Staple Food

howlincody

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Nov 28, 2002
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I was wondering what you would recommend as a staple food for my tank? It has 2 Angelfish, 6 Harlequin Rasboras, and 3 Honey Gouramis. Right now I'm considering either Aquarian or OSI Angelfish (although I've heard OSI isn't that good...is this true?). If you don't recommend either of these, what else would be good?

Thanks
 
I like Tetramin Tropical Flakes for all my community fish, alternating sometimes with Wardley's algae flakes.

I don't know if it's true, but I've heard that OSI is so loaded with stuff that it's actually too rich for the fish. I tried it once--and lost a krib to Malawi Bloat shortly thereafter. I immediately stopped using the OSI. I'm not saying there was a definite connection, but that's what happened.

I'm glad you started this post--I'd really like to know what the best flakes would be for my fish; I'm not familiar with Aquarian. Hopefully some of the others here will have some good info.

-- Pat
 
I like Big Als staple food. $3.00 for 1/2 pound. I put a little in a baby food jar and keep the rest in the freezer to keep it fresh. Should last a long time that way.
 
I've recently started using Wardley's Total Tropical and I like it. It also looks like my fish do. I've never seen fish go at flake food the way my fish are at the Wardley flakes.
 
I've had the best results with Sera Vipan. I used Wardleys for years, but when I changed to Vipan I noticed better coloration and the fish seem more active. It is a bit more expensive, and has a lot richer odour than most staple foods. It is also good to always keep a frozen pack of bloodworms in the freezer for the weekly treat!
 
If you are using prepared foods, the best practice is not to use a single staple, but to rotate through 3-5 different foods sequentially. That way what food may lack, the next may have, and overall imballances are more likely to even out.
 
As RTR has suggested, rotating through different foods is most likely to cover all your bases. Here's what I use:

Tetra Spirulina Flakes
Tetra Min Flakes
Tetra Color Bits
Aquarian Tropical Flakes
Hikari Cichlid Gold
OSI Freshwater Flakes
SF Freeze-dried Plankton
Wardley's Shrimp Pellets
Hikari Freeze-Dried Bloodworms
Hikari Algae Wafers
 
WOW Harry!!!! Do your fish swim or do they bounce around the tank???:D ;)

Seriously, do you feed 2 or 3 different kinds per feeding, then something else at night or something like that??

Some ppl may wonder how you feed all that food to your fish w/o polluting the tank.

Personally, I always feed flakes (tetramin or nutrafin), tetramin granuals and either Wardley's shrimp pellets or tetramin pellets (for bottom feeders). I also feed frozen brine shrimp a couple times a week.
 
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