hikari bio-gold makes a great base pellt, but if youre going for a higher end food
Dainichi > NLS, Omega1, etc
Dainichi > NLS, Omega1, etc
Hikari vs. NLS
- Thread starter Biggfeast
- Start date
NLS for 9 years? I go through about 20 lbs per month. + HBH veggy flake & soft krill.spirulina for africans, then Frozen Hikari is good.
Do your home work like many reading the labels. The first ingredient is the main one then down the line.
I have most foods on the market to research & read whats in them. Most have lots of fillers. Stay away from any food that has whitefish meal because that is only the bones of the fish which is high in ash plus it helps causes algae blooms in your tank.
Packaging is one thing but what is inside is another?
& for the guy feeding aqueon sticks. As far as I know they tried copying the same exact ingredients of nls.
Some Fish do become accustom to eating or being picky about certain foods.
Do your home work like many reading the labels. The first ingredient is the main one then down the line.
I have most foods on the market to research & read whats in them. Most have lots of fillers. Stay away from any food that has whitefish meal because that is only the bones of the fish which is high in ash plus it helps causes algae blooms in your tank.
Packaging is one thing but what is inside is another?
& for the guy feeding aqueon sticks. As far as I know they tried copying the same exact ingredients of nls.
Some Fish do become accustom to eating or being picky about certain foods.
i think my fish already developed a taste for hikari pellets only, tried others and he jus spits them out, half the time he chews em up first and then spits em so its causin alot of mess for me to clean. I wanna vary his diet a lil so im guna try and give him some krill and maybe some bloodworms too, but ill be stickin to hikari for pellets.
How so? You can't simply look at the crude protein level and determine the nutritional value of a food. (which I suspect is what you based your comment on)Don't see were everyone is trying to say NLS has better nutritional valueI just looked and it's the other way around.
There are many ways that one can boost the nitrogen (crude protein) level in a food, but that doesn't necessarily mean that all of that protein is in a form that a fish can fully assimilate. One should look closer at the source of those proteins, as well as how many sources there are for the various amino acids that make up those proteins. Then ask yourself if that % is made up from a generic fish meal (which typically equates to processing plant leftovers - resulting in high ash content) or whole units, such as whole krill, whole herring, and whole squid.
Somethingfishy touched upon this in his mention about whitefish meal, and although it's not just all bones & scales (some muscle tissue is still attached to the leftover processing scraps) it does typically contain a lot of
minerals that cannot be utilized by your fish, hence the high ash content in the food. Bio-Gold is listed as having 15% ash content, so that should be your first clue as to the type of "fish meal" that they use.
Both foods will get the job done, but IMO one is most definitely a superior product.
RD.;3634765; said:How so? You can't simply look at the crude protein level and determine the nutritional value of a food. (which I suspect is what you based your comment on)
There are many ways that one can boost the nitrogen (crude protein) level in a food, but that doesn't necessarily mean that all of that protein is in a form that a fish can fully assimilate. One should look closer at the source of those proteins, as well as how many sources there are for the various amino acids that make up those proteins. Then ask yourself if that % is made up from a generic fish meal (which typically equates to processing plant leftovers - resulting in high ash content) or whole units, such as whole krill, whole herring, and whole squid.
Somethingfishy touched upon this in his mention about whitefish meal, and although it's not just all bones & scales (some muscle tissue is still attached to the leftover processing scraps) it does typically contain a lot of
minerals that cannot be utilized by your fish, hence the high ash content in the food. Bio-Gold is listed as having 15% ash content, so that should be your first clue as to the type of "fish meal" that they use.
Both foods will get the job done, but IMO one is most definitely a superior product.
Good post!
I use both, my fish like both, but just one or the other doesnt not produce as good a result!
My fish like both hikari and NLS, though they seem to prefer eating massivore and carnivore pellets the most. Just hikari I get reasonable colour(light and bright), and reasonable growth. Just NLS I get dark, but DEEP colour and reasonable growth. Using both I get high growth and AWESOME colour!
For Hikari: I use Hikari Cichlid Excel floating pellets, and Massivore and Carnivore sinking pellets. I'll be trying out some floating bio-gold or spirulina koi pellets soon too. (To see how it affects colour)
For NLS: I use Jumbo fish floating pellets, and large fish sinking pellets. I also have some leftover Thera A+ I toss in every once in awhile.
NLS Thera A+ Jumbo pellets (the 6mm ones), my fish Usually spit those out like they just ate poop. If I pre-soak them in water however (they are too hard, thats why), then they down them like its $300 caviar.
For Frozen food, I use hikari(krill/bloodworms) and PE Energetics mysis shrimp(this is the best mysis available).
Its just unbelievable to see how well the fish colour up and grow when I use a variety of foods. And it makes them very happy too, they are so active now and interested in all foods because of it.
(I have also thrown in occasional feeders like grasshoppers, crickets, superworms, earthworms, baby julidochromis, baby convicts, and zebra danios).
My fish like both hikari and NLS, though they seem to prefer eating massivore and carnivore pellets the most. Just hikari I get reasonable colour(light and bright), and reasonable growth. Just NLS I get dark, but DEEP colour and reasonable growth. Using both I get high growth and AWESOME colour!
For Hikari: I use Hikari Cichlid Excel floating pellets, and Massivore and Carnivore sinking pellets. I'll be trying out some floating bio-gold or spirulina koi pellets soon too. (To see how it affects colour)
For NLS: I use Jumbo fish floating pellets, and large fish sinking pellets. I also have some leftover Thera A+ I toss in every once in awhile.
NLS Thera A+ Jumbo pellets (the 6mm ones), my fish Usually spit those out like they just ate poop. If I pre-soak them in water however (they are too hard, thats why), then they down them like its $300 caviar.
For Frozen food, I use hikari(krill/bloodworms) and PE Energetics mysis shrimp(this is the best mysis available).
Its just unbelievable to see how well the fish colour up and grow when I use a variety of foods. And it makes them very happy too, they are so active now and interested in all foods because of it.
(I have also thrown in occasional feeders like grasshoppers, crickets, superworms, earthworms, baby julidochromis, baby convicts, and zebra danios).
This is true I think compared to any hikari except massivore, which is unbelievably high in nutrients.cchhcc;3623605; said:
All the CA cichlids in my fishroom are on the NLS pellets. Everything from my 17" Blue Umbie to my 2" Sajicas live on the different types of NLS pellets and they are healthy and thriving. I switched to NLS a couple of years ago on a recommendation from another hobbyist and I've had great results. The pellets are the main source of food for my cichlids along with some frozen treats a couple of times a week. I've never had a problem with NLS pellets clouding the water.
Not to put you on the spot, but exactly what kind of nutrients would those be?
Top 5 ingredients in massivore;
Fish meal, krill meal, starch, wheat flour, dried seaweed meal
(ash content 17% max)
Top 5 ingredients in NLS;
Antarctic Krill Meal, Herring Meal, Wheat Flour, Squid Meal, Algae Meal
(ash content 9% max)
Reading those ingredients closely, one might even think that Hikari did their best to mimic NLS.
Notice that Hikari has "starch" listed, along with wheat flour, and unless you're feeding species such as goldfish/koi the extra carbs from starch will for the most part be wasted nutrients, as most of the monster CA species will have difficulty assimilating anything over 15-20% carbs. Some of the piscivores, closer to 10% max.
If that "starch" is soybean isolate or concentrate it would explain the high crude protein content found in massivore (min 47%) due to the fact that those soybean products average out between 80-90% crude protein.
But as I previously posted, that doesn't equate to protein that the fish can fully assimilate. Other than for species such as goldfish/koi & various catfish, large inclusion rates of soybean are never considered ideal, and certainly not for species that are classified as carnivores.
These are simple facts that cannot be refuted, no matter the brand of food that one feeds.
BTW - Having been working with various foods for many years (including Hikari), with NLS exclusively for several years now, I don't recall ever hearing or reading anyone state that feeding NLS exclusively caused "dark" coloration in their fish? More intense coloration perhaps, but that's not what I would consider darker. When it comes to color enhancement, IMO that's one of the tell tale signs of a quality feed, as in it should not cause a fish that is naturally white, to turn pink, or a fish that is naturally yellow, to become orange. When these unnatural color enhancements take place it is typically caused by excessive use of synthetic color enhancing agents.
Perhaps cchh could post a few pics of his fish as an example.
I'd also love to see a photo of that 17" Blue Umbie!
