LOL, that's funny. One doesn't have to be a professor, or for that matter hold any type of degree, in order to qualify to make a high quality fish food. You just have to understand the basic principles behind making commercial feeds, and the nutrient requirements of the fish, which I do, and then some. Over the years I've swapped spit with the best of them, including manufacturers, company reps, marine biologists, zoologists, DVM's, research scientists that specialize in this field, and with enough letters after their name to sink a ship. I'm 50+ yrs of age, and have been closely involved in the science of pet food for over half of my life.
Not saying that I know it all, 'cause I most certainly don't, but I know more than enough to create high quality fish feed on a commercial scale, and not just simply rely on some R&D person at a feed mill to formulate it to their specs.
That's why I constantly shake my head when consumers get sucked into the hyperbole surrounding specialty FH foods, as though FH people reinvented the wheel when it comes to fish nutrition.
Trust me, they didn't.
Nuchal humps are indeed made up of 'some' fatty tissue, how much depends entirely on the type of nuchal hump. But fat that is not entirely utilized by a fish as an immediate energy source (which is the main role of fat in a fishes diet) does not equate to all of the excess going directly to growth of a nuchal hump. Most of that excess fat will be deposited in & around the fishes organs, which long term will degrade the health of the fish, and in many cases cause premature death. When I read about the numerous cases of SDS (sudden & unexplained death) in FH I often wonder how many of these cases involved overfeeding, and/or an excess of lipids (fat) in the diet. Unfortunately the vast majority of hobbyists do not have a necropsy performed when their prized fish suddenly dies prematurely, they simply replace it with another fish.
To quote Dr. Ruth Francis-Floyd, a fellow professor of RD Miles at the U of FL,
and .....
I've been promoting sound husbandry practices (such as limiting a cichlids fat intake) for many years, long before any of the specialty FH foods were on the market. None of this comes as news to me.
The argument is that the so called specialty FH foods, while they may supply a more than adequate diet for a FH, are made up of the exact same nutrients (amino acids, fatty acids, carbs, and vitamins & trace minerals) used in any other high quality commercial diet, and in some cases actually fall far short of other cichlid foods currently on the market. One doesn't need to be a rocket scientist to understand that raw ingredients such as soybean meal & corn meal do not equate to premium ingredients, yet those two ingredients are in fact being used by one of the specialty FH food manufacturers.
One of these FH food makers promotes their high quality whitefish meal, yet fail to mention that whitefish meal is made from processing plant leftovers, basically what's left after the fillets have been removed. (heads, scales, and bones) Not that whitefish meal won't get the job done, it will, but it typically falls in the 62% crude protein range, where whole herring meal is in the 72% CP range. Also, whitefish meal, as most generic fish meals, come with excess baggage, in the form of a high ash content. Note the ash content in those foods (typically 13-18%) and it becomes crystal clear as to what the source of fish protein is.
Ash in a fish food is the inorganic material that comes mainly from using inexpensive, lower quality fish meal that contain high amounts of fish bones and scales. It contributes directly to pollution in ones tank, and is something that one should always want to see @ 10% or lower in a feed.
Some manufacturers actually go so far as to leave the ash content off of the label, as it is not required by law to be listed under the guaranteed analysis.
I'm curious, twice now you have mentioned hormones - are some of the FH foods using synthetic hormones in their food? If so, none of them admit it, and most deny the use of hormones.
