debate: One perfect food for all? or variety?

huk chun chu · Post by **huk chun chu** » 07 Oct 2006, 13:27

I have been keeping fish for about 40 years.Not to any big scale so I am no expert,just enjoy the hobby. What I would like to debate ,or just get everyones input on is the idea of 1 food being perfect for all fish or the need for variety. Through reading many articles it has come to my attention that there is a lot of believers in the fact that one food (new life spectrum) is the only food that is necessary for all fish.It will improve colour,bring fish into breeding condition etc.I up till now have always believed in feeding as large a variety as possible.I would like to get as many opinions as possible on this topic as well as your reasons for your particular choice. Thanks

P.S. Looking forward to all responses. Huk

Post by **Marc van Arc** » 07 Oct 2006, 14:30

huk chun chu wrote:I up till now have always believed in feeding as large a variety as possible.

I agree with the above statement. As in nature, fish don't always eat the same food, so a variety of flakes (in my case Tetra Min), pellets, frozen and live foods is necessary if you want to take good care of your fishes imo.
I'm not saying that (just) one type of food doesn't keep them alive, for I'm quite convinced it does. However, there's a difference between taking good care and keeping them alive.
I've kept fishes long enough to see that they appreciate different types of food and that they do better on them.

Mike_Noren · Post by **Mike_Noren** » 07 Oct 2006, 14:34

IMO there's three main reasons to give fishes one single foodstuff: it's quick, it's easy and it works.

Personally, however, I feed a number of different foodstuffs, on the grounds that:
* No single foodstuff is best for all fishes at all times.
* Variety means I'm not depending on the opinion or skill of any one food manufacturer.

There have also been a study which showed that varied food was better than any single individual food for guppies.
http://members.aol.com/guppyblks/arch00a2.htm
(note the ones with more than one type of food, #17 and #18 )

So my personal opinion is that feeding one balanced foodstuff or a variety of foodstuffs is a tradeoff between ease-of-use and maximal growth & breeding.

apistomaster · Post by **apistomaster** » 07 Oct 2006, 16:10

I side on the "variety is the stuff off life" a staple food is fine for a facility where the fish change and the food does'nt but at home, where breeding is my goal as well a rapid growth of fry no one food is suffient unless I take up breeding an obligate parasite, ticks, for example.

Post by **Birger** » 07 Oct 2006, 16:47

I use NLS myself and it does seem to be good for day to day(actually every second day for me) feedings,and you can customize it to different fish large and small,but I have learned over the years things will change,companies will be bought etc. so it is good to have other avenues.

I do believe in variety though and think it definately makes a difference especially when it comes to having fish spawn,you can target specific diets in addition to what you normally feed to trigger spawing along with proper water conditions etc.

Also there are days I just want to tinker with my tanks(especially a cold winter day) if things were too simple there wouldn't be anything to do

Birger

Jon · Post by **Jon** » 07 Oct 2006, 18:57

I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone on this site who didn't agree that variety is key to their feeding regime, or at least admit that they don't feed as wide a spectrum of foods as they'd like.

huk chun chu · Post by **huk chun chu** » 07 Oct 2006, 22:38

So far the majority if not all respondents prefer to use a variety of foods.This is unlike the large # of people on the cichlid forum site which seems to have a strong following for 1 & only 1 food is needed for all fish under all circumstances. That food being New Life Spectrum. The reasoning is well documented by the manufacturer (Pablo Tepoot) in his product site.
Needless to say I still tend to agree with the respondents on this forum that variety is the spice of life, even when it comes to feeding our finned pets.Please keep your responses & ideas coming. Is there anyone out there that agrees with the 1 food only method?

Deb · Post by **Deb** » 07 Oct 2006, 23:18

I don't, and I'll tell you why. For all of the reasons already mentioned, which basically promote a variety of foods for nutritional reasons, and one more, just as important.

There are a variety of textures and "bites" to foods which will appeal to different fish, according to the way they eat. No one food can provide this to all kinds of fish. A fish with teeth at the front of the mouth, such as tetras, appreciate a food they can really tear into. Loricariids want to scrape and rasp their food, and appreciate the texture and bite of fresh veggies, from rough potatoes to smooth and rubbery zucchini, as well as wood for wood-eaters, such as Panaque species. I could give more examples, but you get the idea. Variety is the way to go. No flake, pellet, or wafer, no matter how nutritious, can provide this kind of eating experience.

Mike_Noren · Post by **Mike_Noren** » 07 Oct 2006, 23:29

Beware of shills pushing their merchandise through posts on web fora. It's an old and well established practice.

Actually I haven't noticed a huge number of posts pushing New Life Spectrum - perhaps you could give me a link to where people are saying that it's the one single bestest food?

snowball · Post by **snowball** » 08 Oct 2006, 01:18

Variety is also good so the fish don't get bored - would you want to eat the same food every day, even if it was your favourite meal?

My fish pantry currently has six different types of sinking foods, three different granulated foods, three different floating pellets plus fd plankton and a tub of flake. The fish also get fed frozen bloodworms, live blackworms, occasional live brine shrimp or mosquito wrigglers and the odd pieces of vegie or friuit (mango or rockmelon skin etc). The Pantodon butterfly also gets live flies and cockroaches hand fed to it every few days - unless the pink tail Chalceus steal it from my fingers first!

darkwater · Post by **darkwater** » 08 Oct 2006, 04:43

Which NLS product do you guys mean?

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 08 Oct 2006, 17:11

I'm going to have to agree with everyone else.

All fish have different diets and different digestive systems to suit.

There's no way you can feed the same food to a fish that eats other fish and a fish that grazes algae.

We all use dried foods as a staple, but I always try to tailor the food I give to a fish's specific diet and target feed them.

My fish get dried prepared food in the morning and frozen larvae, cockle, shrimp and vegetables in the evening.

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 09 Oct 2006, 13:08

If we use the analogy for humans, using one food all the time would be like eating freeze-dried food from a packet all the time. Whilst it may contain all the necessary nutrients, anyone who's done military service knows the difference between food that "contains the right nutrition" and "tasty food that contains almost all the nutrients" - if you eat only freeze dried or tinned food for a significant part of your diet, you'll soon find that it's a bit dull. Throw in a few fresh veg, spices, a bit of fresh cheese or bread, it's immediately gone up on the scale of "how tasty it is", even if you haven't added any nutritional value as such [other than calories].

Variety - there's no doubt that many of the high-end producers produce food with the "right nutrition", but that's not to say that other foods won't make the fish happier and perhaps also healthier [which is more difficult to measure].

I personally feed a variety of dry food (Tetra bits), tablets (Hikari Algae wafers, for example), frozen daphnia & bloodworms, frozen seafood (various kinds, anything from "crabsticks" to "mixed seafood salad" - I buy a pack and chop and freeze it in a flattened plastic bag so I can break off a piece at a time) - and for the plecos, also vegetables such as Courgette(Zucchini), squash, potato, beans, cabbage type things (broccoli stems are good, also brussel sprouts) - all depending on what's available at the time.

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Mats

grokefish · Post by **grokefish** » 09 Oct 2006, 15:01

I had a real problem with this. I was feeding my uarus hikari food and with all the problems that they had with importing this food into the UK recently I had problems getting them to eat anything else. It was like I had to acclimate wild fish again, starting with live food and working on to prepared foods.

huk chun chu · Post by **huk chun chu** » 09 Oct 2006, 15:39

When it comes to which NLS product it does not matter. According to the manufacturer all NLS products are really the exact same food. They just use different labels for different fish just to satisfy the purchaser that it is specific to their fish. All products have identical ingredients. THe answer to the idea that the fish get bored according to NLS is that fish shy away from strange foods & prefer to eat only one food, that is the one they are familiar with.They do not get bored & you can not equate human responses to variety to fish responses.I will try to find the link again that has a large NLS following & pass it on.
Another very valid point that was made was availability.It is not the easiest food to find.What if your supply runs out.If your fish are eating only 1 socalled perfect food you have to retrain to another food. If you feed variety you do not have this potential problem.
I am by no means endorsing NLS. But I do find their theories interesting. They seem to have a valid sounding answer for all doubts. Personally I find it hard to by because of years of programing to the idea of variety being best for all fish.It would make our lives much easier if one food was all we needed,but would we have as much fun as we do trying to find new & interesting foods that we hope our fish will enjoy? Keep the opinions coming, there maybe a believer out there yet.

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 09 Oct 2006, 16:23

Assuming that "all food is the same with different labels", then the manufacturer is also lying as to the nutritional content of different foods - which they may well be - since Tetra prima for example has a higher protein content than the "regular Tetra", and there's definitely differences in the "Goldfish" and "Tropical" flakes that I've been feeding my fish.

What speaks against that idea is that some fish will become ill if they eat certain things (Tropheus is one very well-known example) - feeding these fish "the same food with a different label" will only work if the "same food" is very high in fibre and low in protein - which isn't good food for other, more carnivorous fishes.

There may well be some (less honest) manufacturers that just make one product with different labels - but for the high-end products, I'd doubt it - someone with a certain level of analytical chemistry equipment should be able to find this out quite quickly - where's the people from Practical Fishkeeping (and other magazines) when you need them?

The "Fish don't get bored" is probably a similar myth to "Goldfish have no memory", which has been proven to be "not true". However, most fish live in an environment where food isn't plentyfull all the time, so they are often greedy about their food, and thus will make the best of the food available - although some are more picky than others, as grokefish has experienced...

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Mats

debate: One perfect food for all? or variety?

debate: One perfect food for all? or variety?

Re: debate: One perfect food for all? or variety?