Pellets
- Thread starter Jdj211
- Start date
Whom did you speak with at New Life?
The gar below was raised on NLS by a buddy of mine.
i agree that NLS is probably the best pellet (based on content)...but that gar is morbidly obese and this can definitely cause problems (we've seen nice examples of excessive fatty deposits in necropsy of captive gars that you never see in wild gars).
NLS is also harder to get them to take IME (and we've been working with all gar species and all kinds of pellets); once they take them they are relatively good to go, but they definitely like the softer/smellier/more colorful food items more.--
--solomon
Hey Solomon, long time no talk. As mentioned previously that gar was in a 600 gallon comm tank with Asian aros & other assorted fish, and the owner fed heavy to keep everyone from killing each other. His Asian aros wouldn't eat pellets with any type of consistency so he also fed tilapia, prawns, salmon, etc, and I'm sure that gar got his share of those foods as well.
Not my recommendation as far as feeding, or keeping fish in general, but it wasn't my tank, or my call. I can only offer advice. As far as obese fish go, I see photos of obese fish posted on MFK every day. Some people just don't get it.
I think that the main reason for gars, as well as many species of fish being more difficult to train on to NLS is due to their density/firmness. There is no argument there, but IMO the extra effort is worth it.
Not my recommendation as far as feeding, or keeping fish in general, but it wasn't my tank, or my call. I can only offer advice. As far as obese fish go, I see photos of obese fish posted on MFK every day. Some people just don't get it.
I think that the main reason for gars, as well as many species of fish being more difficult to train on to NLS is due to their density/firmness. There is no argument there, but IMO the extra effort is worth it.
Hey Solomon, long time no talk. As mentioned previously that gar was in a 600 gallon comm tank with Asian aros & other assorted fish, and the owner fed heavy to keep everyone from killing each other. His Asian aros wouldn't eat pellets with any type of consistency so he also fed tilapia, prawns, salmon, etc, and I'm sure that gar got his share of those foods as well.
Not my recommendation as far as feeding, or keeping fish in general, but it wasn't my tank, or my call. I can only offer advice. As far as obese fish go, I see photos of obese fish posted on MFK every day. Some people just don't get it.
I think that the main reason for gars, as well as many species of fish being more difficult to train on to NLS is due to their density/firmness. There is no argument there, but IMO the extra effort is worth it.
hey RD,
it was good to see you chime in on this thread. we actually used NLS in a smaller-scale feeding project i had some students work on last semester...interesting stuff as we compared FD krill, frozen fish, and NLS (mainly serving as a pellet feed). i think you're right too about the density and firmness, they just don't like it compared to other feed types...obviously content-wise this is the most complete feed, so you're right, if you can get them on it it works well. it's been a while since i have used the feeder deliver system, but it worked well with YOY and smaller fish.
and yeah, plenty of obese fishes on the site all the time...i know i have had my fair share too, not as much these days but that's due to feed regulation and some other stuff that just keeps me from feeding them as often. will be running some new stuff in the near future and may incorporate some NLS feed into the mix to see how things go (this would be a comparison of pellet feeds).
anyway, hope things are going well on your end!--
--solomon
Yes, the downside to a dense/firm pellet is that some fish find them less palatable, the upside is there is less nutrient leaching. With some patience & perseverance I've found that most fish that can be converted to a pellet feed, can be trained to eat dense/firm pellets such as NLS. Not always, but most of the time.
A friend of mine recently acquired some Channa pleurophthalma @ approx 12". Took a while for them to acclimatize & eat much of anything, but after getting their appetites back they went from tilapia, market prawns etc, to NLS, and now refuse to eat the frozen food. He's not complaining. lol Another guy I know has got his Mbu puffer smashing back the 10mm Mega fish formula, which is not only a rather large/thick pellet, but it's also as hard as a rock.
I'm a firm believer in maximizing the micronutrient levels in a feed, so in the long run the more nutrients being ingested by the fish, vs being leached into the water column, is a big plus in my books & well worth the extra effort in training the fish. In a large scale operation this is probably not as doable as in the home aquarium on more of a one on one situation.
Keep me posted on your future feed trials.
A friend of mine recently acquired some Channa pleurophthalma @ approx 12". Took a while for them to acclimatize & eat much of anything, but after getting their appetites back they went from tilapia, market prawns etc, to NLS, and now refuse to eat the frozen food. He's not complaining. lol Another guy I know has got his Mbu puffer smashing back the 10mm Mega fish formula, which is not only a rather large/thick pellet, but it's also as hard as a rock.
I'm a firm believer in maximizing the micronutrient levels in a feed, so in the long run the more nutrients being ingested by the fish, vs being leached into the water column, is a big plus in my books & well worth the extra effort in training the fish. In a large scale operation this is probably not as doable as in the home aquarium on more of a one on one situation.
Keep me posted on your future feed trials.
