Flake food = malnutrition?

[Boggle]

Enlighten my dim, confused little mind, lol... this is the stuff my lfs sells, in an almost identical set up. Do the brine shrimp have to be allowed to grow bigger to be any good, or is it a different type of shrimp altogether I'm best off breeding as food for my fishies?

 

[CFC]

Brine shrimp are a different species of shrimp known as Artemia, the shrimps that i use for food are closer related to prawns and are known as Gammarus shrimp. Live adult brine shrimp sold in lfs's is usually Enriched Artemia which has been fed on vitamin boosting foods, the brine shrimp used in frozen and possibly freeze dried foods is unlikely to have had this luxury and has very little nutrtional value for fish. Far better food for small fish is daphnia (water fleas) but even these should not make up more than around 20% of the fishes diet.

 

[cometcattle]

Did anyone ever notice that Hikari freeze-dried bloodworms have more crude protein than the Hikari frozen bloodworms? 6.5% vs 6.0%

I feed live blackworms once a week, and frozen Hikari bloodworms once a week.
The rest of the week, it's an assortment of flake/pellet (mostly Hikari). Now I'm tempted to buy a multi vitamin supplement to soak my flake in.


CFC- Do you fast your fish at all?

I always fast my bettas once a week, but I'm wondering if I should be fasting all my fish.

 

[karrihug]

what about adult brine shrimp? i have been feeding all my tanks live brine shrimp every weekend because it is the only live food(except feeder fish) that i can get. i feed the 210 ghost shrimp as well, and teh angel tank will eat them sometimes, but there is no other live food available that is small enough for the majority of my fish.

oops, i guess my questions are answered. )

 

[Boggle]

Thank you very much CFC, have saved this convo for future ref., will be very useful when I set up the shrimp hatchery.

BTW, I catch mosquitos (as I am human bait for the bloodsucking monsters) and give them to my betta & gouramis. They love 'em!

 

[CFC]

CFC- Do you fast your fish at all?

Yes i fast my large tank twice a week and all my other fish once a week

what about adult brine shrimp? i have been feeding all my tanks live brine shrimp every weekend because it is the only live food(except feeder fish) that i can get

Adult brine shrimp is fine as long as it says on the packet that it is Vitamin Enriched Artemia, non enriched brine shrimp is next to useless.

Live foods can be collected from ponds which have no fish in them, if you have a local fishless pond then i advise going paddling with a large fine meshed net to see what you can find, most pond creatures and their larvae can be used as great fish food, just avoid anything that is larger than your fish and leeches.

 

[Tropjunky]

Thnx for the tip, I'm assuming it's a multi-vitamin supplement designed for fish?

What brand do you use?

yah i use vitazine by waterlife (sorry if i spelled it wrong)

 

[Gunnie]

I find this topic very interesting and asked a trusted friend about this who has a fish only store near Chattanooga. I would like your comments on the information from this link. Now I realize that this link comes from a website that sells flake food, but it does say some things that might change the variables on why flake food is bad. Bunching all flake foods together may not be a fair assessment:

Omega One

I am interested in this because my fish never get sick and appear very healthy. Their coloring is very vibrant, and the younger fish are growing and thriving!

 

[zoraak]

I love it when some people start panicking over news which is totally unsubstantiated.

First of all that article has no mention whatsoever of how they tested the flake food and their results. Was it a study, experimentation or simply somebody's “opinion” that flake food lead to malnutrition?

The companies, who produce flake food, must be quite aware of what their products contain, and they must have tested it--simply because their business depends on it.

Fish are first and foremost "cold blooded", meaning they're not like us or the rest of mammals which need a varied diet rich with proteins and other components to keep up with their metabolism. Cold blooded animals have a different metabolism and they can store food energy for a long time. The temperature in their environment decides how faster or slow their metabolism works.

When fish are fed flakes, the nutritional aspects of flake food get accumulated after many regular feedings... no doubt that a varied diet will help the fish; however, it should also be remembered that one cannot just dismiss one of the factors which allowed tropical fish to be kept in tanks -- flake food.

Some snakes (not fish but very similar) can go without food for a whole year after one hearty meal… personally I have seen sick fish survive without food for a whole month!

So the bottom line is that every bit of news should not be taken as absolute truth.

 

[Boggle]

Nobody's panicking, lol, I started this thread so that people with lots of good advice and experience, eg CFC, can contribute.

I'll follow CFC's advice and do a progress report a month from now.

 

[zerothemouse]

Hi Everyone,

I think I remember reading that animals are 80 to 90 percent water, including us. So even if you are feeding your fish live food they are mainly eating water. Some of my fish will only eat frozen brine shrimp; someone should inform my fish that they are neglecting their dietary variation requirements. I personally think it's just a bunch of hype but they are your fish, do what ever helps you sleep at night.

mouse

 

[bluejules]

Hi

What about the shrimp and bloodworm which comes in packets and you keep in the fridge?? - not frozen or live ..its in a kind of preservative in a packet. Is this oK??

Thanks

 

[cometcattle]

Hi

What about the shrimp and bloodworm which comes in packets and you keep in the fridge?? - not frozen or live ..its in a kind of preservative in a packet. Is this oK??

Thanks

I've never heard of that.

Do you have a pic or a link?

 

[clutterydrawer]

Sorry, I just noticed the last one is in german. It says "red mosquitoe larvae in nutrient rich jelly" then "nutritious addition to the diet of all aquarium fish"

 

[Fiddlesticks]

My babies will be getting frozen live alot more often after reading this.