Tetra foods

[Joshua1990]

I was wondering if the tetra freeze dried blood worms are sufficient enough if mixed with a flake diet as well? I feed my tiger bards tropical flakes in the morning and the freeze dried blood worms in the evening, now they act great but I just got them less than a week ago and I was beginning to wonder about the freeze dried over the live?

 

[FishGuest5123]

I’ve read that the freeze dried have less nutritional value and should be used more as a treat.

 

[Joshua1990]

Okay I was wondering but do you think they will be okay on that diet till next Friday when I can get them the live blood worms?

 

[FishGuest5123]

Okay I was wondering but do you think they will be okay on that diet till next Friday when I can get them the live blood worms?

Sure, they’ll be fine until then with the flake food too. I feed frozen blood worms.

 

[Joshua1990]

Good I like my tigers though I want to add at least 5 more to the school of 5 but they are really energetic fish I would hate to see them die out due to not enough nutrition in their diet

 

[Colin_T]

All fish should be fed a variety of foods to maximise nutrition and variety in their life. Dry, freeze dried, frozen, live and fresh but dead foods are all suitable. Freeze dried foods retain nutrients but have the moisture removed. Don't feed too much freeze dried food at any time unless you soak it for a minute before feeding. It contains a lot of air and fish that eat lots can float about after eating. they eventually pass the gas out and swim normally but soaking the food first helps get the air out and stop this from happening.

Your fish will be fine on flake and freeze dried, and you can add different fresh or frozen foods over time. You can also culture live foods at home and look around the garden for them. Mosquitoe larvae are regularly found in containers of water sitting outside under trees. These can be scooped out with a fine mesh fish net , rinsed under the tap and put in the tank. Aphids on roses can be tapped into a bucket and fed to the fish. Small flies and moths can also be fed to them. Ants and ant eggs can be fed to fish. Just make sure any insects caught are free of chemicals/ pesticides.

If you have raw or cooked prawn/ shrimp in the freezer, you can take one out, defrost it and remove the head, shell and gut (thin black tube in the body) and throw those bits away. Then use a pr of scissors to cut the prawn tail into small bits and offer 1 or 2 pieces at a time. Feed until they are full and remove uneaten food. Throw the remaining prawn away and wash hands and scissors with warm soapy water.

The following link has some info on culturing live foods for fish, including hatching brineshrimp eggs. Newly hatched brineshrimp can be fed to small fish and make a great addition to their diet.
http://www.fishforums.net/threads/back-to-basics-when-breeding-fish.448304/#post-3790221

 

[Joshua1990]

Thank you. I have a extra tank how hard would it be to get it set up for brine shrimp so I can have them when I want to add more live foods to my tigers diet?

 

[Colin_T]

You buy dry brineshrimp eggs and hatch them in salt water. If you keep the dry eggs in the fridge or freezer they last for years and you take out a small amount (1/4 to 1/2 level teaspoon of eggs) and hatch them every couple of days or a couple of times a week.

If you want to grow brineshrimp to maturity you can put them in a tank with an air operated sponge filter and feed them with yeast or green water. Most people use a pond outdoors and let it turn green (from algae), then add the baby shrimp to the container and let them grow. The container needs to have aeration.

Baby shrimp are readily eaten and growing brineshrimp to adult size is a pain so most people just use the newly hatched shrimp. However, if you want to have a go are growing them up then try it.

 

[Joshua1990]

OK thank you. It's very appreciated for taking the time to help. Once I have everything the way that's best for my fish I will show them off a little

 

[Byron]

Just one point to add to what has been suggested in this thread, on the bloodworms. This is not a particularly healthy or nutritious food, so bloodworms (frozen or live) should only be fed once a week as a treat. Other prepared foods are healthier and more nutritional.

The brand is important too. Omega One foods are acknowledged to be better in nutrition and health. New Life Spectrum also. There may be a few more manufacturers, but these two are at the top of the list. There is who9le fish in these, not meal, and that does make a big difference.

I would also stay away from freeze-dried in most cases.

 

[AbbeysDad]

I setup an 110g stock tank outdoors this past spring. I also cultured daphnia in sterilite bins and harvested mosquito larvae and string/hair algae to feed the fish. Fish go nuts for live foods. In addition to high quality commercial food blends, I am currently culturing daphnia, micro worms, grindal worms, and white worms in my basement. For the commercial blend I mix Omega One, Tetramin, and a bulk Premium Tropical Flakes (Ebay). I also quite like Almost Natural fish foods. Ed uses table quality fish in his blends.

New Life Spectrum and Ocean Nutrition are using WHOLE fish meals and minimizing grain/grain starch. There may be others. Buyer beware as fish foods made with low quality fish meal and copious amounts of grain/grain starch are inexpensive but just not as good. On the other hand, high quality fish foods can cost $2.50/oz. or more.

Interesting note: Not long ago I read an article that ingredient regulations are such that a company can list whole fish as the first ingredient, which may also include the ice it's packed in, But when processed to dry flake or pellet, the actual amount would likely be much lower in the ingredient list!
The article went so far as to indicate that the very best fish foods would list whole fish meals first in the ingredient list.
I've seen some fish foods that list salmon meal as the first ingredient...but it doesn't say WHOLE salmon meal. Does that mean it's just salmon processing waste (heads, bones, skin/fins)?

 

[Fishmanic]

I feed cobalt flake which lists salmon
Meal as first ingredient . I have a whole can of tetra flake but don’t feed it as I feel cobalt is better quality.

 

[Byron]

I feed cobalt flake which lists salmon
Meal as first ingredient . I have a whole can of tetra flake but don’t feed it as I feel cobalt is better quality.

The "meal" part here is the problem. Omega One are considered higher quality because they are made from whole fish, not fish meal. From their website:

Only fresh seafoods are used in our formulas - it’s as simple as that. All other fish food manufactures rely on fishmeal as the main ingredient in their foods. Check the ingredient labels! Omega One fish foods are fishmeal and hydrosylate-free, which means they contain a higher level of natural nutrition than any other fish foods in the world.​

New Life Spectrum are similar, and Abbeysdad mentioned another brand. I cannot say exactly how much difference they may relate to, but when I am able I simply prefer giving the best food I can to the fish; it may or may not be a significant difference but it is a difference and in the end it certainly will not be detrimental, so it is worth it.

 

[AbbeysDad]

I feed cobalt flake which lists salmon
Meal as first ingredient . I have a whole can of tetra flake but don’t feed it as I feel cobalt is better quality.

My concern is that this may be post processing salmon, not the whole fish. So it's just regular old fish meal, just that the head, skin, and bone came from a salmon. I just don't know if these parts are any better from a salmon than from any other fish.

@Byron, Fresh fish listed first by weight may be a deception as it may also include the ice it's packed in. When 'fresh fish' is processed into dry flake or pellet, it's volume would be much lower in the ingredient list - perhaps even below GRAIN/GRAIN STARCH.

The very best commercial foods just may list WHOLE FISH MEAL first in the ingredient list - ~Believe it or not.

Fish food made from 'fresh fish' may very well be 'off grade' fish not suited for human consumption! If you're looking for perhaps the very best fish food, check out 'Almost Natural' fish foods. Ed was a hobbyist that was not happy with the commercial foods available at the time so he began making his own frozen food blends. His fish became very healthy and vibrant and friends/club members talked him into selling his foods...and his business was born. Later he developed the dry food line. Ed buys and uses TABLE QUALITY WHOLE FRESH/FROZEN fish locally on sale for his fish food blends.