expensive fish food vs cheap ones?

i think your right. expensive food has very much the same stuff in it as the cheap kind. i get hikari pellets for all most of my fish ant it is very cheap. 4-8 bucks for a bag full.

Some cheaper foods have a higher risk of water clouding.

uma ração de boa qualidade com produtos de boa qualidade, tem que custar mais caro mesmo.

Cheaper foods are made with more fillers. These are typically corn meal, wheat meal, fish meal etc...

Expensive foods are typically made with fish, not with fish meal and less of teh wheat and corn meals. Fish must be used while fresh or frozen and cannot be stored indefinitely. Fish meal is VERY processed dried and can sit in a ware house for 50 years with out trouble. Fish meal contains virtually no nutritional value other than processed proteins that are largely denatured and not utilizable to the fish.

Foods made with fresher ingredients have natural vitamins and minerals in them, processed foods get processed vitamins added. Which is better for you: eating a salad and properly balanced meal, or eating chocolate but taking your daily multivitamin?

More expensive foods ARE better for your fish. But you can eat Mc Donalds 2x a week with out dying, and so can your fish. I mix the expensive foods with the cheap stuff. I cannot afford to give all expensive foods, but don't want to give all cheap food.

Far more important than any one brand of food is the variety of foods. If you are giving a wide variety, you can probably get away with all cheap stuff. Each food is going to excel in and be deficient in one or two vitamins or amino acids. By giving a variety of foods... the deficiencies get balanced out. Feed fresh veggies and raw fish in addition to prepared foods.

Variety is key. If you can feed something different daily for 10 days in a row, you are doing it right, and it probably won't matter that its mostly cheap food.

If you want to feed the same 2 or 3 types of food all the time, you better buy the good stuff.

The only "expensive" foods that I know of that are actually different from most other foods is NLS, Omega, and Ocean Nutrition. While they use whole fish, whole krill, etc. almost all others use meals and fillers.

In my opinion, some of the most popular brands like Hikari aren't any better than a decent bulk food from Jehmco, Ken's Fish, etc.

Almost natural food is expensive and has no fillers in it.
http://www.almostnaturaltropicalfishfood.com/

Why ask people? Buy both the foods you want to compare and feed both to your fish.

I have been feeding a lot of Ocean Nutrition Flakes lately and when I switched to a cheaper flake my gold sevrum will just look at me and not bite the flakes at all.

Also, premium foods frequently come with color enhancers in the form of vitamins and minerals. Look out for copper if you have invertebrates in your tank.

Fish meal is VERY processed dried and can sit in a ware house for 50 years with out trouble. Fish meal contains virtually no nutritional value other than processed proteins that are largely denatured and not utilizable to the fish.

Click to expand...

In the absence of facts, experts abound .......


Even if someone was capable (financially or otherwise) to sit on fish meal long term, like all other raw ingredients it does half a shelf life, and it will eventually go rancid. Don't be fooled by the fairy tales that you read online by those who are promoting their "almost natural" ingredients, as though their raw ingredients are somehow magically mixed the day before your fish consumes the food.

That type of marketing is what Denny Crews from Omega used to use to market his "Fresh from Alaska" food, yet most hobbyists probably don't realize that Omega is now located on the shores of Lake Erie. Trust me, no salmon etc that is fit for human consumption is being utilized in commercial fish food, when commercial fisherman can sell the same product for 10-50 times the value. Fish that have little human value due to their size, fat content, and bone structure are utilized for fish food, such as herring, menhaden, and anchovie. White fish meal is typically the processing plant waste/leftovers. Again, not something that is generally fit for human consumption, but can still provide quality amino acids, lipids, and minerals.

A high quality fish meal is not only nutrient rich, the amino acid content is most certainly able to be utilized by fish. The following article was written by R.D. Miles, Professor, Department of Animal Sciences, and F.A. Chapman, Associate Professor, Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences; Florida Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida,

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fa122


Are there different types & even grades of fish meal, absolutely, no different than anything else, but fish meal is one of the most costly raw ingredients used in most commercial fish formulas.

Low cost feeds are typically low cost due to the cost of the raw ingredients, as well as the manner in which the feed is manufactured. It is far less costly to use grains & grain byproducts than it is to use marine proteins, such as herring, krill, etc. This is no different than dry dog foods, some run at 50% or more grain/carb content, some contain little to no grain content, with a total carb content of under 15-20%.

While a koi may be able to utilize 30+% carbs, most species of fish cannot, with many carnivorous species being able to assimilate as little as 10%. Carbs are relatively cheap, and supply an adequte energy source for fish, ensuring that the more costly amino acids are never being used for energy. Period, end of story.

And again, just like low cost supermarket brand dog foods, what appears to be cheaper, is probably costing you more in the long run if you take a closer look at the total nutrient package, and the overall digestibilty of that food.


HTH