I mentioned veggies in mine. I have/do use: Romain Lettuce, Iceberg Lettuce (less desirable than Romain), Cucumber (their favorite!) Squash, Zuccini, Spinach, and have tried peas. I just slice them into wafer form and cut around the peel and add to a veggie clip. I have tried to freeze them for a half hour, boil them briefly, etc., but my fish prefer all their veggies RAW! It's easier for me too!
As far as their staple diet, I use primarily New Life Spectrum. It does use fish meal as well as other "meals", but it is high in natural color enhancers, and contains no hormones. I believe it's the only food that guarantees "fish having more color in 10 days or money back". My own experience....just to be fair and factual....is that I have not noticed any more color in my fish than I did before. I will say that they have kept up their "best colors" more consistently with this food than before they used it. I have always used a variety of good, quality foods in all my fish's diets, so I really didn't expect to see much. The manufacturer says to use this food exclusively, and you will have best results! I will not go to that extreme, but I did use it exclusively for my first two weeks just to find out if their claim is true. I didn't notice one bit of color loss, and they immediately dove at this new food!
I'm going to use the rest of my "other" staples (including Hikari Pellets, Bio-blend, etc), and then change to using Spectrum as my sole staple food. I will still continue to use Freeze-dried foods, veggie flakes, and occassional other treats.
