I hate New LIFe Spectrum(NLS) FIsh food

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
aclockworkorange said:
That's exactly what I was going to say. Most people go for pellets that are too big. If the fish can't swallow the pellet whole, there will always be waste when they try to chew it down.
Go for something like 1mm until fish hits 6", 2mm until they hit about 10-12", then you can switch to 3mm if you like.
Also, I find thera stinks more than other formulas. If you're smelling something like rotten fish, my guess would be that's exactly what you're smelling--uneaten bits of pellet that has FISH in it (actually it has a lot of krill and herring, in that order, and then depending on the formula can have other species of fish, squid, mussels, etc).
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Holy Cow!

Ive been using the NLS 7mm floating formula for my pellet eaters over 2"! I do get massive amounts of "powdery" residue from gill/ mouth, but my bottom crew always cleans it up. My Oscars get visibly pissed off when I use my "smaller" 1mm or 3mm NLS sinking pellets.

I seriously doubt the "too big" pellet theory. ANY cichlid with a somewhat hardy appetite will definitely hit the larger sized pellet (brand and style being equal) before turning their attention to the smaller pellets!
 
Holy cow is right, 7mm pellets to 2" fish. :WHOA:


That's all fine & well if you don't mind fine particulate matter floating through your tank, and being collected in your filters, and paying $$$ for that privilege.

It's always a good idea to correctly match pellet feed, to the size of the fishes mouth. This has been proven valid through decades of application in commercial aquaculture, where things such as a farms feed conversion ratio (which includes pellet size) can equate to a difference of hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of a single year. Any uneaten food can & will add to the bio load of ones system, and will foul the water quickly if not removed on a regular basis. In an overstocked rubbermaid pond such as the OP's, with less than ideal filtration, that type of funk can accumulate rather quickly. It is certainly more than just a theory that uneaten food can cause added odor to ones tank water.

BTW - I have had large adult CA cichlids 10-12+" that clearly preferred the 4.5mm floating pellets over the 7mm floating pellets, and I have had other large CA cichlids where it was the exact opposite. Either way, you can train the vast majority of fish to eat whatever size pellet you personally want to feed. I've seen massive 15" cichlids sucking up 3mm pellets from the substrate, as they were never given larger pellet options. And those fish did fine on the 3mm pellets, for what may have been lacking in size, they made up in quantity.
 
RD. said:
Holy cow is right, 7mm pellets to 2" fish. :WHOA:


That's all fine & well if you don't mind fine particulate matter floating through your tank, and being collected in your filters, and paying $$$ for that privilege.

It's always a good idea to correctly match pellet feed, to the size of the fishes mouth. This has been proven valid through decades of application in commercial aquaculture, where things such as a farms feed conversion ratio (which includes pellet size) can equate to a difference of hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of a single year. Any uneaten food can & will add to the bio load of ones system, and will foul the water quickly if not removed on a regular basis. In an overstocked rubbermaid pond such as the OP's, with less than ideal filtration, that type of funk can accumulate rather quickly. It is certainly more than just a theory that uneaten food can cause added odor to ones tank water.

BTW - I have had large adult CA cichlids 10-12+" that clearly preferred the 4.5mm floating pellets over the 7mm floating pellets, and I have had other large CA cichlids where it was the exact opposite. Either way, you can train the vast majority of fish to eat whatever size pellet you personally want to feed. I've seen massive 15" cichlids sucking up 3mm pellets from the substrate, as they were never given larger pellet options. And those fish did fine on the 3mm pellets, for what may have been lacking in size, they made up in quantity.
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I tried NLS after reading some of your posts, and bought bulk 4.x KG on 7mm floating, 1mm sinking and 3mm sinking. I am SERIOUSLY at my next buy point. I have used the entire 7mm bucket, yet have well over half a bucket of 3mm and like 80% of the 1mm pellets left. I just purchased a 4.9-5 KG bucket of 3mm garlic sinkers. I guess I need to rethink my next purchase as I saw that they are now offering 10mm pellets that was my intent.

My Bowfins are 14-18" range and have not touched any pellet EXCEPT the NLS 7mm. My Tiger Oscar 13" and Red Oscar 15" both avoid Hikari like the plague, and while they both will accept NLS of any size or flavor, they clearly favor the larger.

My Longnose gar is around 24" and LOVES NLS 7mm floating. It extremely rarely will eat any other pellet than NLS and will not touch NLS under the 7mm formula.

Dovi (7") & Jaguar (8") both strongly prefer market shrimp/ fish fillet to pellet! They both ignore the extreme prohibitive pellet presented to their tank. Both will however readily hit NLS 7mm floaters now that I removed the three 12+" Nile Tilapia from the tank

Three types of Pike Cichlids (Venezuela, Johanna & Sax.) all prefer larger NLS 7mm to any other pellet that I have used. The Johan is a meathog!


Some small fish do obviously do better with small pellet sizes, but in my case, they are exceptions. Only fish that I have over 1' that do seem to see smaller pellets as equal or better than that of the larger pellets are:
Jailbird (13") - Tiny mouth prefers 1mm
Ornate Bichirs (12" & 14") - Garlic 3mm sinkers are their delight. (Sinking may have more to do than pellet size)
Del. Bichir (12") - Garlic 3mm sinkers (same as Ornates, different tank!)
Butti. Tilapia (12") - 1mm - 3mm sinkers
 
I'm not questioning the fact that large fish often prefer large pellets, it was feeding the 7mm pellets to 2 inch fish that I found odd. My point being was that most "cichlids", which is what you initially mentioned, will eat whatever size of pellet one trains them to eat.
Either way I'm glad to hear that you've had good results with your big boys. :)

BTW - in commercial applications 10-12mm pellets are used to feed 5-8 ft sturgeon.
 
RD. said:
I'm not questioning the fact that large fish often prefer large pellets, it was feeding the 7mm pellets to 2 inch fish that I found odd. My point being was that most "cichlids", which is what you initially mentioned, will eat whatever size of pellet one trains them to eat.
Either way I'm glad to hear that you've had good results with your big boys. :)

BTW - in commercial applications 10-12mm pellets are used to feed 5-8 ft sturgeon.
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That's a bit like feeding a dinner plate sized cheeseburger to a 3 year old child... Sure they can eat it, but you're going to end up with cheeseburger everywhere. :D
 
My fish, if given the option, will eat the larger pellets, but will also eat smaller if larger are not available. In one of my tanks, the smallest fish is 2", and the largest is 13", with plenty of sizes in between. I drop both 3mm and 6mm in at feeding, and the smaller fish go after the small pellets first while the large fish go after the big ones (except for fat bastard, who goes after whatever is closest).

All my fish love the pellets and flakes, but none of them will eat the sinking wafers. The theta formula makes my house smell.
 
Carefree_Dude said:
My fish, if given the option, will eat the larger pellets, but will also eat smaller if larger are not available. In one of my tanks, the smallest fish is 2", and the largest is 13", with plenty of sizes in between. I drop both 3mm and 6mm in at feeding, and the smaller fish go after the small pellets first while the large fish go after the big ones (except for fat bastard, who goes after whatever is closest).

All my fish love the pellets and flakes, but none of them will eat the sinking wafers. The theta formula makes my house smell.
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I just love the smell the NLS 3mm garlic pellets leave my basement. All of the fish have seriously taken to it. It has been all that I can do to not to snack on a few pellets just out of curiosity!
 
Just switch foods. Besides the fact that it smells I have found NLS to be the least palatable to large predatory fish.

I will however say that it is very good for Africans and saltwater fish
 
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