captmicha
Members
Thinking back on the presentation last month on food, and looking into the matter more, I've realized that a lot of foods are kind of sketchy for what they're indicated for.
I'll try to lay this out all detailed like. I'm NOT saying that I'm right about anything, btw.
1. Foods marketed for carnivores have a lot of plant material. While I know that spirulina and NatruRose (or the generic ingredient) are plant based color enhancers, and that a flour or gluten serves as the binding ingredient, they often have more flour than meat (listed first), or redundant flours and gluten (ex. wheat flour + wheat gluten + oat flour), and additional plant sources. Either algae or veggies.
Apparently, this can cause a host of problems with carnivorous fish. Muscle wasting, bloat, not bioavailable sources of nutrients for their systems, etc. It also can keep them from spawning (leading you to have to supply that missing animal protein and fat).
2. Same for herbivores, lots of meat sources in there. I've even seen some that are more rich in meat than some carnivore formulas. Animal fatty acid sources from oil may or may not be a problem, I really don't know. And using krill for a color enhancer seems to make much less sense than using NatruRose. I don't even think that krill would be cheaper?
It seems more like these foods are designed for omnivorous species, a one size fits all.
3. Hydrolyzed feather meal just isn't a very rich source of nutrients. I wouldn't mind feeding it if it was rich in nutrition, but it's just not. So I guess it's filler. Not that it's in a lot of foods.
4. Garlic. There are studies that show that it can cause long term harm to fish, such as liver disease. While there are some loosely supported claims that it's good for keeping parasites at bay, and that it does work as an appetite inducer (not really sure if this has been proven with fish though), it seems like it would make a lot more sense to put it into some specialized formulas instead of so many of the formulas.
Looking at all the different foods on Ken's website, and the ingredients, it's turned into quite a project to find food for individual needs.
I was hoping for at least a carnivore formula and a separate herbivore formula, and being able to mix it together for my omnivores. Even in degrees for more specialized needs. But there's so much plant material in carnivore food and meat in herbivore food, and formulas with garlic to avoid, it makes no sense to do that. That I can see, anyways.
However, it seems to be that the more serious and successful breeders tend to use hatchery pellets/flake, which isn't anymore discriminate in the issues I outlined above, and live foods, which I can't really keep up with or afford regular shipments of. Freezer foods are great, but there's got to be some room temperature, retail formula options as well.
I know I'm probably over thinking this, and I'm really not as hung up on fish food as it sounds, but for conversation's sake and my learning experience, I still wanted to make this post for the replies (it might get).
And resources for learning about it, are also recommended. I tend to prefer things with research over anecdotes. Results in spawning, etc. do matter. I'd consider that pretty much research too.
I'll try to lay this out all detailed like. I'm NOT saying that I'm right about anything, btw.
1. Foods marketed for carnivores have a lot of plant material. While I know that spirulina and NatruRose (or the generic ingredient) are plant based color enhancers, and that a flour or gluten serves as the binding ingredient, they often have more flour than meat (listed first), or redundant flours and gluten (ex. wheat flour + wheat gluten + oat flour), and additional plant sources. Either algae or veggies.
Apparently, this can cause a host of problems with carnivorous fish. Muscle wasting, bloat, not bioavailable sources of nutrients for their systems, etc. It also can keep them from spawning (leading you to have to supply that missing animal protein and fat).
2. Same for herbivores, lots of meat sources in there. I've even seen some that are more rich in meat than some carnivore formulas. Animal fatty acid sources from oil may or may not be a problem, I really don't know. And using krill for a color enhancer seems to make much less sense than using NatruRose. I don't even think that krill would be cheaper?
It seems more like these foods are designed for omnivorous species, a one size fits all.
3. Hydrolyzed feather meal just isn't a very rich source of nutrients. I wouldn't mind feeding it if it was rich in nutrition, but it's just not. So I guess it's filler. Not that it's in a lot of foods.
4. Garlic. There are studies that show that it can cause long term harm to fish, such as liver disease. While there are some loosely supported claims that it's good for keeping parasites at bay, and that it does work as an appetite inducer (not really sure if this has been proven with fish though), it seems like it would make a lot more sense to put it into some specialized formulas instead of so many of the formulas.
Looking at all the different foods on Ken's website, and the ingredients, it's turned into quite a project to find food for individual needs.
I was hoping for at least a carnivore formula and a separate herbivore formula, and being able to mix it together for my omnivores. Even in degrees for more specialized needs. But there's so much plant material in carnivore food and meat in herbivore food, and formulas with garlic to avoid, it makes no sense to do that. That I can see, anyways.
However, it seems to be that the more serious and successful breeders tend to use hatchery pellets/flake, which isn't anymore discriminate in the issues I outlined above, and live foods, which I can't really keep up with or afford regular shipments of. Freezer foods are great, but there's got to be some room temperature, retail formula options as well.
I know I'm probably over thinking this, and I'm really not as hung up on fish food as it sounds, but for conversation's sake and my learning experience, I still wanted to make this post for the replies (it might get).
And resources for learning about it, are also recommended. I tend to prefer things with research over anecdotes. Results in spawning, etc. do matter. I'd consider that pretty much research too.