Flakes Or Pellets

[guppy2198]

Hi everyone. I was just thinking on what food is better to feed tropical fish with, small mainly. In the biube box it recommended pellets as they do not cloud the water and fish do not have to take gulps of air to reach them. However, when I fed my male guppy the sample of semi-floating micro tropical fish pellets they just sank to the bottom and the guppy ignored them. The next day I went to get some more pellets as I thought that they must of been old. However, the pet shop I went to was not solitary specialised in fish so I thought I would go to a aquatics all shop. They told me flakes were much better and I purchased them, fed them to my guppy and he loved them. I just can not stop thinking that pellets are better. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Katty]

There is nothing wrong with feeding them flake if that's all they will take. With small fish it might be better to feed flake anyways since the pellets can sometimes be too large for their mouths. There's no point in feeding pellet, even if it is superior, if they can't eat it. Nutrition-wise, both should be fairly balanced as long as you're not buying old or questionable brands. I have never experienced cloudy water when feeding flake, but it's preventable by not overfeeding. Some people prefer flake as they believe it prevents the fish from becoming bloated, since the flake can absorb water before a fish eats it while a pellet remains filled with air.

I remembered reading something about flakes and pellets, so I dug it back up. It's from Wet Web Media under "Flakes vs. Pellets".

Pellets are preferred over flakes due to the fact that they are more nutrient dense, and much more stable in water. For species of fish over 2-3 inches, pellets are clearly the most optimum method of providing nutrition to your fish. Not only can you feed much less on a volume basis, but pellets will also remain stable in the aquarium for an extended period of time.

By their very design, flake foods are paper-thin; absorb water very quickly, and while doing so leach out much of the water-soluble vitamins in a very short period. Some studies suggest that once flakes are added to the aquarium, the majority of water-soluble vitamins (such as vitamin C) are leached out of a flake food within 60-90 seconds.

But as I said, if your fish won't/can't eat pellets anyways, just go with flake.

 

[guppy2198]

Thanks. Flake is better for me and my guppy.

 

[Whitey_144]

Thanks. Flake is better for me and my guppy.

on previous tanks which included neons i fed flake and they were fine and there was no cloudyness.

sometimes its good to vary the food tough just like humans!

you could get some frozen food, maybe bloodword, but check with others that neons can eat that...some fish get bloated by it i think.

i also found before that only my larger cichlids ate the pellets and my small fish just ignored them while they sank...on the otherhanf my catfish was loving the extras!

 

[Skins]

Hello,
I bought some tetra prima pellets. When seeing the lfs owner feeding his stock he would either feed the pellets whole or simply crush and sprinkle for smaller fish, and boy did they love it. I also have some flake on the shelf so will use this as well.
I think you will find from most of the members that a varied diet is best.

Keith.

 

[OldMan47]

Pellets and flakes are much alike. Most of the differences are more a case of sales promotion differences than real world differences. Both flake and pellet food are overly dried, excessively heat treated foods. The heat used to dry the foods destroys much of the natural nutrients that are present, so food manufacturers end up adding in artificial vitamins to make the food worthwhile to your fish. A better option is freeze dried or frozen foods since far less nutrients are destroyed by the processing. Unfortunately, frozen foods with a balanced nutrient content are almost non-existent. Many freeze dried foods are only a single ingredient so again they are less than optimal. Where that leaves a typical fish keeper is feeding on flake or pellet foods as the staple for their fish with minor additions of the frozen and freeze dried foods.

 

[guppy2198]

Thanks for the advice. I have decided to use flake.

 

[FishAreFriendsNotFood10]

nooo variety is the spice of life your fish will love a mixture of food

 

[guppy2198]

Yeah I agree but what I meant is that flake would be the main food I would give them. A bit of frozen brine shrimp once a month or more as well. Thanks for the advice.