I don’t recall anyone in this thread stating that they slack off on regular water changes? Or that water changes aren’t important.
Best dry food for C/A cichlids? Northfin vs NLS?
- Thread starter ccichc
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That's a good point.
Sometimes hashing out a controversial issue can bring more of the facts on both sides to light. But I don't see the reason for contention in this thread. I would say there's more to be learned without that. Tbh, I don't understand the contention in this thread. (edited)
I lost many fish to many reasons over years, one of them could have been feeding cheap aquaculture pellet Ziegler silver finfish $0.5/lb made of wheat, legumes, etc. So 3-4 years ago we switched to the NLS.Or ask
Thanks for posting, Viktor. With the vast amount of fish, water, and assorted species that you have dealt with over the years, I can't even begin to imagine the size of the learning curve that you have dealt with. Losing some fish along the way would be expected. As you are aware, one of my main goals in this hobby has always been to prioritize longevity, with a focus on the diet side of the equation. At this point I expect that some of my fish, such as my loaches, could potentially outlive me. lol The vast majority of my cichlids, past & present, I suspect also make it to at least what would be considered old age by most data available. (wild or captivity) Those that haven't, can be blamed directly on me attempting to play god, or matchmaker, etc. My last cichlid is my big Amph, who is now approaching his teenage years. I doubt that I would have experienced this same outcome, feeding puppy chow.
That is impressive. I can't say the same thing for my fish keeping, though I admit that I may not have maintained the same sustained level of dedication as some others for reasons I won't get into here. I look forward to continued learning here on the forums....As you are aware, one of my main goals in this hobby has always been to prioritize longevity, with a focus on the diet side of the equation. At this point I expect that some of my fish, such as my loaches, could potentially outlive me. lol The vast majority of my cichlids, past & present, I suspect also make it to at least what would be considered old age by most data available. (wild or captivity) Those that haven't, can be blamed directly on me attempting to play god, or matchmaker, etc. My last cichlid is my big Amph, who is now approaching his teenage years. I doubt that I would have experienced this same outcome, feeding puppy chow.
I want to say that it amazes me how many hobbyists give relatively little thought to the long term health and longevity of their fish (until something goes wrong), but reflecting what can be a lack of knowledge, or a common mentality that prioritizes fast growth and max size without thinking about long term health, it doesn't really.As you are aware, one of my main goals in this hobby has always been to prioritize longevity... I doubt that I would have experienced this same outcome, feeding puppy chow.
Clean, healthy water, good nutrition, limiting stress. They're basics, all are important, it's not rocket science. Do a little research on nutrition/nutrients and its/their importance to the immune system and other important systems and health functions before positing that water quality is more important than nutrition. Both are important.
The dog food as fish food thing-- that needs to be stopped dead in its tracks. Again, do some research. There's a lot of dog foods out there that aren't healthy even for dogs.
Agreed. From what I have seen over the years there are a lot of hobbyists that don’t keep their fish long enough to really notice. It’s a constant turnover of new tank residents. I understand that to an extent, it’s interesting to try new things, especially when newer to the hobby and/or limited to tank space.
A wolf will be healthy eating meat every day, but a rabbit will quickly get heart disease if fed the same.
I can’t speak to the specific nutritional needs of fish, but they are not human, and their requirements will be different.
I always keep that point ^ in mind when considering the feeding or husbandry of my fish or other animals. All mammals belong to the same class of animal life, and all fish belong to their own different class. The degree of similarity between any mammal species is far greater than the similarity between any mammal and any fish. We are always looking for and reading about and discussing the ideal food for our fish, but what if we were to apply the same approach to mammals?
You're never going to find Purina Mammal Chow offered up for sale. Suggesting that a single food will be nutritionally complete and healthy for a mouse, a bat, an elephant, a horse, a monkey, a lion, a human...all members of the class Mammalia...is ludicrous. These are vastly different organisms, evolved and adapted to subsist on vastly different diets.
Take another class, the birds. Nobody expects a seed-eating finch and a carnivorous owl to eat and thrive on the same foods.
And yet with the class of animals with which we are concerning themselves here, the fishes...we see innumerable examples of commercial foods...some considered as absolute crap by most keepers, but others often looked upon as high quality products...which are marketed as complete balanced nutrition for generic "fish". Sure, there are a few carnivore foods, and a few herbivore foods, but reading the ingredients shows them to be surprisingly similar in many or most cases.
Personally, I think that variety is extremely important; simply put, the odds that your fish will get what they need if they get a little bit of everything is increased. It also relieves the aquarist of the worry of running out of some magical single food that they have fed exclusively and for so long that the fish refuse anything else. When I read a thread on MFK asking if feeding one's [fill in the blank] species of fish on an exclusive diet of frozen bloodworms, or any other natural food, I cringe.
Taking a food designed and intended for certain animals from one class, Mammalia...and using it to raise animals that are so distantly related that they belong in another class of life, Pisces....sounds like just about the dumbest, cheapest, laziest plan imaginable.
