Best dry food for C/A cichlids? Northfin vs NLS?

[duanes]

The priorty of this thread, being the emphasis on the non-critical aspects of diet (to me) is a bit over blown.
In nature, omnivorus cichlids (a majority of species) get the bulk of their diet from decaying leaf litter, detritus, picking at ubiguitous algae, and an occasional prey item.
So most wild caught cichlids are thin, and so seldom get daily meals.

Yet these same diet obsessed aquarists will only do a 25% or 50% water change per week, and allow nitrates to soar into double digets of 10 or more ppm,
when considering something as important as normal nitrate levels in nature that barely reaches 1 ppm in nature, which should really be prioritized.

 

[Bret Signorelli]

The priorty of this thread, being the emphasis on the non-critical aspects of diet (to me) is a bit over blown.
In nature, omnivorus cichlids (a majority of species) get the bulk of their diet from decaying leaf litter, detritus, picking at ubiguitous algae, and an occasional prey item.
So most wild caught cichlids are thin, and so seldom get daily meals.
View attachment 1550796View attachment 1550795
Yet these same diet obsessed aquarists will only do a 25% or 50% water change per week, and allow nitrates to soar into double digets of 10 or more ppm,
when considering something as important as normal nitrate levels in nature that barely reaches 1 ppm in nature, which should really be prioritized.
View attachment 1550797View attachment 1550798View attachment 1550799

I feed them generic fish food, do 80% water change weekly, I’m trying to lower the nitrates with plants and bcb basket since my tap water tests at 40ppm nitrate

 

[RD.]

duanes the difference being the cost of feed in nature, is FREE, the cost for a consumer buying commercial food, not so much. So determining overall value of the various commercial products obviously comes into play. Unless one has more $$$ than brains.

 

[duanes]

Not the point of my rant.
When I can get it, my preference is NLS Algaemax, because the species I keep tend to be herbivorous omnivores,
but because there are few aquaium stores here within a reasonable access in Panama where I live.
I end up getting what ts available, and that is fine.

My point is that any reasonable diet works, yet most aquarists will pooh pooh that most important aspect of keeping an aquarium.
Water changes,
Many aquarists will obsess over NLS or Aqueon, when a 100 % water change per week, will do much more for fish health, than a few grams of fish meal..
And is really just about labor/time and the pittance cost (in most cases in comparison of fish food) of water

 

[RD.]

I got it, but had nothing to do with the OP’s original question, or any follow up comments. We’ve all seen the 0 nitrate pics.

 

[duanes]

During the pandemic, no one was allowed to leave the island where I live, and only essentials were allowed in.
Acquiring space for anything frivolous was diiscouraged, so my fish ate what they could get, and thrived


Mostly from the surrounding Pacific.
.

 

[RD.]

Which one was eating NLS? I couldn’t tell by the pics.

 

[neutrino]

"Overblown" is okay as an opinion, but pretty much a matter of perspective rather than a cosmic truth. If you need a car on a limited budget to get you to a low paying job, whatever you find that gets you there is fine. If you can afford a new or late model one, and have a certain perspective or personality, you might be more interested in, or obsessed by, whether Toyota or Honda is the better choice, or whether either is that much better than Ford or Chevy.

Recent decade fish food history, as I see it, is NLS set a standard years ago that a few companies have tried hard to match, some have claimed to match, while others simply go on with business as usual and count on no one noticing.

 

[ccichc]

I've used both and either one is fine. To be polite about this, I don't get your anti-NLS fish oil argument when Northfin's ingredient list includes herring and sardines... and I won't comment further on it or debate it with you.

Not only that, but: FA144/FA144: The Concept of Ideal Protein in Formulation of Aquaculture Feeds (ufl.edu)

Oil that naturally occurs in meat is different from oil that is added in. What sources are they using?
Northfin states “high DHA Omega-3 Whole herring meal” which sounds like just natural oil from the fish they’re using verses “fish oil”. I’d much prefer the oil that is naturally derived from the process opposed to adding a foreign fish oil with an unknown source.

But again, RD. Summed a lot of this up. These two are still the best brands regardless. Thank you RD. for your time.

 

[ccichc]

During the pandemic, no one was allowed to leave the island where I live, and only essentials were allowed in.
Acquiring space for anything frivolous was diiscouraged, so my fish ate what they could get, and thrivedView attachment 1550803
View attachment 1550802
View attachment 1550804
Mostly from the surrounding Pacific.
View attachment 1550805.

Is that a gecko they’re eating? Very cool, looks like a toy haha