Fishy does need amino acids to live, and fishy has many parts of itself made principally from amino acids, but I believe that Omojena was referring to the primarily herbivorous diet of Mbuna cichlids. For at least half of Malawi cichlids, algae comes first, proteinaceous foods second.
Why New Life Spectrum ?
- Thread starter tcarswell
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yes i do but african cichlids are for the most part herbivore. a hight protein food that derives its main protein source from krill as NLS does (i.e. its the first ingredient) will not be easliy digested by the afrian cichlids. in the long term, the african cichlids liver will take the brunt of hit by having to break down those amino acids that are in the krill. do some research and then come back to me. p.s. have you ever disected a fish that has been fed NLS??? i have... they ALLL get fatty liver disease!
also, NLS has pretty much the same formula for all of its diets. the marine carnivore food has the same ingredients as the freshwater algae wafer!!!! im pretty sure pleco and algae eaters have VERY different dietary requirements than a grouper or an arowana does ;o)
These threads get difficult. Unless you have a background in animal nutrition (and vet school was years ago for me!) the scientific rhetoric can be twisted quite a bit.
Cases in point: Lots of people worrying about too much protein feed the Tropheus "Veggie Flakes"......only to find out later that the primary ingredient in most veggie flakes in fish meal. Discussions about Mbuna grazing on algae all day result in the conclusion that they are herbivorous...... but some contend the all day effort picking through algae is in an effort to consume enough of the stuff that there is enough invertebrate ingestion to actually provide suitable nutrition. Lots of talk about some fish taking Dainichi but hating Hikari (and similar), so Dainichi must be better.....to be followed by the "what do you like better, liver or ice cream" retorts.
Ultimately, everyone will do what they're going to do.
That said, I use NLS almost exclusively since I've found over the years that I actually get better results the more I feed it and the less I feed other foods. Right now I feed probably 90% NLS with PE Mysis making up the difference. I make no distinction any longer for the species feeding preference since my actual results have shown the NLS based diet to outperform my previously more complicated fare.
Cases in point: Lots of people worrying about too much protein feed the Tropheus "Veggie Flakes"......only to find out later that the primary ingredient in most veggie flakes in fish meal. Discussions about Mbuna grazing on algae all day result in the conclusion that they are herbivorous...... but some contend the all day effort picking through algae is in an effort to consume enough of the stuff that there is enough invertebrate ingestion to actually provide suitable nutrition. Lots of talk about some fish taking Dainichi but hating Hikari (and similar), so Dainichi must be better.....to be followed by the "what do you like better, liver or ice cream" retorts.
Ultimately, everyone will do what they're going to do.
That said, I use NLS almost exclusively since I've found over the years that I actually get better results the more I feed it and the less I feed other foods. Right now I feed probably 90% NLS with PE Mysis making up the difference. I make no distinction any longer for the species feeding preference since my actual results have shown the NLS based diet to outperform my previously more complicated fare.
NLS works VERY well because its first ingredient is krill. if the great results that you see are quick growth and bright colors then you WILL get them from NLS because krill is the first ingredient. krill is loaded with astathanxin and castathanxin and that WILL color up your fish. it is also loaded with protein (about 61% @ dry weight) which is great for growth and is great to feed in small amounts i.e. a few times a week, but its not ok to be fed as the main ingredient in a staple diet. a diet very rich in high end amino acids is fine for a bit but after a while the liver begins to over-work and become fatty because it begins to loose its ability to metabolize the amino's. i'm not saying that NLS will kill your fish in a week... in fact... fed as ONE of the foods in your fish's diets amoung others on a rotational basis its great!!! however, feed only NLS to your fish every day and it will die.... which is not the case for many of the reputable foods on the market. there are foods on the market that can be fed daily for a fish's entire life and the fish will live long and healthy as its supposed to. do some research and you will find that there are only a handful of companies out there that do research their diets and their long term effects and i know as a fact that NLS doesnt.
Ok, I WILL try to put emphasis on key words so you WILL understand my point. Wait, that got old real fast.
Simple point, it is a quality formula. A fishes natural diet is extremely difficult to replicate perfectly in captivity and no big box freeze dried formula WILL (ok, so it is a little fun) give every species of fish what it needs. If it were a picture, squint your eyes and it's pretty but examine it and you will find flaws.
Personally, my fish enjoy and are extremely healthy from a mixed diet of the omega one foods (shrimp pellets, veggie wafers (and no, the omega one's veggie wafers is not fish meal, it's kelp), and general nutrition pellets). I also supplement with krill.
Simple point, it is a quality formula. A fishes natural diet is extremely difficult to replicate perfectly in captivity and no big box freeze dried formula WILL (ok, so it is a little fun) give every species of fish what it needs. If it were a picture, squint your eyes and it's pretty but examine it and you will find flaws.
Personally, my fish enjoy and are extremely healthy from a mixed diet of the omega one foods (shrimp pellets, veggie wafers (and no, the omega one's veggie wafers is not fish meal, it's kelp), and general nutrition pellets). I also supplement with krill.
omojena;2897716; said:
Wow....... So wrong to call out a single company like that. Most of the foods on the market have very similar nutritional profiles (regardless of their labelling as "veggie" or "cichlid"). I would be willing to give your comments a little more credence if there was a sense of consistency and fairness in your analysis, but to say a particular brand will KILL your fish without any fundamental proof is just irresponsible.
I guess I should go set up the necessary funeral services for most of my fish. They've been living years on an NLS based diet, and based on your assertions they're due to kick the bucket any day now!
Haha.... I'm just teasing you a bit, but for what it's worth, what are you feeding? What are those reputable foods that can be fed daily without the risk of, as you say, killing your fish?
cassharper;2897809; said:
I use the Omega Wafers too from time to time. Forgot to mention those. They are one of the only true veggies on the market.
I agree that Omega is a good food (definitely a premium brand), but non-veggie based Omega comes out on the short end in the fatty liver degeneration argument vs. NLS. Lots of scientific discussion online favoring NLS vs. other pelleted foods. Take it for what it's worth of course. The C-F forum is a good start for a "lively" discussion!
Ultimately, the better foods today (NLS, Omega, and perhaps Ocean Nutrition and one or two others) are much better than what is available in the wild......at least from the standpoint of easy availability! ; )
Ultimately, the better foods today (NLS, Omega, and perhaps Ocean Nutrition and one or two others) are much better than what is available in the wild......at least from the standpoint of easy availability! ; )
