Presoaking pellet ?

[DrownedFishonFire]

Found this info interesting for anyone who presoaks their pellets: i never did myself personally for normal situations but fry rearing i did presoak them and broke the bits down oops guess ill powderize them next time.

Feeding Tips & Guidelines — New Life Spectrum®: Fish Food

Feeding fish seems easy, but is actually one of the most difficult things to teach. It’s as much an art as a science. Doing it correctly requires an observation, and an awareness of the fish and their needs: when are they overfed or underfed?

www.feedspectrum.com

Copied and pasted from the site:


A common error is to pre-soak pellets. This is based on the mistaken belief that it will aid in the digestion and prevent swelling inside the fish’s gut. This is an urban myth. Fish digestive systems contain copious enzymes and gastric acids that turn the pellet into pulp in a short period. If a pellet causes gastrointestinal issues, it’s usually due to use of ingredients with poor digestibility. This includes excessive grains and grain by-products and low quality protein. It is not due to pellet swelling. In fact, when you pre-soak pellet foods, you are encouraging nutrients and water-soluble vitamins and minerals to leach into the water before even introducing it.

 

[TwoHedWlf]

I've heard of people doing it. But definitely rare.

 

[JackEmerson]

Pre-soaking may have the benefit of changing the texture to make it more appealing to picky eaters.

 

[neutrino]

I've never done and I started with fish in the 1960s. Never found it necessary, including for picky fish, and always considered it a wasted step.

 

[RD.]

Funny, sounds like something that I said in the distant past. ha

Another common mistake by some hobbyists is to pre-soak their pellets, in the misguided belief that this will aid in digestion and prevent swelling of the pellets inside the fishes gut. This is nothing more than an urban myth created by those that simply do not understand the amount of enzymes and gastric acids that are released by most fish when they consume food. Those hard pellets turn into soft mush in a very short period of time! If a pellet food causes gastrointestinal issues in a fish, it will usually be due to the use of poorly digestible ingredients, such as excessive amounts of grains and grain by-products, not from the food swelling up inside the fish's stomach. Most importantly, when you pre-soak pellet food, you are allowing nutrients and water soluble vitamins and minerals to leach out into the water.

It can be a useful tool when attempting to train ultra finicky fish, which I would do by pre-soaking the pellets in the juice of frozen bloodworms.
Otherwise .....

 

[ken31cay]

Pre-soaking may have the benefit of changing the texture to make it more appealing to picky eaters.

I've been presoaking pellets for many years (in tap water). If I remember correctly, I started when some of my fish appeared to have a hard time eating. After presoaking, those fish ate more and with less effort. I never considered that presoaking might cause vitamins/nutrients to leech out. I feed 6mm pellets (soak overnight) to my Frontosa and Oscars, 2mm-3mm pellets (soak for about an hour) to my other fish.

 

[RD.]

Depends on the pellets, and fish, and pre-soaking food can certainly make some food more palatable to a fish, but the vast majority of fish will learn to consume dry food, the same way that a dog, cat etc will.

In the distant past, many folks believed that pellets swelling up inside the fish, caused "float" in Cyphos. This was later proven to be false. Perhaps that's where you got the initial idea that pre-soaking was a good idea?