Are these ingredients good in fish food?

[Rocky998]

I was looking at fish pellets to get and this stuff looked ok so I wanted to post the ingredients to see what everyone thought:
"Sword prawn, Jingou shrimp, Squid, Wheat germ, Spirulina, Ganoderma polysaccharides, Norwegian seaweed, corn, garlic, mineral substances, vitamins(A, D3, C, E, B1, B2, B6 &B12), β-carotene, folic acid, nicotinic acid, pantothenic acid and EAA (methionine, lysine)"

 

[Magnum Man]

those aren't the ingredients in the brand I use... the only thing I'd question is Corn... & I don't think the brand I use has wheat germ either

the one I use also has garlic in it I wonder if that's for flavor or nutrition???

 

[sharkweek178]

I tend to focus on the first five ingredients listed. Those look ok. The wheat germ isn't great. But it's the only terrestrial grain listed in the top 5 ingredients. And they don't use fish meals so that's good.

 

[Byron]

Agree with sharkweek. It is any "meal" that should always be avoided. Whole fish/shrimp, not fish meal. And cereals are not easily digested but most foods have some as binders so can't be avoided. Unless one makes their own.

 

[Colin_T]

I was looking at fish pellets to get and this stuff looked ok so I wanted to post the ingredients to see what everyone thought:
"Sword prawn, Jingou shrimp, Squid, Wheat germ, Spirulina, Ganoderma polysaccharides, Norwegian seaweed, corn, garlic, mineral substances, vitamins(A, D3, C, E, B1, B2, B6 &B12), β-carotene, folic acid, nicotinic acid, pantothenic acid and EAA (methionine, lysine)"

Sword prawn, good
Jingou shrimp, good
Squid, good
Wheat germ, bad
Spirulina, good
Ganoderma polysaccharides, never heard of it
Norwegian seaweed, good
corn, bad
garlic, great for cooking them with, also butter, but bad for fish
mineral substances, what minerals?
vitamins (A, D3, C, E, B1, B2, B6 &B12), most are water soluble and break down quickly so unless you use the food within a week or two of opening the container, they are useless.
β-carotene, good but also breaks down quickly when exposed to air and water
folic acid, maybe if the fish is pregnant or has a folic acid deficiency
nicotinic acid, never heard of it
pantothenic acid never heard of it
and EAA (methionine, lysine) it's from Jurassic park lysine contingency

 

[Rocky998]

Sword prawn, good
Jingou shrimp, good
Squid, good
Wheat germ, bad
Spirulina, good
Ganoderma polysaccharides, never heard of it
Norwegian seaweed, good
corn, bad
garlic, great for cooking them with, also butter, but bad for fish
mineral substances, what minerals?
vitamins (A, D3, C, E, B1, B2, B6 &B12), most are water soluble and break down quickly so unless you use the food within a week or two of opening the container, they are useless.
β-carotene, good but also breaks down quickly when exposed to air and water
folic acid, maybe if the fish is pregnant or has a folic acid deficiency
nicotinic acid, never heard of it
pantothenic acid never heard of it
and EAA (methionine, lysine) it's from Jurassic park lysine contingency

So overall it's good lol

 

[Essjay]

nicotinic acid, never heard of it
pantothenic acid never heard of it
and EAA (methionine, lysine)

Nicotinic acid aka niacin is vitamin B3
Pantothenic acid is vitamin B5
EAA = essential amino acids, that is amino acids the body can't make itself and have to be obtained from food. In this case, they are saying methionine and lysine can't be made by fish so they need it in their diet.

 

[GaryE]

I would feel better if it had Icelandic seaweed. I become a bit skeptical when I see obvious 'marketing to the new age' stuff like that. I feed a type of seaweed, from an island in the bay here, and it's great food. Herbivores thrive on it. But "Norwegian"? It's the same sea with the same weeds here as there.

I've seen what happened with Norwegian Blue parrots, back in the Monty Python days.

 

[Nuttawet]

I used realistic food like from nature.......

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

I would feel better if it had Icelandic seaweed. I become a bit skeptical when I see obvious 'marketing to the new age' stuff like that. I feed a type of seaweed, from an island in the bay here, and it's great food. Herbivores thrive on it. But "Norwegian"? It's the same sea with the same weeds here as there.

I've seen what happened with Norwegian Blue parrots, back in the Monty Python days.

Beautiful plumage, the Norwegian Blue and my favourite sketch closely followed by the lumberjack song of course...

 

[GaryE]

Good fish food is work, and takes space. I have daphnia tubs, though daphnia's over-rated. My measure is how many eggs my killies (who spawn every day) produce on various diets, and daphnia is only slightly better than high quality flake. I hatch brine shrimp daily, which in my large set up I buy in one pound cans (2 a year, at $0.50 cad per day). I culture white worms, which used every few days give great results. In season, I feed equally good mosquito larvae.

I feed some flake, which I buy based not on ingredients, but the nutritional breakdown. Some fish need roughage, some need protein, etc. But a diet of straight up prepared food is like living from the contents of supermarket prepared food freezers. Fish certainly put weight on with prepared foods, and they are great for growth.

When I was a kid living at home, or later in cramped apartments, live food was out. It gets complicated for the average fishkeeper. Sometimes I go out to the fishroom in the morning and when I return, I realize I spent an hour working on the cultures, and barely did anything with the tanks.

These are the words of a guy who'll skip a meal rather than microwave a prepared package, so I have my prejudices. I like to feed my fish well. Seaweed in food? Great. Seaweed torn off dried leaves? Cheaper and better. My rainbows and milleri platys love dulse.

In a couple of hours, I'll hit the road to learn more about my favourite fish, and while I'm gone, the fish will all eat bug bites. I have someone who knows what she's doing going out to feed them every 3rd day. Those prepared goods are very useful. With the exception of bug bites, which have led to good egg production in killies, I don't worry about ingredients. I look at the nutritional breakdown, especially the fibre content.