I’ve been taking a hard look at fish foods lately… are flakes meant to be convenient for me, the fish, or the company that makes them???

I rarely buy or feed flakes, they don’t seem like a “natural” food shape for fish…
I see Bug Bites have come out now with flakes, available in all their newest formulas…
Yep, they typically float… yes the fish do eat them… I guess I prefer to present food that is bite sized, for most of my fish…

Why do you feed Flakes???
Maybe there is something I’m overlooking???

I soak mine first. Funnel them into a water bottle with tank water and shake them around, and let it soak for between 10 minutes or a few hours, depending on what tank i am feeing.

I find they disperse better in the water. I soak all my dry food atleast briefly. Never quite got my head around giving fish rock hard food.

Some flakes can even seem quite hard at times.

With my smaller fish or fry, even if crumble up the flakes as dry, it still looks easier for my fish if the flakes are at least a little pre soaked. I think I am in the minority with this practice I bet.

I generally prefer a granular food, and often grind or “dust” them up for smaller fish like Tetras ( I have a dedicated aquarium ) mortar and pestle

Yes, good point. Granular food I put straight into the tank neat (dry). Although might still soak it for fry maybe.

I use flakes by preference, because I have surface feeders galore. I really dislike granules and pellets, but sometimes they're all you can get.

That makes sense… I really don’t have any dedicated surface feeders

I've seen fish food containers from the 1930s, and they clearly weren't a new thing. Nice little metal boxes... I'll bet they came very early in the hobby, since it was a big urban pastime and people couldn't get live food. The hobby started to grow around World War one. It took off after the second world war, then began to decline in the early 2000s. I found a reference to paradise fish in a 1666 journal - Penn, who got a state named after him, had one.
London in 1666 didn't have prepared foods.
I think I remember floating pellets for goldfish in the 1960s, at my fishkeeping grandparents' house. Once I started, for tropicals, it was all flakes, with tetra-min as the gold standard. They had veggie, growth, colour and staple food, so were seen as a source for a varied diet. They seem to be looked down on now, ingredients-wise, but they were good food from what I saw and experienced with my fish.
Pellets really hit around the time Malawi Cichlids caught on in the 1980s. They were the same food rolled up in balls, ideal for mbuna, who rasp their food. I've always found getting small sizes of pellets harder than big ones - the package size is small and overpriced. Flake feeds fish of all sizes.

Pet food is a huge business, and there is a tendency to look at the real nutritional needs of various types of fishes. But many in the industry'd sell you sawdust if it paid and companies could get away with it. Right now, it's very competitive and the marketing claims are spectacular. I look at fibre, protein and fillers, then I look at price.

things haven't changed much over the years...

except some needed a can opener...

That fish in the Putnam's natural fish food looks about as angry as a fish can. Did somebody steal his shoes?

Dry/ prepared fish foods are a bit like bread and cereal for people. They are quick and easy to use (feed the kids breakfast in the morning and give them a sandwich for lunch) but might not be the best food for us or the fish. It is easy for someone to grab a container of fish flakes or pellets and drop a bit in the tank for the fish to eat.

Most fish flakes and pellets aren't necessarily the best and if they have ingredients like flour or any type of grain in, they are rubbish (a lot like bread and cereals humans eat). They might keep the fish alive and the fish might even fatten up a bit if fed regularly, but are the foods good for them in the long run? Refined sugars from grain flour and sugar aren't good for people and grains aren't good for fish.

A good quality dry fish food will have fish and shrimp in them and no grains or weird plants from the garden. Insects and insect larvae can also be used along with worms and small aquatic crustaceans. Fresh/ frozen prawn, fish, squid and other marine meats can be used for some fishes, however these usually take longer to prepare and feed to the fish.

Dry fish foods are more of a convenience for people and allow companies to sell products that aren't necessarily that good. However, since fish are regarded as expendable property, most people (except fish keepers) really don't care about the welfare of fish. There are also some fish keepers who don't care about the welfare of their fish and that is shown by the monstrosities being made in various fish farms around the world. It's all about money.

GaryE said:

That fish in the Putnam's natural fish food looks about as angry as a fish can. Did somebody steal his shoes?

Click to expand...

He is looking a bit upset, isn't he