In your own opinion what is the best food to use for tropical fish?

[Rocky998]

I use a small old flake tub to defrost frozen cubes using tank water. It takes about 10 minutes.
As for dried food I use a variety, including bug bites, but my fish by far prefer Tetra Crisps. These certainly seem more 'hearty', and they are the only food that leaves me dripping wet because the fish go crazy and splash water everywhere when I drop the flakes in!! They don't do that with any other food.

For me the tetra brand of food is "fish fast food"... I used these with my betta which he ate but didnt love them. That is just my personal preference. In their ingredients you will see lots of additives. So I want to stay away from the tetra brand but thank you.

 

[Rocky998]

I know this...I was asking why @Rocky998 felt the need to buy a load of shot glasses.

So I dont have to clean the shot glasses with soap

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

So I dont have to clean the shot glasses with soap

No...but even if you did, you simply rinse them afterwards.

 

[Fishmanic]

A single cube of frozen brine shrimp has more than should be fed in one feeding in the average tank of fish. What I do is first fill a small glass with tank water, then drop in the cube and let it sit for several minutes until it thaws. The shrimp will settle on the bottom of the glass. Then I use a pipette or eyedropper to withdraw shrimp from the glass and squirt them into the tank. Most fish will aggressively feed as they love it. Feed enough for a couple minutes of feeding and then put the remainder in the glass into the refrigerator . You can then skip a day for feeding the shrimp and feed flakes or something else to vary their diet. Then refeed shrimp again.
Works for me.

 

[Rocky998]

A single cube of frozen brine shrimp has more than should be fed in one feeding in the average tank of fish. What I do is first fill a small glass with tank water, then drop in the cube and let it sit for several minutes until it thaws. The shrimp will settle on the bottom of the glass. Then I use a pipette or eyedropper to withdraw shrimp from the glass and squirt them into the tank. Most fish will aggressively feed as they love it. Feed enough for a couple minutes of feeding and then put the remainder in the glass into the refrigerator . You can then skip a day for feeding the shrimp and feed flakes or something else to vary their diet. Then refeed shrimp again.
Works for me.

Ok will do.

 

[Byron]

Yes I know that lol. But at my lfs you get frozen bloodworms in a frozen block that you cut and then thaw... So I don't know how to store that or clean the container (I cant use soap on it)

I would not buy bloodworms packaged (or non-packaged) like this. The Hikari packs of frozen foods are better. The other thing, some people have an allergy to bloodworms--I do. If I touch them with my hands, I get quite a rash; even breathing in the "fumes" when feeding has caused me difficulty breathing. Apparently this is not that uncommon. The other thing is, bloodworms are not a nutritious food, and should never be fed more than once a week.

 

[Byron]

This thread has dealt mainly with frozen food, and primarily bloodworms. Your first food for any fish should be the prepared/dried foods of good quality. This is really the only way to ensure they get a nutritious balanced diet with everything mineral/vitamin wise they need. [As noted in my previous post, bloodworms are not a good food at the best of times anyway.]

Frozen foods are not as nutritious, and are best used as "treats" once a week. Live foods generally do not provide much nutrition either, depending what they are; but getting a balanced diet from live foods is challenging. I have had (in the distant past) wingless fruitfly culture, live worms from the fish store, mealworms (the beetles were a particular favourite of my African Butterfly Fish, and I also had amphibians and turtles inn those days), live brine shrimp, and newly-hatched shrimp for fry.

The quality prepared foods we have today are far superior to the cans of Hartz Mountain Tropical Fish Food. Anyone else remember these?

A diet of foods like Omega One, New Life Spectrum, Bug Bites, and some others available in Europe really cannot be surpassed for nutritive value, at least for the vast majority of aquarium fish. Even discus; Jack Wattley often wrote that the quality prepared/dried foods were superior to anything he could make, including live foods.

 

[Fishmanic]

I use New Life Specturm Optimum flake food as my main feed. The ingredient list includes whole fish, vitamins and garlic. My fish seem to love it.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07G9GVZP1/?tag=ff0d01-20
The container is very large. I recommend taking out enough for about a few weeks and put it in a separate tight container. And freeze the rest to maintain freshness.

 

[Fishmanic]

I recommend quality flakes and/or quality pellets as the main food to feed. I only feed frozen shrimp maybe every two or three weeks. I do feed algae wafers for my pleco and shrimp pellet for my Bolivian Ram. I very occasionally feed freeze dried bloodworms but only as a treat as they are not very nutritious. I soak the bloodworms in tank water before feeding as they can expand in the stomach and may cause problems if not soaked first.

 

[Deleted member 149562]

As an alternative way of storing frozen foods if not in blister packs....sandwich bags or freezer bags, both of which can be thrown in recycling bin after use.

 

[Deleted member 149562]

I get several different Dennerle & Interpet foods and mix them up....large container has various flakes, granules, freeze dried etc. It is a cereal container that if I pull too much out, my hand gets stuck, so no overfeeding possible. Its also airtight.

The smaller airtight container has BN and Cory munchies mixed up.

The two dark blue things are old food tub lids that I use to give the hooligans their food through their aquarium flaps. I use nitrile gloves for all food handling too. Fish are happy and healthy, I never get any uneaten food left on the substrate, so they must be enjoying their unorthodox feeding routine

 

[Rocky998]

I get several different Dennerle & Interpet foods and mix them up....large container has various flakes, granules, freeze dried etc. It is a cereal container that if I pull too much out, my hand gets stuck, so no overfeeding possible. Its also airtight.

The smaller airtight container has BN and Cory munchies mixed up.

The two dark blue things are old food tub lids that I use to give the hooligans their food through their aquarium flaps. I use nitrile gloves for all food handling too. Fish are happy and healthy, I never get any uneaten food left on the substrate, so they must be enjoying their unorthodox feeding routine

View attachment 142468

I should do something like that except I will mix in some sinking or corydoras pellets for my cories. My mom always has freezer bags and sandwich bags on hand so thats great, thanks.

 

[Essjay]

One thing I recommend, whether it's dried, live or frozen - never dispense it from the container straight into the tank. It's far too easy for more to fall out than you intended. I use a plastic egg cup to measure all dried food into, then add it to the tank. And another small plastic tub to thaw out frozen food. I have an old ceramic tile left over from tiling the bathroom walls which I use as a chopping board to cut up frozen cubes.
In the UK there are all sorts of individual sized desserts which come in small plastic tubs - yoghurts, mousses, cheesecakes etc. These can be washed and used for all sorts of fish related things and can be recycled when finished with.

 

[Rocky998]

Thanks everyone for your replies! Its been very helpful. I have an older thread I started: https://www.fishforums.net/threads/uh-oh-i-need-help-fast.474235/post-4086193 where I'm talking about my water parameters and havent been able to get a straight response on how to deal with this... I think I should be fine during the cycle and then when I get fish I need to use something that dechlorinates and detoxifies ammonia. What do you all think? Its all a little confusing trying to be a chemist lol

 

[Byron]

Thanks everyone for your replies! Its been very helpful. I have an older thread I started: https://www.fishforums.net/threads/uh-oh-i-need-help-fast.474235/post-4086193 where I'm talking about my water parameters and havent been able to get a straight response on how to deal with this... I think I should be fine during the cycle and then when I get fish I need to use something that dechlorinates and detoxifies ammonia. What do you all think? Its all a little confusing trying to be a chemist lol

You are better not dividing the question/issue between threads, this can get confusing for members responding as well as yourself. I will check the linked thread now, and if it is this issue of chlorine/ammonia, post if I see anything.