Feeding - frozen vs flake

[K House]

I have always fed my fish primarily flake food, pellets, etc. Once a week I would treat them to some frozen/thawed bloodworms, myasis shrimp or spirulina enriched brine shrimp. A few weeks ago I aquired some new fish - some badis and 2 geophagus altamira. The badis won't eat any flake food of any kind. The geos would only eat bloodworms at first but now they will eat some flake food but still prefer the real stuff.

Since I had to thaw some out everyday anyway, I started feeding all of my tanks frozen/thawed food everyday. Is this a bad thing? I can't imagine that it is since fish don't eat flake food in the wild! But what are your experiences? Is price the only reason why flake food is the staple? If I'm going to feed only frozen/thawed, should I feed them every other day? I usually mix it up, like 2 cubes of bloodworms and 1 cube of myasis shrimp, since not every fish likes the same thing. Is that ok?

[Damon]

Depends on the quality of food you use..........

Some brands have poor nutritional value in their frozen foods. they are mostly water. Fish are more likely to take to frozen since it looks more "real"

Freeze dried foods usually have more nutrition but can lead to constipation or bloating because they swell up when saturated with water.

Flake foods are generally the best of both worlds. Easy to feed, most fish take to them, are usually fortified for nutrition or color enhancing, and do not swell.

[K House]

Ah. Yeah, I didn't think about the "vitamin fortified" aspect.

[Dr_House]

Actually, a lot of people don't know this, but the natives near many bodies of water will actually sit on the banks throwing in Omega One flake.

So long as you are feeding a varied diet appropriate to the nutritional needs of your fish, frozen, fresh or flake is not of paramount importance. If it makes you feel better, there are vitamin supplements you can add to what you are feeding.

[SvenRhapsody]

For what it's worth, I try to feed the same food no more than 2 days in a row. I figure this pretty much keeps my bases covered in case some of them aren't as nutritious or fresh or well made as others. I have an entire minifridge full of flakes, pellets, and frozen foods.

SR

[Zoe]

Personally, I have have flakes, small slow-sinking pellets, faster sinking shrimp and spirulina pellets (for the cories and plecos), as well as frozen brine shrimp, frozen bloodworms, and a frozen community diet which I think is krill and spirulina, mostly. I feed them different stuff every day. Well, usually I'll feed flakes and small pellets once in the day, and then something frozen, later.

Zoe

[emc7]

It also depends on your fish, bloodworms and mysis are both high protein, but you wouldn't want to give herbivores a mostly protein diet even though they would certainly eat one if offered.

[Gourami Swami]

True, If oyu have a herbivorous fish it wont benefit from the diet of bloodworms.


This issue was actually discussed in the september 2006 issue of TFH magazine. It was argued that while most people beleive live food to be the most nutritional, freeze dried food is not too far behind, and neither is frozen. Also, Live food risks letting pathogens into the tank that can threaten the health of your fish. Frozen food was argued to be safer than fresh food, and almost as nutritional. But it was also stating that The freezing process often breaks up the cell walls of the organism, ruining it nutritionally. So freeze dried foods were said to be more nutritious, and it was certain nothing could live through the freeze drying process.

[flamingo]

I feed a combo of everything really, but things like my darters and seahorse eat frozen only. Mysis shrimp, brine shrimp, and bloodworms are all things I feed daily. Mussel, frozen fish, etc. are occasional also. If you feed a lot of frozen (which isn't bad) try thawing them in a cup of water, strain into a net, wash, and put into a new cup of water. Some of the nutrition is lost, but not much (plus, if the nutrition was lost when doing this..that means it isn't good quality..the majority of the nutrients shouldn't be in the water itself). One of the main concerns when feeding mainly frozen is water quality decreasing; sadly most people feed by throwing a cube directly in the tank :O.

[girth vader]

variety is the key. I feed 11 different foods varied on different days and times, but Flake is definitely the staple.

[robyn]

Originally Posted by flamingo

sadly most people feed by throwing a cube directly in the tank :O.

i feed my mollies a staple diet of flake food, but i treat every 2nd day or so with freeze-dried tubifex worms. im never sure how to feed them. i usually break off tiny pieces so they each hav a little bit to go at. my gold molly can swim after it for hours. how else can u feed it to them? i tried sticking it 2 the glass but it fell off when she started eating

[Christine]

I think he means the frozen cubes because they often have a lot of "stuff" besides just the food in with them (water, juice etc...) I know I rinse the fool out of the frozen bloodworms because the water just runs off red/pink for a good while from them... I don't want that in my tank!

[K House]

Hmmm, I've always just put the frozen cubes in a 3 oz. dixie cup, fill it half way with tank water and swirl until the cubes are completely melted. There is only slight discoloration of the water, nothing that I would be concerned about. And I pour a little bit in at a time to give everyone a chance to get some.

I also rotate my flake/pelleted food. I have 5 or 6 different ones for each tank depending on the dietary needs of the fish.

And once a week I put some zucchini in for my SAEs and plecos. The odd thing is that I have one tank with 4 SAEs and a bristlenose pleco and they all LOVE their zucchini. They even eat the peel! But then I have another tank with 3 SAEs and a King Tiger pleco and none of them will touch the zucchini. Silly fish!

[Christine]

I used to do that also with the cup until on I whim I put the cubes in a brine net and rinsed it under the faucet. I was surprised at how much discoloration really came out.

Now I usually rinse for a couple mins under the faucet using a brine net. Then I set the net with food across the top of a 16oz container filled with fresh dechlored water and I syringe what I need out of the net. I have to make a couple trips to feed everyone. By the time Im done, the water in the 16oz container is usually discolored. Maybe not as big of a deal in a large tank but I wouldn't want to put it in a small bowl/tank.

The amount of "stuff" probably varies by brand also I'd guess.

[K House]

Originally Posted by Damon

Depends on the quality of food you use..........

Some brands have poor nutritional value in their frozen foods. they are mostly water.

What are some good brands and which ones should I stay away from? I currently have Hikari and San Francisco Bay Brand.

[flamingo]

San francisco, IMHO, isn't THE greatest..but it's not one of the worst out there.

All I can really say at the moment is stay away from Omega One frozen food. It's worthless imo, i've only tried the mysis..but compared to other brands; it has no value. They're practically newborn shrimp, and half of them are just moosh.

[K House]

Originally Posted by flamingo

All I can really say at the moment is stay away from Omega One frozen food. It's worthless imo, i've only tried the mysis..but compared to other brands; it has no value. They're practically newborn shrimp, and half of them are just moosh.

Wow, thanks for the heads up. I feed my fish Omega One flake food and pellets. (In addition to several others.) So I probably would've bought some of their frozen food.

[Christine]

I wont feed San Franciso. I had some issues with parasites and found a funky bug in one of my frozen cubes. I stick with hikari frozen.