Ken's Fish Feed - Experiences?

[Shovelnose]

I procured a few bags of Ken's Premium Krill Pellets, Ken's Premium Catfish Pellets and Ken's Ultra Earthworm Sticks sometime back. The latter two were rejected by all bagrid catfish and only mahseer consume (doesn't really count as they try to and will eat anything) these. The catfish started taking krill pellets after a period of mild starvation and are now readily taking them. I use Hikari, Tetra and locally made scampi/prawn feed on a regular basis and these krill pellets sparingly because of the high fat content.

I have now ordered Aqua Stable Pellets, Premium Sinking Growth Pellets, Premium Multi Worm Sticks and Krill Pellets. Does anyone here have experience with these or Ken's feed in general? Also,thoughts on the ingredients?

[fishguy1978]

I'm not super happy with the ingredients of Ken's fish foods but the price is right. I have the premium krill pellets, 2mm premium cichlid pellet and the 0.5mm fry pellet. All my fish readily take the all 3.
I use large pellets with fry as time release feeders and the krill pellets being dense and hard do break down slowly.
My fish room stock includes 3 species of severums, 4 silver dollar species, striped and spotted raphaels, 2 geophagus species, Lake Tanganyika and small cats.

[Viktor Jarikov]

I've never used Ken's products. Don't exactly remember why. I recall I wasn't impressed with the ingredients on the simple, staple dry feeds either.

[Shovelnose]

I'm not super happy with the ingredients of Ken's fish foods but the price is right.

Perfectly sums up how I feel too.

All my fish readily take the all 3.

Great to note that. I wonder if there is any correlation between pungency of the feed and fish accepting it?

I've never used Ken's products. Don't exactly remember why. I recall I wasn't impressed with the ingredients on the simple, staple dry feeds either.

I wouldn't call it bad feed honestly but some of the ingredients seem out there. Blood meal is one that I thought was wildly unnecessary in fish feed but I could be wrong. Not all the feed have this ingredient and some actually look good, I'd reckon it is ok as long as it is not a staple feed/used daily.

[Viktor Jarikov]

https://kensfish.com/collections/kens-p ... ets-9-5-mm

KEN'S PREMIUM AQUA STABLE PELLETS 9.5 MM

5 lb for $20 = $4/lb

This large sinking pellet stays together for a long time without fowling the water. Great for bottom feeders!

Main Ingredients: Wheat Flour, Fish Meal, Soy Flour, Blood Meal, Hydrolyzed Feather Meal, Brewers Dried Yeast, Fish Oil, Liquid Fish Solubles, Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal, Dicalcium Phosphate, Salt, Choline Chloride, Manganese Proteinate, Zinc Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Calcium Iodate, Iron Proteinate, Cobalt Proteinate, Calcium Carbonate, Sodium Selenite, Vitamin A Acetate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Dl-Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E Supplement), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Niacin, Calcium Pantothenate, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (Source Of Vitamin K Activity), Folic Acid, Thiamine Mononitrate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Biotin, Calcium Propionate, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (Source Of Vitamin C), Ethoxyquin.

Guaranteed Analysis: Crude Protein 40.0% Min., Crude Fat 7.0%Min., Crude Fiber 3.0% Max., Moisture 12.0% Max. Ash 8.0% Max.


KEN'S PREMIUM CATFISH PELLETS

2.75 lb for $13 = $4.73/lb

This is an excellent pellet for your bottom feeding catfish including cory cats.

Ingredients: Marine Proteins, Plant Proteins, Yeast By-Products, Vitamin And Mineral Supplements, Stay-C (A Heat And Water Stable Vitamin C), Attractants, Preservatives, And Stabilizers, As Well As Other Added Vitamins And Minerals.

Guaranteed Analysis: Crude Protein 35.0% Min., Crude Fat 5.0% Min., Crude Fiber 3.0% Max., Moisture 13.0% Max., Ash 12.0%.


KEN'S PREMIUM CICHLID PELLETS 1.5 MM

25 lb for $121 = $4.84/lb

This special formulation contains spirulina, krill, and other natural color enhancers. For the sincere cichlid specialists, my color enhancing floating and sinking pellets are a nourishing food, promoting growth and strength to help resist the harmful effects of shock or bacterial infection. This is a 1.5 mm sinking pellet.

Ingredients: Wheat, Fish Meal, Soybean Meal, Blood Pork Meal, Stabilized Fish Oil, Capsanthin, Spirulina, Xanthophyll, Krill Meal, Di Calcium Phosphate, Vitamin A Acetate, D-Activated Animal-Sterol (D-3), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Niacin, Folic Acid, Calcium Pantothhenate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine, Biotin, Dl Alphatocopherol (E), L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (C), Color Enhancers With Red, Yellow, And Blue/Green Pigments.

Guaranteed Analysis: Crude Protein 45.0% Min., Crude Fat 9.0% Min., Crude Fiber 5.0% Max., Moisture 10.0% Max., Ash 10.0%

...

Ken's appear mostly to be terrestrial starch from wheat and soy. Compare to our favorite NLS tropical fish diet pellet. The main ingredients are the same for all non-specialist, general feeds, it seems.

4.85 lb for $60 retail ($36 wholesale) = $12.4/lb ($7.4/lb)

(I couldn't find this list on the internet (IDK why?), so I just typed it up from the package:)

Krill (Euphasia superba), Squid (Dosidicus gigas), Whole wheat flour, Seaweed (Ulva lactuca, Undaria pinnatafida, Eucheuma cottonii, Eucheuma spinosum, Chondrus crispus), Fish (Brevoortia tyrannus), Green Algae (Chlorella pyrendoidosa), Kelp, Garlic, Ginger, Astaxanthin, Spirulina, Fish Oil, Marigold, Bentonite Clay, Sea Salt, Vitamin A acetate, Vit. D, Vit. E, Vit. B12, Niacin, Folic Acid, Biotin, Thiamine hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Pyridoxine hydrochloride, Calcium Pantothenate, Vit. C, Choline chloride, Ethylenediamine Dihydro-iodide, Cobalt Sulfate, Ferrous sulfate, Manganese sulfate, Tocopherols (a preservative).

Crude protein 37%, crude fat 8%, crude fiber 7%, moisture 10%.
Vit. C min. 600 IU/Kg, Vit. A min. 10000 IU/Kg, Vit. D min. 3500 IU/Kg, Vit. E min. 400 IU/Kg.

More on the ingredients from the Company: https://www.feedspectrum.com/learn

[TwoTankAmin]

There is an old saying, "You get what you pay for."

I use kens mini sinking sticks. I get about 6 different ones and mix them. However, I try not to feed it more than 15% of the time. I also make my own blend of his flakes and try not to feed them more than 20% of the time.

My primary foods are Repashy Gel Mixes and Frozen foods. I used to buy only Hikari but now I but mostly from Jehmco, I get about 12-15 lbs of frozen several times a year. My fish are not big but I have a lot of them. I breed several of the Hypans. and diet is a very important factor in being successful at that.

I have commercial for when I am rushed for time or when I go away and leave food for others to feed for me. For them commercial is how I go.

[yellowcat]

I have been feeding my catfish a variety of Ken's foods for a few years now. I use 3 varieties of their flakes, the premium super tropical, premium multi worm flakes and premium bloodworm flakes. I buy their sinking mini sticks too in the catfish, bloodworm, earthworm and shrimp flavors. I supplement these with Hikari sinking pellets such as the sinking wafers, sinking carnivore pellets, mini algae wafers and vibra bites. I also use Hikari frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp. My large pseudopimelodid's get live earthworms and one will eat the pellets also. I feed my fish every other night. I blend the above combinations to suit each tank as I see fit, no problems to report at all. Looking at the ingredient lists shown in some of the products mentioned, well, my eyes glaze over about halfway down as I'm not qualified to analyze or evaluate said ingredients or pronounce many of them, so ignorance is bliss in my case. I would think that with all the added supplements in modern fish foods like vitamins, probiotics and the like, our fishes diet is likely better than found in the wild. Just giving a variety diet to any fish is a pretty safe bet overall. After all, they're Catfish, some will eat almost anything...

[Shovelnose]

There is an old saying, "You get what you pay for."

Absolutely, agreed.

As an example, I got roughly 1.6 kgs (3.5 pounds) of mixed Ken's Feed for ~ INR 3000 (USD 36). Over here in India, I get a kilo (2.2 pounds) of Tetra Beauty pellets for INR 1350 (USD 18), 500 gms (1.1 pounds) of Hikari Koi Gold for INR 900 (USD 12) and 380 gms of Hikari Massivore for INR 1700 (USD 22). Then there is locally made scampi feed which comes at less than a dollar for a kilo. Hikari and the scampi feed are quite strong smelling and definitely preferred by the fish over Tetra or Ken's, this makes me wonder if pungency plays a part. Problem with Hikari is the cost and the protein content in scampi is usually too high to be used on a regular basis. With Ken's and Tetra thrown in the mix, it becomes a reasonably varied diet.

After all, they're Catfish, some will eat almost anything...

Thanks for sharing your experience. That is the strange part, bagrids are the least fussy eaters I have encountered, even these fish spit out the Aqua Stable Pellets I got now. I might have to resort to starving these again.

So there are really no negative experiences as such, good to know that.

This one looks interesting, I like the sound of most of the ingredients. Although, I don't understand why choline or biotin is added.

[Shovelnose]

This one looks interesting, I like the sound of most of the ingredients. Although, I don't understand why choline or biotin is added.

A small update, the catfish I keep go crazy over Ken's Premium Multi Worm Sticks. Even R.chrysea, which seemingly don't like to leave their caves, come right out to feed.

[YSR50]

I've been feeding Kens stuff for more years than I can remember. I have been paying attention to the ingredients more so over the past few years though. Because I'm lazy, flake/pellet food is my daily feeding, and because I'm cheap Ken's is what they get. That's not to say it's the only thing I feed. I'm like the rest of you I always have other dry food brands on hand as well as Repashy, vegetables, frozen, and live foods on occasion.

Over the years I have bred/breed numerous different hypancistrus, a few different ancistrus, L134s, L397s, few different corys, as well as many upper level fish.

If I had more time and $ to spend on my fish, I'm not sure Ken's would be at the top of my list. But then again, it's been working really well for many years so