fish foods...I'm an ingredient reader... marketing, and I'm going to pick on Bug Bites...

[Magnum Man]

1st off I love Bug Bites, and use a lot, so I think it's ok to pick on them... they are one of my most heavily used of off the shelf fish foods... and while I find their formula pretty good, there in lies the issue... for the most part all their "formulas" are the same... the bite size is changed between packaging, not so much the actual "formula"... the formula is a good universal and unique mix, but the "color enhancing" "bottom feeder" "pleco" "tropical" "goldfish" "cichlid" formulas, are all pretty much the same, just different nugget size, and packaging...

I don't just feed one food, so I don't worry about the "fish meal" thing, I look for varying ingredients, between what I feed from day to day... protein levels, and where I think that protein comes from, fiber, and varying vegetable sources, and since most tanks have several species of fish in them, I custom mix, day to day, between foods for fish that need a more vegetable diet, and more fish protein...

a couple of my favorite off the shelf foods right now, are Bug Bites, and Ultra Fresh micro pellets, and one most may not be familiar with, as I've never seen it on a store shelf, is Aquatic foods micro wafers...
I've linked the Bug Bites color enhancing formula below, but haven't really noticed any difference in any of their "formulas" I think most is marketing... good food, just an over active marketing department

https://www.amazon.com/Hagen-Fluval-BugBites-Color-Enhancing/dp/B07BYWHCJ2/ref=mp_s_a_1_3_pp?crid=2LPJ9LI16OE4N&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.JV_I-OaECKqSJCzYGp048nNzMfof70nADFl_urTY5MeEpw6f8MU1b6Y2QhS5KwNKiczWbsF_7hEzIjcclvUpZmuTDMGakYO8SQMZKCnGxXyEwXz8tbIrC7XVphU94UnRERdBmbPgtMicB8EEh5X0_PDYTg4RMc3IiTNpOJRZMxR_HYG8hKHq7RdP3AQmNKMxEnQWUrFqt4W3X0bzzYyxcQ.zwCTMeQvdu50duktgM9mLVJyADpNs9u0NJwpnJbMcTs&dib_tag=se&keywords=bug+bites+fish+food&qid=1739107129&rdc=1&sprefix=%2Caps%2C358&sr=8-3

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B09B6SNM6B?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0C5TNJZK2?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

 

[emeraldking]

1st off I love Bug Bites, and use a lot

So, is it the taste that you love or what...?

Just kidding...!
I myself give my fish a variety of food. I'm not a fan of sticking to one type of food either.

 

[GaryE]

Everything is marketing. I use bug bites, but don't pay a lot of attention to what formula. The big thing they manage to do is get the soldier fly larvae into a usable form. I also have straight up soldier fly larvae (sold for chickens) which I thought I'd grind up. I did, but it left calcium deposits on the substrate where it fell. It's a calcium rich bug. If I had large fish, the dried bugs would be great.

I use a variety of foods too. I have algae wafers and frozen zucchini slices, bug bites, brine shrimp larvae, white worms, bulk colour flake, decapsulated brine shrimp, dried and crumbled krill, crumbled soldier fly larvae, krill fines, Polish shrimp pellets, decapsulated artemia cysts, and mosquito larvae, bloodworms and daphnia when it's warm enough to culture it. Sometimes I do three circuits of the fishroom, feeding specialized diets to different fish. It pays off.

 

[BanjoFish]

1st off I love Bug Bites, and use a lot, so I think it's ok to pick on them... they are one of my most heavily used of off the shelf fish foods... and while I find their formula pretty good, there in lies the issue... for the most part all their "formulas" are the same... the bite size is changed between packaging, not so much the actual "formula"... the formula is a good universal and unique mix, but the "color enhancing" "bottom feeder" "pleco" "tropical" "goldfish" "cichlid" formulas, are all pretty much the same, just different nugget size, and packaging...

I don't just feed one food, so I don't worry about the "fish meal" thing, I look for varying ingredients, between what I feed from day to day... protein levels, and where I think that protein comes from, fiber, and varying vegetable sources, and since most tanks have several species of fish in them, I custom mix, day to day, between foods for fish that need a more vegetable diet, and more fish protein...

a couple of my favorite off the shelf foods right now, are Bug Bites, and Ultra Fresh micro pellets, and one most may not be familiar with, as I've never seen it on a store shelf, is Aquatic foods micro wafers...
I've linked the Bug Bites color enhancing formula below, but haven't really noticed any difference in any of their "formulas" I think most is marketing... good food, just an over active marketing department

https://www.amazon.com/Hagen-Fluval-BugBites-Color-Enhancing/dp/B07BYWHCJ2/ref=mp_s_a_1_3_pp?crid=2LPJ9LI16OE4N&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.JV_I-OaECKqSJCzYGp048nNzMfof70nADFl_urTY5MeEpw6f8MU1b6Y2QhS5KwNKiczWbsF_7hEzIjcclvUpZmuTDMGakYO8SQMZKCnGxXyEwXz8tbIrC7XVphU94UnRERdBmbPgtMicB8EEh5X0_PDYTg4RMc3IiTNpOJRZMxR_HYG8hKHq7RdP3AQmNKMxEnQWUrFqt4W3X0bzzYyxcQ.zwCTMeQvdu50duktgM9mLVJyADpNs9u0NJwpnJbMcTs&dib_tag=se&keywords=bug+bites+fish+food&qid=1739107129&rdc=1&sprefix=%2Caps%2C358&sr=8-3

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B09B6SNM6B?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0C5TNJZK2?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

I have some arroving from Amazon today oddly enough.

Cheaper than Pets at Home (UK chain store) too.

 

[GaryE]

This is a year old thread, so I can add something I've learned since then. I've begun using my chicken feed dried soldier fly larvae by running it through a meat grinder and making it a major ingredient in my homemade frozen food offerings. Mixed with ground up frozen shrimp, mild paprika and a veggie element, it makes a great general food.

The test for me is if the fish fed it will produce eggs in good numbers, and it passes that test with zero calcium deposits in the tank.

I pay more for the Tropical Insect pellets I like to use by shopping at a local store. Chains don't get my business, but if you find something locally owned, it's worth picking them over amazon. Alas, we often can't do that. just bought two filters from Amazon for less than the price of one locally. That happens.