NLS

[CrazyPhishMan]

Of course you are! Ken does not have his own manufacturing facility, his food is what is known as "private labelling" in the food industry. His food is simply made by a feed mill, with his personalized "private" labels attached. And this is not a shot at Ken, or anyone else, but like most things in life you get what you pay for. This NOT what I would consider a "premium" food, but it is how Ken describes it on his labels.



This special formulation contains spirulina, krill, and other natural color enhancers for the sincere cichlid specialis. Our pellets are a nourishing food, that promoting growth and strength to help resist the harmful effects of shock or bacterial infection. For medium size cichlids. Some will float and some will sink.

Ingredients: Wheat, Fish Meal, Soybean Meal, Blood Pork Meal, Stabilized Fish Oil, Capsanthin, Spirulina, Xanthophyll, Krill Meal, Di Calcium Phosphate, Vitamin A Acetate, D-Activated Animal-Sterol (D-3), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Niacin, Folic Acid, Calcium Pantothhenate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine, Biotin, Dl Alphatocopherol (E), L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (C), Color Enhancers With Red, Yellow, And Blue/Green Pigments.


The main ingredient listed by dry weight, is wheat. A common theme with lower cost, lower grade farm feeds. I'm quite certain that the Blood Pork Meal elicits a feed response in most fish, and then they get filled up with a whole lot of wheat & soybean meal. His feed formulations have been like this for decades. Lower cost ingredients up front, higher cost ingredients such as Spirulina, and Krill meal, way down the list by the vitamins, which typically make up 1% or less of the overall formulation. Again, not a shot, just sayin........




If anyone is looking for low cost, bulk buy options, I would contact a feed mill directly, but before doing so you might want to ask Viktor thebiggerthebetter how lower cost, lower grade feed mill food typically works out over the long haul. I'm quite certain that he feeds more hungry mouths than the vast majority here. If it's too much of a hassle to train your fish on brand XY or Z, or some stubborn SOB's just wont conform, I get it, but personally I would try another quality brand before going the farm feed route.

Fair enough!

I liked omega 1 foods but switched to Kens for the cost savings. I typically buy the mixed worm sticks and spirulina pellets

1 time i was able to find a 30lb container of NLS online but like i said earlier it always clouds my water.

 

[RD.]

New Life never sold any of their formulas in 30lb containers. I've been using their products for 20+ years, and years ago was also was a wholesale distributor here in Canada, so pretty sure that I have seen and sold every formula & size available over the years. I also never once had any of their formulas cloud my water?
Not saying that you didn't see what you describe, it was simply never something that I personally saw, or heard from any of the retail stores and/or their thousands of customers that got their NLS from me, over the span of a decade or more.

 

[CrazyPhishMan]

New Life never sold any of their formulas in 30lb containers. I've been using their products for 20+ years, and years ago was also was a wholesale distributor here in Canada, so pretty sure that I have seen and sold every formula & size available over the years. I also never once had any of their formulas cloud my water?
Not saying that you didn't see what you describe, it was simply never something that I personally saw, or heard from any of the retail stores and/or their thousands of customers that got their NLS from me, over the span of a decade or more.

you're right my receipt from years ago was for 2200 grams, which is like 5lbs

I can only speak to my experiences and for several years it was the only food i bought- based on recommendations on this site and others. I like omega one and xtreme much better

 

[RD.]

Yes, 5 lb's. They made their Koi food in larger pails, but typically they were 5 lb's. Omega used to make a quality food, but they too have cheapened up their formulas, started a number of years back. I noticed it first with their shrimp pellets. Wheat listed 3 times in that formula, and at the same time they added pea protein. Why add terrestrial based plant protein, if there is so much fresh fish & shrimp from Alaska? lol That was around the same time they moved the bulk of their operations from Alaska, to Painesville Ohio. I could smell the difference after the change, my fish could too. If you aren't happy with NLS, I would recommend giving Northfin a try. Good luck

 

[RD.]

BTW - those Omega "Shrimp Pellets", with the new & improved raw ingredients (wheat, wheat, and more wheat) were recently mysteriously changed to "Catfish Pellets". Same picture on the old & new labels, same exact ingredient list. ( wheat x 3, + pea protein) No mention on their website of the name change.
Noticed this when at a local big box store a few months back, just thought that it was odd, and disappointing, as the old Shrimp pellets had IMO a quality ingredient list.

Shrimp Pellets - Sinking | OmegaSea®

Old Shrimp Pellet ingredient list.

INGREDIENTS: Whole Shrimp, Whole Salmon, Cod, Whole Herring, Seafood Mix (Including Krill, Rockfish, Shrimp, Squid, Slams, Salmon Eggs, and Octopus), Wheat Flour, Wheat Gluten, Lecithin, Astaxanthin, L-Ascorbyl-2-Phosphate (Source of Vitamin C), Natural and Artificial Colors, Vitamin A Acetate, Vitamin D3 Supplement,Vitamin E Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid, Folic Acid, Biotin, Inositol, Tocopherol (Preservative), Ethoxyquin (Preservative).

New Shrimp Pellet (now changed to Catfish Pellet) ingredient list:

INGREDIENTS:
Salmon, Wheat Germ Meal, Shrimp, Wheat Flour, Pea Protein, Whole Herring, Wheat Gluten, Herring Oil, Dried Kelp, Vitamins (L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphospate, Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin Supplement, Inositol, Vitamin A Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Citric Acid (Preservative), Vinegar, Mixed Tocopherols (Preservative), Rosemary Extract, Astaxanthin (Color), Canthaxanthin (Color)


Formerly named Shrimp Pellets, formerly contained more fresh shrimp/fish from Alaska. ?

 

[neutrino]

Formerly named Shrimp Pellets, formerly contained more fresh shrimp/fish from Alaska. ?

Yep. A very disappointing change. I liked the original Omega shrimp pellets, served me well for my kapampa for years. Maybe one is out there somewhere, but I haven't seen a comparable (shrimp based) pellet since.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

I only buy the general formula NLS, the basic one. It never clouds water.

I'd suspect the fish food in your 30 lb container is not NLS.

Kens main feeds are terrestrial starches. A recent thread on PCF about Ken's: https://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=50484

 

[Cardeater]

As I discussed in another thread, the only food clouding my water is repashy that I'm using up and I'm on my last batch currently.

I now have only NLS and one container of Northfin left to food. The filters get a lot less dirty when I feed those food exclusively.

I have different sized fish in these tanks from panda Garra and praecox rainbowfish on one end to a 12" hypotomus and clown loaches. I have various sized foods for them. I have NLS algaemax that the clown loaches, pleco and panda Garra mostly eat (though the rainbowfish will try to take bites out of it, though mostly unsuccessfully unless I give enough that there is enough to get soft). I also feed float or .5mm/1mm for the smaller rainbows. I also give some 2mm and 3mm that I'm getting rid of that I got on sale but the clown loaches will also each those off the bottom.

Ill likely just stick with NLS and Northfin (I have probably still a years worth of food in various unopened packages that I have to use still) in the future with maybe the occasional frozen foods. I may try bottom scratcher repashy again just bc the fish seem to enjoy the soft gel food but we'll see. That won't be till at least 2023 though

 

[Cardeater]

I've yet to have a fish that likes eating any NLS product. They always spit it and I always have to vacuum it out of the tank.

RD has suggested in the past that if you just don't feed them for a few days till they get really hungry, most fish will eventually switch over rather than starve.

 

[Randles]

I've always found my fish to be a bit picky over NLS. Its amazing food but over the years have found Northfin to be more relished and again its excellent food and easily on par with NLS. Ive never found NLS or Northfin to cloud my water. I think Northfin is my overall favourite food with Hikari following very closely in second and NLS in third. Ive also found Northfin to smell much better than anything else.