Different types of Fish food for Tropheus?

[thor]

I don't know if this topic was ever brought up but if it has excuse me for stupidity.. :P

Is there a big difference or any between different companies like Tetra, HBH, OSI, etc. spirulina food? I asked because many members on this forum talked about NLS to feed their tropheus and it seems that other companies brand are inferior.

Enquiring mind would like to know...

[Zulaab]

Re: different type of fish food?

In short yes....

The quality of NLS is higher than that of several of the other brands out there.
In time you are going to want to get your fish to look the best in the tanks.  You will turn to pellets as the food is more concentrated and that fish can fill up quicker on pellets than flake without making a mess of the tank.

NLS has been for years on of the best foods to serve your fish from review to review and the content of what is in the pellets.
Dainichi is another brand that people use and quality is extremely high.

In short its the difference between buying 73% lean hamburger meat or 90% lean.  Same beef, but the 90% will cost you more because there is less of the "useless" stuff in the food.  

There are people here online who can go into each kind of food and what the difference between them are and tell you exactly what to get if you want the better foods out there.

Here is what I feed my fish.
NLS 1mm cichlid formula for most of my fish.  (Lake Malawi and Tanganyika fish)
NLS 0.3 mm Grow for my babies.
Tetra Spirulina Flakes every other day for one meal to my Tropheus which they seem to love.
Tetra Color flakes for my guppies.

[76dragon]

Re: different type of fish food?

I use

NLS
4 types of Dainichi
Japanese Koi Pellets


Mix it all up and feed sparingly

[eklikewhoa]

Re: different type of fish food?

If you read the ingredients a lot of those supposed "spirulina" flakes are nothing but that.

Lots of poor fillers and veggie is no where near the majority so why not NLS?

On a lot of the Tetra foods the ingredients are misleading to the labels from what I have seen so I don't bother with those anymore.

[Delock]

Re: different type of fish food?

I may switch to  Dainichi  next

[geoff_tropheus]

Re: different type of fish food?

First, there are no stupid questions regarding these fish.  Please feel free to post, start a new topic, anytime you have a question.

There are many excellent foods for Tropheus, and as always the best food is the one that they are eating strong and thriving on.

There are differences in the food quality not only in the design/research, but also the manufacture of the foods.

Tetra is the largest, most successful, most profits made etc...Food supplier out there, but the problem is all that money is not just in fish food.  They have to split up all that money in foods for all kinds of fishes, filtration development, and other aquatic animal’s food and husbandry research.

New Life Spectrum is a very small company, but all of their focus has been in finicky eaters, high end saltwater fish.  This research to get these fish to eating, and showing vibrant colors, was quickly marketed for high end cichlids as well.  It has been a huge success.

Hikari and Danichi are Japanese companies, whose market, and research focus in High-end Koi food and development.  The fruits of that labor also carried over into their cichlid products that make them some of the very best.

So, what we got is these small companies that have focused in "Niche Markets" that has made their product for Cichlids far higher in quality over the larger Tetra, OSI, and HBH companies.

With that said, it is my opinion, that you should keep feeding whatever your feeding now, then slowly transition over about a 2-week period over to a pellet food from New Life Spectrum, Dainichi, or Hikari.  Call me old school or not, but I also believe that you should feed some kind of flake food as a mix/staple.

I recommend New Life Spectrum Cichlid Formula 1mm pellet, Hikari Excel Mini Pellet, Dainichi Veggie DX baby pellet, and Dainichi Color FX baby pellet sizes.  As for a flake food, pick any higher quality that has a high vegetable content, and vitamin fortified.  I recommend Aquarian Tropical Flake, with blended pure spirulina in about 1:5 ratio.

I feed New Life Spectrum Cichlid Formula 1mm pellet, and Large Fish Formula 3mm.  For my flake staple, I feed Aquarian Tropical Flake food with pure spirulina flakes from Jehmco in a ratio of 1lb to 5lbs.

Hope this helps..

Geoff

[thor]

Re: different type of fish food?

Thanks all for the feedbacks and opinions!!

I used to keep tropheus a few years ago and I was feeding them OSI Spirulinaflakes because I heard that was best for them at that time. They did grow and thrive but since this is going to be my second time around I wanted to get the best food for them.

I'm still learning about tropheus and it has been very helpful from reading and learning from forum members vast experiences....So I will stick with NLS.

[PhishPhreek]

Re: different type of fish food?

I try to stay with the higher protein content as most of my fish are top feeders (carnivorous) Bettas, guppies, platties

I usually feed live brine shrimp and live black worms, and gut loaded daphnia when I have them.

When I use pellets, have trouble with them swelling up and blocking the swim bladder.  Do you pre-soak your pellets ?

But I like the idea of a vitamin fortified flake in the rotation....  do any have medication added that we should avoid ?

[eklikewhoa]

Re: different type of fish food?

I don't soak none of my pellets other then when I use Seachem Nourish.........makes way too much of a mess compared to just dropping them in dry.

[geoff_tropheus]

Re: different type of fish food?

When I used Hikari Excel, I would pre-soak the pellets because of the swelling.

What I have seen in New life Spectrum is almost no swelling, and in Dainichi Pellets the pellets just crumble apart.

There are some medicated fish foods out there, but I would not choose to feed any unless my fish were sick.  Lots of people use the New Life Spectrum Thera-A, which is the regular formula fortified with a higher concentration of Garlic.  This food is meant for enticing the appetites of sick fish, or extreme finicky, and then also immune boost all fish because of the extra garlic.

I would not feed this everyday, only 3-4 days a week if you choose too.  I only used this food when I got some wilds that just absolutley will not eat aynthing other than seaweed or other fresh veggies.

I would not feed worms or Daphnia to Tropehus at all, and live brine is ok as long as it is used marginally like a treat.

[PhishPhreek]

Re: different type of fish food?

Different strokes for different folks  

[geoff_tropheus]

Re: different type of fish food?

I am not sure but, I think the bottle of Thera-A says to only feed up to like 4 days a week.  But I might be thinking of the Anti-Parasite, and Anti-Bacteria by Jungle Labs.

Phreek are you feeding black worms and daphnia to Tropheus ?

I do not pre-soak NLS or Dainichi, or even Hikari.  I used too, when I first started getting into pellet food.  I no longer do that with some exceptions.

New aquired Petros, if they are not used to pellets, I have seen Alex pre-soak Hikari in order to get them to start eating pellets, then over time, he quits pre-soaking them.  He says it is needed, so I sometimes go that way in order to get them started.

Most exporters now feed a high protein pellet anyway, so they are more used to eating pellets now than in years past.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: Different types of Fish food for Tropheus?

I think you are thinking of the medicated foods....thera+a doesn't say anything like that from what I remember.

[76dragon]

Re: Different types of Fish food for Tropheus?

Great discussion guys. Stick to what you been doing since it's working so well

[PhishPhreek]

Re: different type of fish food?

No, don't got some a that.

I try to stay with the higher protein content as most of my fish are top feeders (carnivorous) Bettas, guppies, platties