Which the best food to feed red devil

[Jhay3513]

I never understand why people get so upset with RD. on these food threads. The articles and info he's shared has helped me hone in a solid diet for my fish. Some of us spend some hefty amounts of money on our livestock so it's great to know that I now know a little more about fish nutrition because of his personal research and postings. Why would you spend big money for fish and then feed them garbage and get upset when someone tries to educate you on what you could be doing better? That's like buying an expensive car and putting low grade gas in it and oil from the 7 eleven in it. Thanks RD for the help. I even saved the NLS article you posted as a PDF from quick referencing on my phone

 

[RD.]

No worries, it's all good. I have very thick skin. lol

 

[Chockful O Phail]

That was, I guess another poor attempt at humor on my part, and a mild jab at the many who argue constantly with RD. whenever he posts. Sorry for the confusion I thought it was clear what I was doing. For the record, I feed various NLS with a smidgen of Hikari frozen bw/krill/shrimp

 

[RD.]

LOL, no worries.

 

[Jonnyakawombell]

Hi I live in England not the states, the best you can get on my side of the pond is (tetra cichlid xl) by far, although it is very expensive a 160g tub would work out at around 20 US dollars roughly, not sure if you can get in the states though, it is specially made for large cichlids dietary needs and has a almost 50 percent protein content, I have fed my dovii on it for the best part of 5 years now and he is very healthy and approaching the 18" mark now, I honestly wouldn't use anything else for large cichlids.

 

[RD.]

Tetra is not the best food that one can get in the UK. Tetra has been in the food game for a long time, but they are far from being best. Best at using terrestrial based raw ingredients such as corn, wheat, soybeans, potatoes, etc., that I would agree with.

Most of the more premium brands can also be purchased locally in the UK, or at the least ordered online.

 

[Gourami Swami]

My personal opinion on it, is that while NLS is probably the best ingredient-wise if you microanalyze it, you can get great results feeding other food as well. I do feed my fish NLS as the staple, but I also feed Hikari Gold, Southern delight vegitail growth, some omega one shrimp pellets, tetra freeze-dried krill, and a few other various things. I think the fish enjoy some diversity. Maybe i'm anthropomorphizing, but I know my cats enjoy some variety, and if they get the same food too many days in a row they will go on a hunger strike. (they are spoiled)
If I ate nothing but grilled organic chicken, broccoli, spinach, and brown rice, I would probably be "optimally healthy" diet-wise. But I enjoy five guys, so I eat that too, and I am still quite healthy.

 

[Jonnyakawombell]

Tetra is not the best food that one can get in the UK. Tetra has been in the food game for a long time, but they are far from being best. Best at using terrestrial based raw ingredients such as corn, wheat, soybeans, potatoes, etc., that I would agree with.

Most of the more premium brands can also be purchased locally in the UK, or at the least ordered online.

I appreciate your opinions but I like tetra the best, that's just what I've had the best growth rates with anyway, I've tryied hikari and NLS many times in the past there both ok but haven't seen the same growth rates as with the tetra, each to there own I guess lol

 

[RD.]

The definition of "results" tends to vary among hobbyists, even price becomes part of the equation to many, so clearly results and opinions will vary. All of my fish hit everything really hard, no matter brand or formula, probably because I have raised them to always be on the hungry side.

With regards to growth, one can feed a high protein high lipid cheap commercial trout chow and get very good gains in growth, so that certainly isn't the be all to end all when it comes to keeping fish healthy, long term. Most fish do not typically require 50% crude protein in their diet once they are past the juvenile stage of growth, that includes species such as dovii. No one even knows what the ideal levels of protein/fat is in most ornamental species, so the best we can do is extrapolate data from similar species until more information becomes available.

You might find this interesting, Jonny. I recently posted in it another discussion.

http://www.scielo.sa.cr/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0034-77442000000200019

In that paper adult dovii in the wild, mostly consumed insects.

 

[Jonnyakawombell]

The definition of "results" tends to vary among hobbyists, even price becomes part of the equation to many, so clearly results and opinions will vary. All of my fish hit everything really hard, no matter brand or formula, probably because I have raised them to always be on the hungry side.

With regards to growth, one can feed a high protein high lipid cheap commercial trout chow and get very good gains in growth, so that certainly isn't the be all to end all when it comes to keeping fish healthy, long term. Most fish do not typically require 50% crude protein in their diet once they are past the juvenile stage of growth, that includes species such as dovii. No one even knows what the ideal levels of protein/fat is in most ornamental species, so the best we can do is extrapolate data from similar species until more information becomes available.

You might find this interesting, Jonny. I recently posted in it another discussion.

http://www.scielo.sa.cr/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0034-77442000000200019

In that paper adult dovii in the wild, mostly consumed insects.

That's really interesting to know thanks buddy, what would be your preference as a staple food for a large male dovii around 17"-18", I've had him around 5 years and he's happy but if you think there's a better staple I'd be very interested to know your opionion, I'm always willing to learn and take other people's exprerence and opionion on board, that's how I believe we become better.