Tropical fish food

You might also notice how much more enthusiastic fish are about eating the higher quality foods. Mine chomp down on Omega One but turn up their noses at Tetra these days, the little snobs. Haha.

I have been using the NLS pellets and the Omega flakes so far. My fish are ok with the flakes but they seem to love the pellets especially the cherry barbs and the dwarf neon rainbows. I fed them frozen bloodworms for the first time on Monday and they went wild over them once they figured out what they were. And yesterday they were fed, also for the first time, freeze dried brine shrimp that I had soaked for a while. That turned into an all out feeding frenzy so I guess they liked it :)

What are Sallys flat packs for brine shrimp bat? Do they come in little frozen pockets like Hikari blood worms?

Flat packs are the packages that just contain a big frozen slab of whatever it is as opposed to the cubes. The cubes are pretty nice but are hard to divide up into smaller pieces so in some cases I prefer the flat packs. They're also usually cheaper by weight than the cubes. Sally's is just a name brand. Currently I have Sally's brine and krill and Hikari blood worms and mysis.

Thanks Batman. I found some Hikari frozen brine shrimp cubes last night before I read this so bought them. I read on a number of places that frozen is better than freeze dried and it makes sense to me. I'll check into the flat packs after these are done. I'll have to check into krill and mysis as well. Always good to give the fish variety is my belief. Make sure to cover different needs that way plus we like variety so why wouldn't they

I've been using Hikari micro pellets that Petsmart pricematched for me at $3 a bag. I bough like 4-5 bags over a year ago. I also have been feeding hikari algae and cory waffers. I have a tub of the NLS small fish forumla I've used a little, but tossed it in the freezer a week ago since I got to use up the Hikari stuff first. I bought two large anglefish over a month ago and they needed bigger food. I ordered from Kensfish.com, cuz I see this stuff at the local fish auctions. I was also out of algae wafers, so I needed those. I ordered 1.5lbs of food for $20! So far it is working great, though the fish defiantly new there was a difference between hikari and the Ken's stuff. They digg into both of them now like they always do.

So I have over 2lbs of fish food now, that will probably last me 4 years. Its all in the chest freezer right now. I use the RX med bottles to hold fish food I'm actually using ATM, then refill them from the freezer when they are empty. That way everything stays fresh.

I'll defiantly be sticking with the Ken's stuff, NLS and Hikari might be a little better but the cost is not worth it IMO. Kens "premium super color crumble #1" is almost a copy of Hikari micro pellets except with higher protein and fat. Not all Ken's food contains garlic, which may be why my fish were kinda wary of it at first. NLS and Hikari both have garlic which is a appetite stimulant( and immune system stimulant).

Great info. Thanks all. For some reason I really enjoy the research and knowledge about animal feeds in general. I educated myself about dog food some years ago. Same with cat food. Now it's fish food. Fish food is a bit different but not much.
Oldfishlady posted somewhere around here about a fresh garlic/blanched spinach/shrimp mix that she makes, freezes and breaks off what she needs to feed to the fish. I'd like to try that.

I'm going to try the same.

Just wanted to throw an update out there and an observation.
I was using Aqueon food that was sent free from Drs Foster and Smith just to get my fish and tank started.
I recently purchased Omega One freshwater flake, Omega One super color small pellets, and their freeze dried Mysis shrimp.

The flake food is not like what I was using. Meaning, it is not like other "cheaper" brands that use cheap ingredients. While this food was not expensive, in my opinion, it is made of high quality ingredients and with real whole fish, not meals. It is for that reason I have noticed a complete difference when feeding. Cheaper made flake is easily disintegrated in the water. My fish could take a larger sized flake and inhale it easily. With this new flake, and because it is made with "real meat", not carbs and starches, the fish can not inhale a larger sized flake. They have to work on it a bit. Keep in mind I have Silver tip Tetras. They are small to begin with.

The Aqueon flake could also be compared to brands that are normally seen on the shelves of Walmart, Petsmart, etc... I did get the Omeaga One at Petsmart, however. Yes, they sell it. It is by far a superior food to mostly everything out there. New Life Spectrum is also another top shelf food. NLS does however, use "fish meals".

The Omega One flake smells like real meat. It's texture is much more substantial in both feeling it, looking at it, smelling it, and observing it in the tank. I would caution anyone who may try this product, or any top shelf product, because of its better quality the consumption rate is a little slower. The fish have to work a little longer to consume the same amount. Therefore caution to your feeding rate allowing the fish to consume it before adding more is crucial. Not adding too much at once can prevent over feeding. I can see in my observations how overfeeding by switching to a more substantial ingredient based food could be easily done.