken meal. It is the same with fish foods...As with spirulena flakes.. A good spirulena flake will have that as the 1st and main ingredient. That is how I judge..One more example is take omega one flakes and read their label...It is actually a pretty darn good quality food. It's first five ingredients are whole salmon, whole herring,black cod, halibut, and whole shrimp. Those are really good to have as they also don't say meal. If it were to say salmon meal that is not as good as whole salmon..Anyways, I hope you get what I am saying as I could go on and on and on...

 

[NotoriousSway]

Its sad how many fish food companies spend all their money on marketing and too little on quality and freshness. Its up to you the consumer to be educated on what you are buying, just because it says its quality, fresh, or color enhancer on the label doesn't mean it actually is unless there are strict government regulations in place.


(BTW nice Malawi tank!!)

 

[NotoriousSway]

One more example is take omega one flakes and read their label...It is actually a pretty darn good quality food. It's first five ingredients are whole salmon, whole herring,black cod, halibut, and whole shrimp. Those are really good to have as they also don't say meal. If it were to say salmon meal that is not as good as whole salmon..Anyways, I hope you get what I am saying as I could go on and on and on...

Did you read the article? This is how they make it look like it is better quality by listing all the different types of fish they used even though in dry weight it might be mostly Wheat Flour and Wheat Gluten. I'm not saying omega one is bad quality, but it doesn't look to good since it looks like they are trying to bury the fillers by listing every ingredient separate but I have never used it. Fish meal can be just as good as whole fish it just depends on what the manufacture decides to put in it. I personally like to see a fish food that has a more nutriment packed ingredient like krill high up one the list, if not number one.

But anyways, I didn't make this thread to debate on which food is the best but just to educate people on how to read the possibly deceiving fish food labels.

 

[Bre]

Well, I guess unless goverment regulated who knows...I know with at least human food the first ingredient is what the product has the most of in it.

I'm not trying to make a debate either just talking...Here are a couple other articles on fish nutrition that you may find interesting as well..

http://americanaquariumproducts.com/Quality_Fish_Food.html

Oh, and I couldn't read all the article because for some reason parts of it the words were all squished together and overlapping, so I couldn't make out all that was being said. I'll try it again though.

 

[NotoriousSway]

Interesting article, I stopped half way at homemade fish food, I will have to read the rest later or tomorrow.
I like how they pointed out that some fish foods are dyed to make it look like it is more nutritional than it actually is. Also, I knew [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, Avant Garde]spirulina was great but I didn't know [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, Avant Garde]it contains all essential fatty acids and eight amino acids required for complete nutrition[/FONT]

 

[Muske]

Spirulina is good for humans as well. All kinds of minerals and vitamins packed in there.