Hikari Wafers

Taratron · Post by **Taratron** » 05 Nov 2003, 05:37

So today I finally decided to grab some of the fabled Hikari Algae Wafers...and this is the FIRST time I have ever seen my two female bristlenose fight over food!

I ended up with a total of three wafers in my 20 gallon tank: one per bristlenose, and one for the bronze cories.

I've never seen them act like this before, any of the fish, even with live food!

Is this normal pleco behavior? They usually ate Wardley's with relish, but now I wonder....

polkadot · Post by **polkadot** » 05 Nov 2003, 06:10

Yes, my plecos (especially the royals) will go crazy over algae wafers! Just bought this algae wafer from King British, dont know if it'll be as good as the Hikari one.

S. Allen · Post by **S. Allen** » 05 Nov 2003, 09:23

heh, I use a bunch of hikari products, none recieves the reaction that their Sinking Carnivore pellets, I credit those with helping me wean the stingrays and the M. tigrinus off live or frozen foods. I still do a 50/50 mix of frozen and pellets, but... it's nice to be able to throw in some pellets and have the fish go nuts over them. Nice for ease of feeding and also for the vitamin content that I think feeding frozen foods can sometimes be missing. Although now those fish will eat anything from live malaysian trumpet snails from the discus tank (a stingray favorite food and the only live food I feed) to algae pellets, they all started on the road to diversity with the thanks to sinking carnivore pellets. I'm quite impressed with that specific hikari product. The others are good but they seem to have rivals. I use both Hikari sinking wafers and tetra rich mix.

flyinmike · Post by **flyinmike** » 05 Nov 2003, 23:01

I drove across town the other day because the LFS didn't have the Hikari wafers. I also use the hikari frozen bloodworms and carnivore pellets. Hikari ROCKS!!

Walter · Post by **Walter** » 05 Nov 2003, 23:04

Hi,
itÂ´s also the favourite food of most of my loricariidae.

Madame X · Post by **Madame X** » 06 Nov 2003, 20:14

Are Hikari Wafers a sufficient source of protein for plecos? I ask because I haven't had much success feeding mine anything other than Hikari wafers and fresh veggies. Any other meaty foods I put into the tank are quickly eaten by the other inhabitants. Only my bristlenose will come out during feeding time. My peppermint and clown plecos only come out at night.

I try to alternate between the Hikari Algae Wafers and the Sinking Catfish Wafers but I worry that they're not getting enough protein in their diet.

magnum4 · Post by **magnum4** » 06 Nov 2003, 22:12

I don't think you have to worry about protein levels with Hikari Algae Wafers and the Sinking Catfish Wafers both I think contain plus 40% which is more than adequate.

plesner · Post by **plesner** » 06 Nov 2003, 22:45

I don't know if this applies to catfish, but I've read in several books on feeding fish that 50 % proteines, 30 % karbohydrates and 20 % fat was a good rule of thumb for adult fish.

magnum4 · Post by **magnum4** » 06 Nov 2003, 22:55

I think you should double check but i can tell you now the fat content for carnivores is mostly 3-6%.

Post by **Barbie** » 06 Nov 2003, 23:00

Considering there is a HUGE variation in the type of diet our fish eat in nature, I would be very leery of a broad generalization like that. Most of our lories eat primarily algae, plant matter, and worms and other inverts that congregate in surface algae and along the bottom of their water ways. I doubt any of those sources would have fat OR protein levels that high.

Barbie

plesner · Post by **plesner** » 06 Nov 2003, 23:03

fat content for carnivores is mostly 3-6%.

We might both be right. I just double checked: The figures I mentioned was 'dry weight'. The figure for fat is 3-4% when it's not dry weight (I don't think I know the apprpriate term - a direct translation from German would be 'Fresh Substance' which doesn't really make sense).

plesner · Post by **plesner** » 06 Nov 2003, 23:08

Considering there is a HUGE variation in the type of diet our fish eat in nature

I know it's a generalization. When Magnum objected to the 40 % proteines I just remembered having read similar values to those he objected to.

I do know that here we are dealing with some sort of average/generalization/rule of thumb/whatever.

magnum4 · Post by **magnum4** » 06 Nov 2003, 23:15

I had a quick check too results for omnivore catfish, plecs ect (dry weight):

Protein 35%-42%, Fat 2%-5%, Raw fiber 3-8%, personly i'm not one for generalisation or rules of thumb but in matters like this some guidelines do help.

magnum4 · Post by **magnum4** » 06 Nov 2003, 23:27

When Magnum objected to the 40 % proteines I just remembered having read similar values to those he objected to.

What I said was not intended to sound like objection i was trying to sound reasuring to madame x, however as we have all found out in the past it is so easy to interpret what is said in so many ways. Reading again it did sound like i was objecting to a 40% level.

I will make my points clearer in the future.

Barbie

I doubt any of those sources would have fat OR protein levels that high.

I thought this for a long time but after some extensive research the micro crustations which feed and live on the algae contain very high levels of proteins.

S. Allen · Post by **S. Allen** » 07 Nov 2003, 00:58

;) either way the argument goes to support the feeding of a large variety of foods geared towards the fishes you are keeping. I feed each tank anywhere from a half dozen to a dozen different foods, get minerals and vitamins from one lacking in another, balance out high fat content and low protien content, all sorts of things.