Fish food

[AquaDummy]

When my tank is done cycling, I will hopefully be stocking with

15 Harlequins
6 platy
6 cherry barbs
8 cory
1 bristlenose cat
2 Blue rams
5 emperor tetra

I have all silk plants

As I wait, I'm making a list of things I need in order to take good care of my fish. I would like some advice on the foods I should keep on hand for them. Nutrafin seems to be a very popular brand at my LFS and am wondering if it would be considered a premium brand or not? Also, should I stock any medications for a 'first aid kit'?

 

[LittlePuff]

The most important thing is variety. Get flakes, wafers, pellets, some frozen foods.

Good meds would be: an antibiotic, antifungal, anti-parasite, ich treatment.


Kim

 

[Paulo]

The most important thing is variety. Get flakes, wafers, pellets, some frozen foods.

Good meds would be: an antibiotic, antifungal, anti-parasite, ich treatment.


Kim

and add some Aquarium salt to your list.

Before, I apply those fish pharma products, I used Aquarium salt to better protect my pet fish

 

[Swimfins]

I would buy the salt, but skip the meds. You might be tempted to treat something, not knowing what it is, with the wrong thing. And most medications and antibiotics and such have a shelf life. If you use them, you want them to be fresh.
(I am a nurse, I suppose this applies to fish as well as people. ) Enjoy your fish, don't worry for problems until you have them.

 

[AquaDummy]

Shouldn't I stay away from the salt because of the cories and the cat?

 

[Swimfins]

just a last word

When my nitrites were high, I put in 1 tablespoon and a half (half the recommend amount of the package per gallon) in my 25 gallon.

The cories did fine, as well as the pleco. Mollies and swordtail will do ok without the salt if your ph is over 7, from what I gather.

Other fresh water fish don't need salt. ***

 

[OrionGirl]

Salt can be used with cories and bristlenose in appropriate levels. No need to add it all the time, but I have used salt in my planted tank, with both cories and bristlenose, as well as tetras, and didn't lose any of them. However, there's no reason to get 'Aquarium Salt'. Table salt works just fine, and includes an accurate ingredients list so you know what you're adding. The packaged stuff at the LFS doesn't list it's ingredients--not a good sign, IMO. I typically use either table salt or marine salt, since I have both on hand.

I agree on not purchasing medications until you need them. If they are on hand, you may be tempted to use them without an accurate identification of the problem--not good for the fish.

In terms of food--a variety is best. I feed fresh veggies, Bio-Blend dry foods (pellets and flakes), and frozen foods.

 

[Swimfins]

I am reading my table salt label now:

Table salt contains: salt (d'oh!) sodiumsilicoaluminate, dextrose (sugar) and 0.1 % potassium iodide.


aquarium salt (Nutrafin brand): no ingredient list,

It says : does not contain harmful trace elements that are found in ordinary salt.


I bought the aquarium salt because I didn't want to take a chance, being a newbie and all. $3.49.

 

[OrionGirl]

Pretty savy campaiging--telling you that their product doesn't have the nasty stuff that's in a cheaper product, without telling what is in their product, or identifying the nasty stuff in that cheaper product. Heck, sounds like a political campaign ad! For what it's worth--there are no harmful trace elements found in table salt. Myths will indicate that the anti-caking agents or iodine pose a threat, but the simply truth is that you'd pickle your fish in the salt before either of these compounds reached a toxic level. The implication of the packaging is supposed to make you think table salt is a threat, but is baseless.

Aquarium salt likely doesn't contain anything harmful, and I didn't mean to imply that it did. Just that I know the table salt is safe, I know the products that I'm adding so can act to prevent them from causing a problem (ie, if there's something that will encourage algae, I'll know to monitor for that and attempt to control the other factors that may contribute to an algae bloom). With no list of ingredients, it could be exactly the same (tricky!), or it could contain something that's going to modify my water chemistry (hazardous!).

 

[Swimfins]

Pretty interesting, I suppose the dextrose in table salt is not in a big enough quantity to do any harm. But sugar itself will promote the growth of bacteria. Maybe that's why its recommended for high nitrate levels, it gives the desirable bacteria food to form nitrates? Anyway, I'll save my $3.49 from now on, considering all I needed was 1 1/2 tablespoon. the smallest box contains, 15 oz.

Merci!