Do Fish Flakes and Pellets Expire?

[Chrisk-K]

I have a few different types of flakes and pellets that are more than 1 year old. They don't have an expiration date, but obviously they cannot last forever.

So, when should I discard them and buy new foods?

 

[theicequeen]

I would say if they are over a year old toss them and get some fresh.

 

[fishorama]

I try to use foods in 6 months, they lose nutritional value. You can freeze them in smaller packages, get out as much air as possible.

 

[jm1212]

the best way to make sure your fish food is still good is to only buy enough for about 2-3 months of feeding. that said, alot of people buy their fish food in bulk and will freeze the dry foods so that they retain their nutritional value.

 

[Rbishop]

Many come with a use before date on them from what I see.

 

[Chrisk-K]

None of mine have a use-before-date except Hikari bloodworms.

 

[excuzzzeme]

Most food will go stale after a length of time. It depends on how well packaged and/or stored the food is.

 

[RDTigger]

Most food will go stale after a length of time. It depends on how well packaged and/or stored the food is.

Yea, my hikari wafers went stale recently... the fish don't seem to mind, they hit them HARD. Soaking pellets/wafers in a vitamin supplement does help restore nutritional values..

 

[Lupin]

I would advise against using stale foods to fish. They are one of the many reasons why fish suffer digestive problems. IMO, if a package has been opened several times beforehand and had lapsed two months, it's time to throw that in the bin. A month for flakes since flakes by this time have degraded rapidly. Vitamins are easily destroyed by air and light alone.

 

[toddnbecka]

I buy flakes and NLS pellets by the pound, store them in the freezer, and refill old flake cans every 2-3 weeks.