food for thought(ever considered food )

When ever we have a problem we ask the same basic question . The most common question asked is water parameters! And the associated questions with that.

Yes these are very important questions, but are they the only questions we should ask? Because they are not the most important.

Sometimes we have to look at ourselves to get answers. What effects our health?: environment, exercise and what we eat!

- Environment: well checking our water quality does this!
- Exercise: if we have the correct tank with good water movement for the species then this is also taken care of.

And what we eat? Here is a question that needs to be asked!

Today we have have so many foods doing so many things, enhance colour, growth and fight disease. But which to use and just how good are these foods and when should we use them! Do we need to supplement their diet? Or change /mix foods? And what are the long term effects on our fish reduce/increase life expectancy , growth normal/abnormal.

Anyone who breeds guppys will have seen how drops of fry increase or decrease or later life deformation e.g. spine bending.

Can any of this be blamed on our choices of food ? I think the answer is Yes!

I have always tried to find the better way to improve both my stock and my understanding of them. I have a lot to learn but I find that a lot of my problems relate to food.

Most results you find are on commercial fish like salmon and trout while this will apply to most fish it should be remembered that these fish are grown fast for sale. Thus at this stage we we must change our food and ideas.

But where, when and why? I would suggest we break the fish life up in to three basic stages fry, juvenile and adult. And feed what is appropriate for each stage. This should be varied and balanced .

So when purchasing food, we should considered:
fat (lipid) supply energy and structure
protein the right kind in the right amounts
ASH effects digestion of dry matter resulting in higher waste
freshness - if a container is in use too long the quality of the food decreases
frozen - if kept correctly
dried - the method used to dry food will effect quality
vitamins in the natural form can brake down quickly if not stored properly and with age. So supplements may be advised but remember too little or too much will effect your fish. A human example of this is scurvy and rickets

scurvy: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scurvy
rickets: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rickets

Remember:
- freeze dried rather than flame dried
- frozen rather than dried
- fresh is best

I read an article recently by Ted Coletti in which he referred to a study in the 70's which still has relevance today,

Using adult guppy's, they tested various foods and combinations.

Some of the results found were as follows:

Single food: earth worms followed by beef hearth or tublix then brime shrimp
But mixes of earth worm and dry food or earth worms, beef heart and lettuce were associated with the drops with most fry.

Blanched zucchini , crushed peas and lettuce are loved by many fish, why? because they provide some of what our food is lacking.

Live food is something we must consider more often and not just for fry. Taking a more natural approach can and will work hand in hand with readily available products.
www.irishfishkeepers.com/cms/content/view/28/83/

Do we need to consider this and why we should ?
Well if we take just one example, I already spoke about ASH so I'll use it,
1.ASH stunts digestion which means more food is needed to keep fish healthy which means we have to use more food and buy it more often
2.ASH cause food to pass through the fish, back into the water, this means more water changes which makes more work for us
3.And naturally this means more diseases associated with water quality which means more expense in buying medication.


I have attached a file you should read and consider while this is for guppys, it would be fair to consider this in relation to other fish.

sorry the file will not up load wrong type its on a micro soft word spread sheet

Jaysus Mickey thats a good'un. It's got me thinking alright.
I suppose its too easy to just feed the same ould stuff every day without thinking of the benefits of different foods. Even just for variety to keep the fish interested.

Great post. Thanks.

Niall.

i had this floating in my head a few days before writing. i got a new food last week which i would consider good a brand name well thought off. Already i noticed that they are doing bigger *??* and its \"a max 20% ash\"

Since January i have been using immuvit when ever i mix fry food flake etc. but i have noticed a reduction in substandard fry. which got me thinking more about their food.

To many times i have seen post were something was wrong but water was perfect? unexplained maybe it is time that one of the first question we ask is what food/s you are using and what the brake down of the food is?

I didn't know that about ash Mickey,
over the years I've tried a lot of different foods and varied the diet. The only food I've ever re ordered & continue to use is New Life spectrum.

And I've just gone out to see the ash content and it's max 9%.

Whats an acceptable percentage or is there any need for it at all.

AS far as i am aware it is a by product of the fish industry added i do know the lower the better but if i find any more information i will post it.

www.newlife.ipbhost.com/forums/index.php...mp;p=89&#entry89

thanks for clarafying this I never knew what it was - so less is more in this case!!