What is the best cichlid fish food pellets and flakes?
- Thread starter beerad555
- Start date
While I have done a good bit of reading (not that I think I'm a nutrition expert), I've payed a lot more attention to aquaculture and science studies than forums. But personal testing and comparison has formed my fish food preferences over anything else, and I've been doing that for years, now. I do pay attention to ingredients (which can vary according to product, with some companies more than others), pay less attention to opinions on forums, which are often contradictory and less often objective, and pay the most attention to what I've seen in my own tanks with my own fish over years of testing and comparing.
So, while I'm interested in the subject and like to comment from time to time, it leaves me with little motivation to get into arguments over it-- I'm not one who thinks there's one single holy grail food out there, I already know what works for me, and what someone else thinks doesn't change the results I've gotten with my own fish.
NLS makes a wafer, has algae, alfalfa, and spirulina in it, though they aren't the first ingredients (first two ingredients are herring and krill). I put one in my tanks for my plecos about once a week. My tanks get either plenty of sun and/or have plenty of driftwood (for algae, etc. to grow on). Started doing this mainly for my L200 green phantom plecos, which don't seem to eat regular flakes or pellets much, not like other plecos I have (or have had). They actually seem to do well just eating algae that grows, but this way I feel better that they're not missing any nutrients they might need.
How do I explain to someone that's obviously never even seen a commercial extruder in action, why one can only use dry raw ingredients in the extrusion process? Outside of Omega, I do not know of a single fish food manufacturer that actually makes their own food that purchases their protein source in a "wet" state, and then has to dry that product, and crush it into a fine powder, before running that raw material through their extruder with the rest of their other dry ingredients.
Only a complete moron would even consider paying the freight on frozen "wet" Antarctic Krill, when it is already processed in to a much much much lighter "dry" meal on board of the same ships that are harvesting that krill in the Antarctic Ocean. Ditto to wet Herring, vs Herring meal. In both cases the raw ingredients are collected & processed when in a whole state, but they are also processed into a powder before being sold.
Omega uses a different "super emulsified blend" process (so they say) which I suppose involves pre-processing their fish processing waste, before their pellets are extruded.
I have been stating for many years that ingredient labels are nothing more than a general guideline. As far as exactly what raw ingredients are actually in each formula, and the inclusion rate of each of those raw ingredients, no manufacturer is handing that information out on a silver platter for the competition to read. It's all a numbers game, and you can't crunch the numbers accurately if you don't have the percentages of each raw ingredient.
The term "typical" was used by NLS for that ingredient description as it is not 100% accurate for every last formula that they manufacture.
BTW - there is no such thing as a fish food that is "hormone free", unless that food contains zero fish products, as all fish contain natural growth hormones. New Life containers state "No added Hormones", which is more accurate.
Only a complete moron would even consider paying the freight on frozen "wet" Antarctic Krill, when it is already processed in to a much much much lighter "dry" meal on board of the same ships that are harvesting that krill in the Antarctic Ocean. Ditto to wet Herring, vs Herring meal. In both cases the raw ingredients are collected & processed when in a whole state, but they are also processed into a powder before being sold.
Omega uses a different "super emulsified blend" process (so they say) which I suppose involves pre-processing their fish processing waste, before their pellets are extruded.
I have been stating for many years that ingredient labels are nothing more than a general guideline. As far as exactly what raw ingredients are actually in each formula, and the inclusion rate of each of those raw ingredients, no manufacturer is handing that information out on a silver platter for the competition to read. It's all a numbers game, and you can't crunch the numbers accurately if you don't have the percentages of each raw ingredient.
The term "typical" was used by NLS for that ingredient description as it is not 100% accurate for every last formula that they manufacture.
BTW - there is no such thing as a fish food that is "hormone free", unless that food contains zero fish products, as all fish contain natural growth hormones. New Life containers state "No added Hormones", which is more accurate.
Yeah, this wet weight theory that seems to be making the rounds lately, seems to have started with food reviews on one particular forum as far as I can tell and a lot of people seem to have taken that as gospel and run with it. Don't know where that reviewer got his theories on this, but now this notion is getting around the forum circuit. The same reviewer rates some foods highly, which I know from years of personal experience and testing are inferior to some others he rates lower.
Same thing with 'color enhancers'. Any good fish food will have nutrients that naturally are color enhancers. Any fish in the wild or in a tank would be hurting if it didn't get these same natural nutrients.
It actually started with me, several yrs ago after what the owner of Omega stated about their processing method, and the fact that Omega does use "wet" processing waste as their main protein source. I believe that at some point over the years kmuda read my comment, then used it in his food reviews. Of course it was all pure speculation on my part, I can't say with any certainty what any manufacturer does behind closed doors.
This from a past discussion about Omega, see post #47, and I discuss it again in post #90. You might recall that discussion, at least the end of it as you got the last kick at the can. 
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?397026-Omega-One-vs-NLS/page2
But I suppose the pet food companies that use wet weight to influence their ingredient lists started many years ago with dog/cat food.
From the FDA regarding pet food labels ...............
http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/ResourcesforYou/ucm047113.htm
I reposted the FDA info from the previous discussion.
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?397026-Omega-One-vs-NLS/page2
But I suppose the pet food companies that use wet weight to influence their ingredient lists started many years ago with dog/cat food.
From the FDA regarding pet food labels ...............
http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/ResourcesforYou/ucm047113.htm
I reposted the FDA info from the previous discussion.
Right. So why would NLS change the list from "whole atlantic krill meal" to "whole Atlantic krill"? Isn't that deceiving? why do that if they had it right the first time? And the ingredients list seems to deteriorate over time. Two years ago you talked about the importance of the copper supplement in NLS, yet they removed it according to the current "ingredients guidelines."
I'm not bashing NLS at this point. Just gathering what you think.
I'm thinking about those algae wafers for sure.
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