Expensive to Feed Fish

[Trouser Cough]

I've got a handful of fish that are big enough to put Thor's Hammer to a sack of store bought frozen shrimp. Gone within 90 seconds or so. I've been thinking about hitting up local Asian fish markets and maybe a seafood locker to see if I could get their outdated product at a discount if that's a thing.

What do you do to keep the feed bill from getting too far out of line?

 

[Stephen St.Clair]

During the covid outbreak many of the rather expensive foods & supplies I had been routinely buying from the LFS's suddenly became difficult to find.
As a result I began buying fish food from Walmart, Lol, where there was never a shortage of the basic Tetra foods & products.
After a while I noticed that my fish remained just as healthy & colorful eating Tetra Min & the various Tetra Pellet foods as they did eating NLS & Omega One foods. I also noticed that I saved a few bucks.
I live in a rural area where crickets & grasshoppers are plentiful most of the year. Free protein rich food there.

 

[JackEmerson]

noticed that my fish remained just as healthy & colorful eating Tetra Min & the various Tetra Pellet foods as they did eating NLS & Omega One foods

careful, I think you just triggered a silent alarm. NLS agents have been dispatched to your location to haul you off to a reeducation camp.

 

[Backfromthedead]

careful, I think you just triggered a silent alarm. NLS agents have been dispatched to your location to haul you off to a reeducation camp.

No need to be hauled away, the NLS fans will rebuke you right here. The main advantage to using NLS over tetra, wardley and the like is in the ingredients and long term digestive health of your fish. Its long been concluded that packing your fish with feeds heavy in terrestrial starches leads to bloat and other common digestive problems that aging fish are susceptible to. Fish color is secondary to the equation but i still think you get better results with better ingredients.

I dont skimp when it comes to food. I dont have massive fish though so thats easy for me to say. The main reason i dont is because i dont have the resources to keep them so i can emphasize with the tone of this thread.

 

[Stephen St.Clair]

I'm old enough to remember when the only foods available were Hartz, Wardley & Tetra products. Somehow the hobby survived. Lol.
I also agree that quality ingredients are a big plus.

 

[Joshuakahan]

I've got a handful of fish that are big enough to put Thor's Hammer to a sack of store bought frozen shrimp. Gone within 90 seconds or so. I've been thinking about hitting up local Asian fish markets and maybe a seafood locker to see if I could get their outdated product at a discount if that's a thing.

What do you do to keep the feed bill from getting too far out of line?

My fish collection is down to one 75g rift tank and one 6g reef, so the feed bill has shrunk along with my collection. My reptile collection has grown and so has the reptile feed bill lol

 

[jjohnwm]

I'm a firm adherent of the principle that says "If you want it done right...do it yourself!"...despite the fact that I often prove that to be wrong!

I think the best way to save money on food for large fish is to go the DIY gel-food route. The recipe can vary throughout the year, based largely upon what is available inexpensively (or free!) during the season. Right now we are in prime grasshopper season, so that is the prime protein source in my food, but it might also be shrimp, fish, earthworms, etc. depending upon what's available. Greens can come in the form of duckweed, hair algae or whatever else is on hand...and there's never a shortage of that. The relative amounts of animal protein and greens can vary based upon the fish being fed. My only "monster" fish is a carnivorous catfish, so I go heavy on the bugs, but in the past I have used a lot more greenery including also dandelion trimmings when feeding herbivores like Giant Goramy.

Making gel foods is also a character-building exercise as well. I have learned to just smile and nod and grunt noncommittally when my wife catches me in the act of destroying "her" kitchen. It makes me feel very mature...unlike so many of the other things I do...

I'm old enough to remember when the only foods available were Hartz, Wardley & Tetra products. Somehow the hobby survived. Lol.
I also agree that quality ingredients are a big plus.

Right? Tetra was la creme de la creme back then; it was a constant process of selling my dad on the wisdom of using that high-quality German stuff as opposed to the dreaded Wardley's.

 

[Cardeater]

This topic has come up several times over the years. RD has a post about buying seafood from markets, I'll see if I can find it after this post.

I feed NLS and Northfin now. The ingredients are inarguably better and I think they are better for the fish in the long run bc of the better ingredients. I have said before that I have almost 30 year old clown loaches and a pleco that died last year but that I also got around 1994-5. Prior to 2018, I fed them Tetra , Hikari sinking waters and even the super junk Wardley "algae" wafers. I also changed the water once every 4-8 weeks and I bet nitrated were over 100 PPM. Even though I had some success doing this, I feel better feeding them quality foods.

RD also has also said he wasn't against using some bulk food if cost is a concern for someone that has a giant fish room to feed.

Edit: RD seafood post:

Hikari vs. NLS

- To add to the topic: Neil, Hikari produces not only a large line of dried food (like NLS has matched with), but they also produce a variety of frozen foods. Are there any plans for NLS to expand to frozen? Thanks, Chris

www.monsterfishkeepers.com

Edit:
First post I could find where RD talked about bulk food

Whats the deal with Xtreme fish food ??

Hello Viktor, I understand better than most. The food manufacturer that I dealt with in the past, could not afford to feed his own food, to his own fish, until they began making the food on site, with their own equipment. Only then did it become financially feasible to feed all of his 120 ponds...

www.monsterfishkeepers.com

 

[Fishman Dave]

Been running a fishroom, tropical pond and koi pond for a good few years now ( more than I can remember) but I am not one for buying “named brand” foods generally ( but that sums me up all over).
Tend to look out for bulk buys in flake that are spirulina rich but I do try to look for ones that advertise what vitimins etc. “should” be in them. If it’s sinking pellets then it’s yamatsui kockney koi sinking sturgeon pellets bought in bulk bags, for plecs, catfish, eels, and basically everyone else, but they are protein rich so water changes need to take that into consideration.
So the staple is quite cheap, but then I do cheap greens in the way of cucumber, cabbage, broccoli, courgette, dandelion, and as much of it home grown as I can, and then buy frozen whitefish and frozen cooked musselmeat in bulk where possible from the fish market as the supplement.
Treats tend to be frozen bloodworm and marine get frozen Artemia.

 

[Trouser Cough]

Interesting responses. Where I live there's been a recently introduced European slug that appears not to eat vegetation and there's no shortage of them. I wonder if I can feed those revolting creatures to my fish(?)