looking for a good pellet food.

[jason2459]

Originally Posted by usmc1812

New Era all the way, NLS is garbage fouls up your water. This stuff breaks down and gets into everything, pumps, skimmer, etc. stopped using it three years ago and would not purchase again.

Interesting. What kind of NLS were you feeding. I feed rather a lot of it daily (4x per day now) and haven't had that experience.

[CStrickland]

Originally Posted by zachfishman

Can anyone recommend a good small pellet that actually sinks? I like the NLS 1mm pellet but they float for me unless I tap every single one of them down into the water...

If you are feeding by hand don't sprinkle them on the surface, take a pinch and release it under the water. With a feeder the rings work nice and its easy to make one out of a soda bottle.

[BrickFishHouse]

To answer your question about Larry's Reef Frenzy and Rod's Food: I never bothered rinsing them, but I was in a retail store at the time.

I know some say rinsing and/or straining through a net is supposed to help with clouding. But I never really saw any bad clouding.

Oh, and +1 for New Life Spectrum.

[karm40]

I used to use Spectrum but, after meeting the guy (Juan?) at MACNA and helping him convince a retail store to use his product and telling him I had been using his product since 1998, I asked him what he was doing with all the product he had on display??? I said, are you selling it? He said for me, $10 which is more than I pay, RETAIL!!! Needless to sayI was pretty disappointed. Pretty poor customer relations. So, I am switching to Hikari and Formula 1 and 2!!!

[laga77]

Read the ingredients people. Almost all pellet and flakes food contain, or are mostly terrestrial plants. Wheat, soy, cornstarch, garlic, alfalfa, and vegetable extracts. These plants were never meant to be eaten by marine fish. Over time they will cause problems for the liver and heart in a fish. It is like smoking cigarettes. One pack won`t hurt you, but smoke every day for years and the odds of you getting sick skyrocket. Don't forget the preservatives that are in there also like Ethoxyquin. Taken from WIKI; "Ethoxyquin has been shown to be slightly toxic to fish". You are slowly hurting your fish.

[CStrickland]

There was a study in the 80's that showed ethozyquin to have some cancer potential in rats at 5,000 ppm. The current pet food dose is 75 ppm and has never been shown to have any negative effects. That Wikipedia cites to a listing of scary chemicals and the entry for ethozyquin states some toxicity in rainbow trout but the supporting link is dead so idk what that conclusion is based on. Good old Wikipedia.

A couple of my Facebook friends were fired up about ethozyquin a while ago but it's not a real problem. These are the same friends that like spend hours grinding up their own organic carrots for baby food because they don't have jobs to go to. Which is fine, but it's a luxury and nobody takes them seriously when they holler about how a can of Gerber now and then is poisoning your kid. It's silly. They're more like to make their kid sick by not getting a full complement of fats and vitamins, or E. coli from not washing the carrots well than canned baby food is.

Also, the shrimp and squids that I use for blender mush are fullll of terrible chemicals and are produce by actual slaves in third world countries. Depending what you replace the pellets with there's a very good chance it's more poisonous and less nutritious than dry food. A little cornstarch is nothing compared to what some clams filter out of the water.

[jason2459]

I would suggest reading the ingredients too. But what I look for is whole foods and not meals. Low Ash content and low moisture content. The whole foods is more of the stuff you want, ash = more bone = more phosphate, and moisture = less of what you want. When looking for an algae blend I look for the ingredient list to actually start with an algae which it's amazing that most do not. NLS marine and NLS AlgaeMax meet all the above requirements for me.

[laga77]

Originally Posted by CStrickland

There was a study in the 80's that showed ethozyquin to have some cancer potential in rats at 5,000 ppm. The current pet food dose is 75 ppm and has never been shown to have any negative effects. A little cornstarch is nothing compared to what some clams filter out of the water.

The 75ppm is the limit of added Ethozyquin. If it is part of another ingredient, it needs not be listed on the label. Thanks lobbyists. All fish meal contains Ethozyquin, at least 400ppm and 1000ppm for fat content over 12% . http://www.woodhavenlabs.com/fishmeal.html I am not afraid of "scary chemicals". Only the ones that can harm my animals. Do a little research into the pet food industry, and you will find some companies make China look bad with what they pass off as food and QC. And yes cornstarch is a big deal. It is grown on land where marine fish have never eaten it. The stuff clams filter out is from the ocean and the bacterial in their guts that break that stuff down is gold when it comes to fish nutrition. In fact, thats how large predatory fish get their nutritional needs from eating the whole little fishes.

[CStrickland]

I agree that pet food is gross. I just don't think that preparing raw organic food with all of the necessary vitamins added for all of our dogs cats and fish is realistic for most people.

Again, I haven't seen any research to indicate that ethozyquin is dangerous at the levels present in fish food. Meal must be treated for transport in order to make it safer, I don't know what the ultimate level would be in a flake made from that meal.

Not all of the stuff that predatory fish accumulate from consuming smaller ones is gold, some of it is mercury. That's why you can't eat tuna when you're preggo. In fact, they are exploring the use of filter feeders to clean up polluted water because of how effectively they absorb toxins and problematic bacteria http://news.discovery.com/animals/mu...ter-140821.htm

[sixpackgarage]

NLS is by far the best pellet food I've used. My tangs have huge fat bellies and usually they eat every morsel before they ever hit the sand. Whatever is left.. my banded shrimp will take care of. I like that this also has garlic in it.

[fishchef]

All my Tangs, etc. love the Ocean Nutrition Formula 2 mini and medium pellets. They do sink fast, so only a few at a time.

[laga77]

Originally Posted by CStrickland

I agree that pet food is gross. I just don't think that preparing raw organic food with all of the necessary vitamins added for all of our dogs cats and fish is realistic for most people.

Unlike like fish, dogs have high quality grain-free foods available to them on a commercial scale.

[laga77]

Originally Posted by sixpackgarage

I like that this also has garlic in it.

I see I have my work cut out for me. Please do some reading on feeding terrestrial plants to fish.

[jason2459]

I do wish the NLS didn't have garlic in it. Though it is a very small quantity. I am skeptical that amount is anymore dangerous then the artificial salt water I use.

[laga77]

Originally Posted by CStrickland

Again, I haven't seen any research to indicate that ethozyquin is dangerous at the levels present in fish food. Meal must be treated for transport in order to make it safer, I don't know what the ultimate level would be in a flake made from that meal.

[/url]

It is accumulative. There are a lot of people who feed only dry food everyday. Ethozyquin is only one example. There are other ingredients in processed fish food that are detrimental to an animals health, like Olean for example. If you have ever looked into commercial feed lots like a pig or chicken or salmon farms. Where animals are kept in close proximity and fed a processed food everyday, they have to load the feed up with antibiotics because of the suppressed immune systems those conditions create. Our tanks are not as crowded, but the conditions are similar.

[Dkuhlmann]

NLS for me too. I've been feeding it for many years to all of the fish I've ever owned. I feed by hand and I just take a pinch of the pellets and throw them down on the water. Most sink right away and most of the others sink before they hit the overflow.

[Lib95]

I've been using Northfin Fish Food for African cichlids and like it, looks like they have a marine fish formula as well. Never seen the marine one or used it so can't speak directly to it.

Here is the info they have on from their website:

Ingredients: Kelp, Whole Antarctic Krill Meal, High Omega-3 (DHA) Herring Meal, Whole Sardine Meal, Wheat Flour, Spirulina, Garlic, Astaxanthin (Haematococcus Algae), Calcium Montmorillonite Clay, Vitamin A Acetate, L-Ascorby-2-Polyphospate (Source of Vitamin C), D-Activated Animal-Sterol (D3), DL Alphatocopherol (E), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid, Thiamine, Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Biotin, Choline Chloride, Cobalt Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Selenium, Zinc.

Guaranteed Analysis:
•Crude Protein (Min) : 36%
•Crude Fat (Min): 5%
•Crude Fiber (Max): 5%
•Moisture (Max): 9%
•Ash (Max): 10%

Packaging: 100g, 250g.

[g_langley]

+1 NLS 1mm pellets. Great for smaller fish and inverts also.

[Skim]

I know it is an older post but I thought I would pass on some info on Northfin. I use to feed NLS but have switched to Northfin for few reasons 1. It stays solid even when submersed for a long period of time, it will puff up but stay together even if you squish it, it will just flatten out and not fall apart and crumble. 2. It contains ZERO ETHOXYQUIN all ingredients are from Canadian suppliers and they do not have to use Ethoxyquin in the Fish or Krill Meal as does the USA. 3. No land food, as in fruit or Vegetables only Kelp, Spirulina, Astaxanthin ( Haematococcus Algae ) which is a strong antioxidant. When I first used it I did not expect much difference in appearance but after feeding it exclusively to the tank the Krill Formula and Marine Formula my Naso and Moorish Idol after one week the colors were richer and the Black color and trim became like black velvet very dark and rich any bit of Black trim on fins just started to pop. The one other thing I noticed was the eyes of the fish very clear and bright. Anyhow that is just a few thing I noticed since I switched. NLS is a dam good food and has proven itself over the years but I think Northfin has taken it to the next level. I have also include their address if you want to check it out. 2 thumbs up from me.

http://www.canadian-aquatic-feed.com/

Skim

[flavecens]

I am more concern about rancidity of food than low level of ethoxyquin. FDA guideline for pet food is 150ppm. IMHO any food that has 100ppm will give a better safety margin. Of course, ethoxyquin free food is preferred by majority of hobbyists! But,how do we know that Northin food contains "ZERO ETHOXYQUIN" as advertised on their website? It states" Northfin premium fish food does not use any preservative or harmful chemical to preserve its product line and 100% filler free. It sounds like a darn good products if it is true!

[flavecens]

This is what skim is referring to: Copy & paste straight from Northfin website:

"NorthFin Premium Fish Foods does not use any preservatives or harmful chemicals to preserve its product line".

Hopefully their statement is correct. Thank! Skim for the info.

[calcium king]

Originally Posted by Skim

It contains ZERO ETHOXYQUIN all ingredients are from Canadian suppliers and they do not have to use Ethoxyquin in the Fish or Krill Meal as does the USA

So, I was interested about this Ethoxyquin hysteria

all this talk about Ethoxyquin hysteria, and that Northfin saying it didn't have Ethoxyquin. Well, that might not be so accurate according to these test results:

[flavecens]

skim according to you Northfin " contains ZERO ETHOXYQUIN"? The lab. test showed otherwise.

[jason2459]

I'm curious why just because its from Canada it doesn't need to use ethoxyquin but US based does?

[FirstContact]

NLS 1mm sinking pellets here too. Also using the New Era grazer wheels. After feeding NLS, my fish won't eat any other dry pellet food. I had a ton of samples from different companies and several from New Era, but my fish wouldn't touch them.

The AFS and Apex combination is a great no brainer. I had issues getting the right amount dispensed. It seems like only the smallest setting is the only one you would ever use with the NLS 1mm pellets, and even then I thought about using scotch tape on the thing. But being able to turn off the return and powerheads before dumping food into the tank when not home was key. I did that and still used a feeding ring which I found beneficial to keep everything in a single area before it sinks.