Northfin food

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
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I'm also not too sure how anyone could state that they have been using this food exclusively for close to 2 years, when its initial distribution began less than a year ago. I'm guessing someone who was in on the initial free handouts?

I have been using NothFin exclusively for almost 2 years. The product was tested prior to going to market and I was one of many fish keepers with multiple tanks selected in Ontario to try it before it came to market. Your comment about '' free hand-outs'' is rancid. I have a few bucks and a lot of time and emotion invested in my fish and if I didn't like the results I wouldn't use it or recommend it. I remember when N.L.S. first came out and all the reviews weren't exactly positive. I reluctantly switched over to N.L.S.years ago because the food I was using became almost impossible to purchase locally in larger sized quantities when the local distributor retired and the cost to ship in was becoming unjustifiable. It is hard to switch over. I know. Do it in baby steps. You can put the NorthFin inside the bucket and it won't seem so hard. I'm sure you'll find a lot of other juvenile reasons to discount my opinion but frankly my dear if you don't try it then your opinion is lacking something. As for the comment about copying N.L.S, give your head a shake. Do you think N.L.S. invented the pellet. They took a product that was already on the market and tried to make it better and make money doing it. I believe NorthFin has succeeded in making a better product. Hopefully they succeed in making money and are around for a long time. The fact that it is a Canadian company is a bonus.
 
Forrest ...... I guess if you really want to get some of this food it can be shipped to you from Canada. lol


pongo - rancid? Are you trying to tell me that Darius charged you for your test offerings? IMO it was a fair question, and a fair comment. You seldom post on MFK, usually just in the pike folder, suddenly you arrive to this discussion almost a year after the fact, and months since you last posted about your pike. And yes, that caused me to raise an eyebrow.

For all I know you are a vendor for this product, clearly you didn't just stumble across this discussion.

I also never implied that you aren't happy with the results of feeding the food, and as far as the quality, I never said that Northfin isn't a decent looking food - but please explain how or why it is better than the food that they have clearly copied? Made it better? Really, methinks that you're the one that needs to give your head a shake if you think that feeding clay to fish equates to making something better. It was nothing more than a gimmick when Dainichi did it, as it continues to be when companies such as Northfin copy them. In pet food, including fish food, the main role of clay is that of a binding agent, for increased durability, which is why Dainichi pellets are hard - they probably use more clay than Northfin. But at the end of the day montmorillonite clay is not considered a dietary mineral enhancer in any form of pet feed as the minerals contained in it are not considered to be biologically available to animals. In fact, AAFCO defines these clay products (there are sveral forms of clay used in the pet trade) as special purpose products
(87.5) permitted for use as anti-caking agents, pelleting aids, and non-nutritive carriers at levels below 2% of a complete food. Which is why, just like Dainichi, Northfin also uses a commercial vitamin/mineral premix.



Personally I don't like gimmicky things, there's already a plethora of that in the aquatic trade. So if that was Northfins attempt at taking the foundation of what NLS created approx 20 yrs ago, and making it better, then IMHO they have clearly failed. In fact, other than perhaps the overall hardness of their food I see nothing in the way of improvement.

Not in the addition of clay, not in the use of sardine meal, and not by using straight kelp, instead of a mix of several different forms of aquatic plant matter such as in NLS's algae meal.


As stated previously;

Now if he came out with this food, and the quality tested out via long term feed trials, and the sticker price was a lot less than other premium foods that are already out there, then he might have a chance of surviving in this market. Problem is, the retail prices that I'm seeing are as high, or higher than NLS. Most consumers will stick to the foods that have a long successful track record, and have withstood the test of time, unless there is a significant difference in cost. This may be a quality product, hard to say at this point but either way I think that Darius is going to have a difficult go of it. I wish him the best of luck. .
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So yes, I too would be thrilled to see a quality Canadian product compete in this market, but for the reasons stated above (and others) I don't see that happening any time soon. As of yet Darius does not have a single major Canadian distibutor carrying his product line, he appears to be supplying most vendors himself, and most of those vendors are limited to ON. Many of them are former customers of mine, some actually I refused their business due to not having a regular brick & mortar retail store. This isn't my first rodeo in the fish food world.

While imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, I see a couple of steps backwards in this food, not a "new generation" as it is being advertised.


Cheers!
 
So Neil... My question to you is if you were asked to rank the "top" foods on the market today and basing that on the label only where do you think North Fin would rank on that list?? Pretty high??

To me when comparing labels with the little info I know (most learned from you lol) and of course not feeding it for years for the real results North Fin stuff to be a food that would be close to the top of that list based solely on what can be told by a label which I know isn't everything, but is always a good start. That's all I've been trying to say here and this is definitely a food I will be giving a shot in the future.
 
I use it, and its very very popular in the Toronto area where the most popular fish to keep are Tanganyika Including Tropheus!!!! Which they make a special formula for. I wrote you Neil about my fish having white cloudy looking waste that I see ever so often which I thought was from this Food, but it seems to happen to all my fish that are over 6 inches, also with omega one and massivore. (any one who knows why I get that kind of waste from my fish please let me know) Im not sure if the little fish I feed NLS have this whitish waste also. No doubt NLS is a Very Good product probably the best but Here in Toronto It is the New NLS!! Agree with your method Forrest of Giving the NLS to the Older fish, like you said a lot of people feed a none NLS diet and have great results. PRIME example is Mel O who seems to feed his 12 year old Dovii a varied diet including the junky Massivore and it is 12 years old!!! Just like humans I think Quantity has a little more to do with then Quality when it comes to feeding our fish.
 
Neal please stop comparing NLS to Northfin. I personally newer liked NLS and this is the last thing I would do in my mind is to make a copy like you are accusing us.
We created better product with the better ingredients and its proving itself without me bragging on the forums like you do about NLS .
I can bet you that our Whole Krill / and High DHA Herring meal is much higher quality than anyone else is using. Also don't compare Algae meal to Organic Kelp, Natural spirulina and Natural astaxanthin. Anyone that will put a bit of effort researching this will find out that it a substantial difference between those ingredients. Clay we are using for the natural mineral sours and it will not hurt any fish.
PS. Northfin is celebrating 3 years and too bad that you did not know that, and it's been tested and approved by the biggest breeders in Canada, US and Europe. We are also CFIA & USDA approved and first shipment to USA is going in 2 weeks.

NLS have one formula and 50 labels, Northfin is taking different approach so how are we comparable? Dose NLS have Veggie Formula ? so how we are copying NLS?

It looks more that you are trying to do damage control and just to bash any other competitors.
Well, I can wish you good luck and I will let the end user to make their decision.
 
You Must be Darius? Thank you for coming on here and clearing things up!!!! I was the best part about this food is that fish eat it like crazy have not had a fish refuse NORTHFIN unfourtnatly cant say the same for NLS one reason I don't use it for my larger fish!!!
NFC said:
Neal please stop comparing NLS to Northfin. I personally newer liked NLS and this is the last thing I would do in my mind is to make a copy like you are accusing us.
We created better product with the better ingredients and its proving itself without me bragging on the forums like you do about NLS .
I can bet you that our Whole Krill / and High DHA Herring meal is much higher quality than anyone else is using. Also don't compare Algae meal to Organic Kelp, Natural spirulina and Natural astaxanthin. Anyone that will put a bit of effort researching this will find out that it a substantial difference between those ingredients. Clay we are using for the natural mineral sours and it will not hurt any fish.
PS. Northfin is celebrating 3 years and too bad that you did not know that, and it's been tested and approved by the biggest breeders in Canada, US and Europe. We are also CFIA & USDA approved and first shipment to USA is going in 2 weeks.

NLS have one formula and 50 labels, Northfin is taking different approach so how are we comparable? Dose NLS have Veggie Formula ? so how we are copying NLS?

It looks more that you are trying to do damage control and just to bash any other competitors.
Well, I can wish you good luck and I will let the end user to make their decision.
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Please don't refer to me by my first name, unless you can actually spell it correctly. :)

You might want to note that the OP compared Northfin to NLS, not I. I simply responded to that comparision, as I have when others continued the comparison. Honestly, the rest of your comment I can barely understand. Do you reckon that you are the only person that is using a high quality SA krill meal, and/or high quality herring meal sourced from here in Canada? Wake up. Do you think that your suppliers have a thriving business by only supplying you? Seriously ......

Organic kelp? Really? You do realize that there are no official rules governing the labeling of organic foods for pets, yes? I could call fish food protein sourced from old leather shoes, organic. WoW.

My previous point was that NLS utilizes several forms of aquatic plant matter in their "algae meal", including, but certainly not limited to, the microalgae Haematococcus pluvialis, a NATURAL form of astaxanthin. They also use NATURAL spirulina, Spirulina Pacifica® which is a select strain of Spirulina platensis developed over many years of continuous cultivation in Hawaii by Cyanotech Corp.

So exactly what is it that everyone should be researching?

With regards to the use of clay in pet feed, including fish food, please re-read my previous comment. Can I make it any clearer?

In pet food, including fish food, the main role of clay is that of a binding agent, for increased durability, which is why Dainichi pellets are hard - they probably use more clay than Northfin. But at the end of the day montmorillonite clay is not considered a dietary mineral enhancer in any form of pet feed as the minerals contained in it are not considered to be biologically available to animals. In fact, AAFCO defines these clay products (there are several forms of clay used in the pet trade) as special purpose products (87.5) permitted for use as anti-caking agents, pelleting aids, and non-nutritive carriers at levels below 2% of a complete food. Which is why, just like Dainichi, Northfin also uses a commercial vitamin/mineral premix.
Click to expand...


It looks more that you are trying to do damage control and just to bash any other competitors.
Click to expand...

Damage control? Competitors?

FYI - I've been out of the fish food game for a long time, and unlike you I have no vested interest in any of this. If you are going to attempt to stay ahead of competitors, you should know these things, especially if you are going to call someone out on a public forum.

You will also find that over the years I have spent countless hours assisting fellow hobbyists when & where I can, and certainly not just limited to just this area of the hobby. A number of my past discussions have even been made stickies here on MFK, and I have recently been bestowed with a silver Distinguished Contributor award specifically for my contributions over the years in the area of fish nutrition. Imagine that. If you actually took part on this forum, for more than a few minutes, you'd know that. :)

BTW - it comes as no surprise to me that you would have been contacted about my comments here on MFK ( I see you have already called me out on another past thread) but what does come as a surprise is how ill prepared you were when you arrived. lol

God Save the Queen!




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