# What Are You Feeding Thread?



## GuppiesAndBetta (Jul 27, 2009)

Hey, I almost finished my tub of flake food and am looking for other ideas to feed my community tanks. It would be great if you can post what you are feeding. 

For my community tanks, I am feeding Aqueon Flake Food (decent, inexpensive), freeze-dried brine shrimp, frozen bloodworms, and for the bottom feeders, HBH algae wafers. 

As of now, it seems I cannot go wrong with NLS, and it also seems Omega Sea makes a pretty decent fish food (with no fish meal). Thoughts? And what are you feeding your tanks?


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## Hitch (Apr 26, 2009)

My fish menu is:

Prepared foods:
NLS H2O wafer
NLS grow formula
NLS Thera A
Earthworm sticks
Spirulina sticks
brine shrimp sticks
Hikari algae wafers
Hikari sinking wafers
Hikari carnivore pellets

Frozen foods:
bloodworms
brine shrimp
cyclops

Live foods:
white worms

Raw seafood:
Shelled tiger shrimp

Veggies:
Cucumber
yams
peas


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

Hitch said:


> My fish menu is:
> 
> Prepared foods:
> NLS H2O wafer
> ...


I too once had an enviable stock of fish foods. Right now:

Fish:

Hikari frozen brineshrimp (spirulina), SFBB mysis shrimp
NLS Cichlid 1mm, Fish-head 20% Spirulina flake

Dr. Rosenberg (giant prawn)

Above, + cuttlebone (she eats the hard outer casing), lima bean, celery, carrot, cucumber


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

New Life Spectrum 1mm pellets
New Life Spectrum flakes
Hikari Algae Wafers
Hikari Frozen Brine Shrimp
Hikari Frozen Bloodworms
Hikari Frozen Daphnia
Live Baby Brine Shrimp
Live Brine Shrimp (when I am not too lazy to grow them out!)


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

SW:
New Life Spectrum Thera A
New Life Spectrum Marine Fish Formula
Ocean's Nutrition Forumla One
Ocean's Nutrition Formula Two
Golden Pearls (300+ uM)

FW:
Hikari Carnivore pellets
Shrimp sticks
Earthworm sticks
Meat wafers
New Life Spectrum Growth 00

Both:
Frozen Mackerel roe
Hikari Mysis shrimp
Hikari Bloodworms
Piscine Energetics Mysis shrimp

and Vodka!!


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

ameekplec. said:


> SW:
> New Life Spectrum Thera A
> New Life Spectrum Marine Fish Formula
> Ocean's Nutrition Forumla One
> ...


The vodkas for plants or shrimp or something isnt it?


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

For the reef tank as an organic carbon source for bacteria. And for me as an entertainment source.


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## AquaNeko (Jul 26, 2009)

Topfin Goldfish flakes (wiaiting for container to finish before switching)
Tetra freeze dried bloodworms
Topfin algae flakes
Minced dried garlic


Earthworm sticks? Hmm.. got me thinking about making my own fish food now. Was thinking of getting a handful of earthworms, garlic and some surplus zucchni I've got in the fridge, put in a blender, and blend for 1 min then slowly dry it out in the oven to think sheets. Crumple up and serve from time to time in the tanks.


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## GuppiesAndBetta (Jul 27, 2009)

Is NLS really that good?


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

GuppiesAndBetta said:


> Is NLS really that good?


I think so.


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## dl88dl (Mar 8, 2010)

GuppiesAndBetta said:


> Is NLS really that good?


NLS is a good food for the money


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## Hitch (Apr 26, 2009)

ya NLS def makes one of the best out there. I dont use NLS in my tanks with inverts--fany snails or shrimps etc due to the presence of copper.


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## dl88dl (Mar 8, 2010)

Fruits:

Orange
Watermelon

Veggies:

Peas
Zucchini
Lettuce

Frozen:

Market prawn
Blood worm
Brine shrimp
mysis shrimp
Cyclops
Krills
Marine diet

SW:

Marine Snow
Hikari Marines
Tropic Marin Pro-coral phyton
Tetra DoroMarin sinking morsels

FW:

Spirulina powder
Hikari Lionhead
Hikari Carnivore
Hikari Spirulina
Saki-Hikari
TetraColor
TetraExotic
HBH shrimp pellets
San Francisco Bay freeze dried plankton
Omega One freeze dried shrimp
OSI spirulina pellets
Inch-Gold large Arowana
AZOO 9 in 1 Flowerhorn pellets
XO Ever Red
XO Super Red Syn
XO Starry
XO Humpy Head
NutraFin Max spirulina sticks
NutraFin freeze dried white shrimps
NutraFin freeze dried tubifex worms
NutraFin freeze dried brine shrimps
NLS H2O wafer
NLS growth formula
NLS 3mm
NLS surface feeder formula
NLS Koi formula
Purina Mazuri Koi
Trout & Salmon sinking pellets
...and various flake food like earthworm, brine shrimp, spirulina, beefheart, cichlid and veggie all mixed together.


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

how do you guys store the dried stuff? Do you lump it all together in a big container. 

I med nutrafin container that I keep mixing new foods into. It has a whole variety of foods in there, I just can't seem to recall what exactly 

Earthworms for the poly and salamander along with frozen krill, bloodworm, beefheart.

I can't feed bloodworm as much anymore because of my stupid allergy to it.


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## TBemba (Jan 11, 2010)

GuppiesAndBetta said:


> Is NLS really that good?


 Yep it is pretty good. I was a skeptic like you about 3 years ago I got my first group of tropheus and tried NLS and I have not used anything since. seems like every fish like it. I have yet to find one that doesn't . It;s expensive so get a 5 lbs pail around $70 and it should last most people a year.


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## dl88dl (Mar 8, 2010)

TBemba said:


> Yep it is pretty good. I was a skeptic like you about 3 years ago I got my first group of tropheus and tried NLS and I have not used anything since. seems like every fish like it. I have yet to find one that doesn't . It;s expensive so get a 5 lbs pail around $70 and it should last most people a year.


You can get a 5lbs for $60 to $65 on PN. NLS is good but I think Hikari is better but more money. I had a big group of 30 Fronts around 1" and divided them into 2 groups of 15 in 2 75gal tanks. Both with the same temperature, same AC500 and same WC but one was fed with NLS and one with Hikari and after 6 months the ones that was fed on Hikari was bigger on the average by about 1".


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

GuppiesAndBetta said:


> Is NLS really that good?


No. It isn't. For SW yes. For FW it's mediocre. Unfortunately, the best FW food, Dainichi, is not readily available except by mail order.

The best food on the market WAS Hikari's cichlid complete but it was discontinued due to high manufacturing costs.

NLS is going down hill... krill powder and fruit extracts. it's nothing like what it used to be. Dainichi is still a premium quality food but who knows how long it'll last.

It's not about the ingredients as much as the process. On the surface dainichi appears to use poorer ingredients than Omega one-- but Omega one's process is trash and their food is unbalanced and produces poor results comparatively.

To respond to the above post, Hikari is trash now IMO. It used to be great, but they have discontinued their premium line and now sell starchy trashy foods that produce starchy misshapen fish IMO.


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## KevD (Mar 2, 2008)

OSI Spirulina Flaskes
Omega One Veggie Flakes (strange name considering the lead ingredients are salmon, cod, halibut and herring)
Hikari Sinking Wafers
Argent Labs Cyclop-eeze wafers/flakes


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## dl88dl (Mar 8, 2010)

AquariAM said:


> No. It isn't. For SW yes. For FW it's mediocre. Unfortunately, the best FW food, Dainichi, is not readily available except by mail order.
> 
> The best food on the market WAS Hikari's cichlid complete but it was discontinued due to high manufacturing costs.
> 
> ...


How can you say Hikari is trash...have you use all different kinds of Hikari. The Saki-Hikari for fancy goldfish IMO is the best food for goldfish but so expensive. Dainichi has one of the best Koi food since they are so famous in Japan. Dainichi is a Koi farm and I know they made very good koi food but the cichlid food is questionable since I know lots of people who try it and go back to NLS. There was one guy on PN who was giving away the Dainichi food because his fish did not eat it. Hikari Lionhead for goldfish is a great food for all cichlids and all fishy loves this food and you will see the growth by using this food.


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## Hitch (Apr 26, 2009)

Ciddian said:


> how do you guys store the dried stuff? Do you lump it all together in a big container.


I usually keep all of my foods separate in their own containers. Just so that I know exactly what combination of foods I can choosing for the fish each talking.

But when I leave the foods for other people to feed, I would mix them into a large tub and just tell them to get from there.


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

dl88dl said:


> How can you say Hikari is trash...have you use all different kinds of Hikari. The Saki-Hikari for fancy goldfish IMO is the best food for goldfish but so expensive. Dainichi has one of the best Koi food since they are so famous in Japan. Dainichi is a Koi farm and I know they made very good koi food but the cichlid food is questionable since I know lots of people who try it and go back to NLS.


Dainichi cichlid food is questionable?

Yes. Hikari is trash. I'm sorry. Their two great products- tropical flake and cichlid complete are no longer made. I have used the tropical flake- which was alright and highly palatable but is not on the market any more. Their cichlid excel, bio gold, are both highly inferior products to NLS which is about the same cost per gram at retail. Their bottom feeder food is overpriced and contains far too much wheat and starch and is not good value I don't say things without trying them first. Why do you keep asking me if I've tried products I mention? Of course I have.

Dainichi cichlid food is meant for malawis, victorias, and tangs. Dainichi has done 90% of their feeding trials on malawis, and they primarily recommend their food for malawis (its all over their website). I have fed the veggie Deluxe and FX to Pseudotropheus acei, labidochromis caeruleus, Othopharynx lithobates and L. caeruleus/ metriaclima barlowi hybrids and they inhaled it even faster than NLS. Healthy Malawis will eat any prepared fish food without hesitation. 
South american/central american/west african/asian cichlids tend not to like it-- as Dainichi has an EXTREMELY tough outer shell and very rough gritty consistency. SA/CA's absolutely despise foods like that.









Ps acei on NLS cichlid formula

















Same fish 30 days later (as the fish in the first picture on the right.) after a month of dainichi Veggie Deluxe. Body proper length, improved white, improved irridescence, improved body and head shape, improved musculature, less fatty, starchy appearance. Substantially increased growth.

The fish were switched from 50/50 Hikari Cichlid complete (this was 2006)/ NLS cichlid to 50/50 cichlid complete/Danichi.
Cichlid complete was one of the best pelleted foods available. It is a shame Hikari pulled it. I wrote a four page letter emploring them to bring it back but they told me it was pulled due to inability to turn a profit because not many people bought it and in the small volumes they made it, it was costly to procuce.


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## dl88dl (Mar 8, 2010)

AquariAM said:


> Dainichi cichlid food is questionable?
> 
> Yes. Hikari is trash. I'm sorry. Their two great products- tropical flake and cichlid complete are no longer made. I have used the tropical flake- which was alright and highly palatable but is not on the market any more. Their cichlid excel, bio gold, are both highly inferior products to NLS which is about the same cost per gram at retail. Their bottom feeder food is overpriced and contains far too much wheat and starch and is not good value I don't say things without trying them first. Why do you keep asking me if I've tried products I mention? Of course I have.
> 
> ...


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

dl88dl said:


> AquariAM said:
> 
> 
> > Dainichi cichlid food is questionable?
> ...


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## dl88dl (Mar 8, 2010)

AquariAM said:


> dl88dl said:
> 
> 
> > I don't know why we ended up arguing today but I feel crappy about it..
> ...


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## TBemba (Jan 11, 2010)

lol you guys are too funny....

I can get any fish to eat either pellets, flake or frozen. I can get them to eat it with gusto too.

Fish (cichlids) especially are pigs and will eat any fish food.

I am not saying you should or would feed every fish the same food.

I am also not saying every food is of the same quality.

But bang for your buck NLS is about the best. You don't need to feed anything else to condition most fish to breed other than feeding NLS (New Life Spectrum)

Also you do not need to feed a large amount of NLS to get fish to grow and be healthy.

I find that most people feed way to much food to their fish and the biggest issue with fish is lack of consistent water changes and over feeding (causing food to foul the water) making water quality bad.

Fish in the wild do not eat as well as aquarium fish.

I laugh when people say that WC fish are more vibrant and better colours... F1's (best fish you can get) because they are the best offspring of WC and are feed the best balanced diet and the most consistent (fish in tank get food every day) better water quality (that is up to the keeper)


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

TBemba said:


> *
> I laugh when people say that WC fish are more vibrant and better colours... F1's (best fish you can get) because they are the best offspring of WC and are *feed the best balanced diet and the most consistent (fish in tank get food every day) better water quality (that is up to the keeper)


100% agree that the best looking fish are F1

edit:

Forgot I also gave some dainichi to someone with guppies. He crushed it and they ate it. I gave some to a friend with a red ear slider, he ate it, and my friend's demasoni ate it. 
Maybe tangs aren't huge fans?


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## dl88dl (Mar 8, 2010)

AquariAM said:


> 100% agree that the best looking fish are F1
> 
> edit:
> 
> ...


I don't think is the tangs but more like his WC group of Fronts are use to the NLS and I am sure if he try longer they will eat the Dainichi too. My WC group of Fronts also love NLS but will eat anything I put in the tank even my fingers


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

dl88dl said:


> I don't think is the tangs but more like his WC group of Fronts are use to the NLS and I am sure if he try longer they will eat the Dainichi too. My WC group of Fronts also love NLS but will eat anything I put in the tank even my fingers


I'd urge you to order a bag of the Veggie FX. You'll be really impressed with what it does I think .


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## GuppiesAndBetta (Jul 27, 2009)

Any reviews/comments on John's fish food or O.S.I? I'm looking for a good community freshwater flake food.


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

I love the old Hikaria Tropical Flake too...great food - and it seemed like any fish would eat it. I would start finicky fish on it before moving them over to NLS.

Looking over the ingredients though (I still have some left!), the stuff wasn't really all that good. Fish Meal, Milt Meal and then...Starch.

Oh well. I have to admit, I miss it too. Much better than having some young discus starve to death before realizing what is food - sorry just a personal experience


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

Chris S said:


> I love the old Hikaria Tropical Flake too...great food - and it seemed like any fish would eat it. I would start finicky fish on it before moving them over to NLS.
> 
> Looking over the ingredients though (I still have some left!), the stuff wasn't really all that good. Fish Meal, Milt Meal and then...Starch.
> 
> Oh well. I have to admit, I miss it too. Much better than having some young discus starve to death before realizing what is food - sorry just a personal experience


I dont think anybody's going to argue that it, or any other hikari dry food has good ingredients. The cichlid complete did but that's gone. (salmon milt, wheat germ, kelp)


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## Calmer (Mar 9, 2008)

GuppiesAndBetta said:


> Any reviews/comments on John's fish food or O.S.I? I'm looking for a good community freshwater flake food.


All of my food is from John except for grocery food such as zucchini, cucumber, peas, etc.
John's Premium Earth Worm Flake
John's Premium Angelfish Flake
John's Premium Veggie Flake
John's Premium 1.5mm pink colour slow sinking pellet
John's Premium Brine Shrimp size #1 200-300 Golden Pearl
HBH Veggie Wafers
Frozen Bloodworms
Frozen Daphnia
Frozen Brine Shrimp.

I fed O.S.I. Flake before and I don't see any difference since the change over last summer. All of the fish are healthy, vibrant, and happy. Fish I have are Angels, Swordtails, Guppies, Bristle Nosed Plecos, Dwarf Puffers, and Ottos.


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## KhuliLoachFan (Mar 8, 2008)

I'm going to get some of the John's stuff from "Sugarglider" on PN.

I love NLS and what's more my cichlids color up and look fabulous and breed for me on a staple diet of NLS plus supplemental live and frozen foods as appropriate to the species.

I keep the HBH spirulina + 8 other type algae flakes around, and for my community tanks, I find the Big Als flakes are cheap and good as a part-of-this-complete-breakfast.

I have had zero luck with live brine shrimp. Can anybody give me a bulletproof Toronto-water way to make brineshrimp? Maybe I just have a bad bottle of brine shrimp eggs. I get about 1% hatch out of the eggs, and none live more than 10 hours after hatching, no matter what salinity, how much darkness or light, and how much oxygen I give them. Sigh.

W


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## Hitch (Apr 26, 2009)

sugarglider is John


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

KhuliLoachFan said:


> I have had zero luck with live brine shrimp. Can anybody give me a bulletproof Toronto-water way to make brineshrimp? Maybe I just have a bad bottle of brine shrimp eggs. I get about 1% hatch out of the eggs, and none live more than 10 hours after hatching, no matter what salinity, how much darkness or light, and how much oxygen I give them. Sigh.
> 
> W


I hatch them using around .020, add a bit of baking soda + an airstone.

If you don't feed them, they will usually die off in about 12 hours or so.

To raise them to adulthood I use flour/baby food.


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## ChuckRum (Sep 11, 2010)

dl88dl said:


> Fruits:
> 
> Orange
> Watermelon
> ...


where do you get your trout and salmon sinking pellets?.. ive been looking everywhere online and around the gta and i cant find em anywhere. i need them for my axolotls. if you could please let me know.

thanks, chuck.


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