What fish food to use?

[ltidwell1]

I've done a little look on the forums and cant seem to find what I'm looking for.
Basically I was wondering what people use as far as pellet fish food is concerned. What brand you would recommend? where do you get it? Why you use it? how many times do you feed daily etc.
I am considering feeding both frozen food and pellet food periodically throughout the day to help insure my smaller fish have a chance to get food and curb aggression. Do you think this is a good idea? If so, why? If not, why not?

 

[ringo®]

I think mixing up the diet is always a good idea. New Life Spectrum (NLS) pellets have always been my favorite.

 

[bulkrate]

Another vote for New Life Spectrum... been feeding them to my tank since day one almost 3 years ago. Choose the smaller pellet sizes and work up. Basic formula or thera+, though... the "finicky" blend seems to actually not be liked by most of the critters in my tank, go figure.

Anything larger than .5mm and most of mine will spend more energy trying it eat/spit out/eat/repeat than they're likely to get from the food in the first place.

 

[mcphock]

NLS is the gold standard.

2mm is optimal for me. Anything larger can get sucked down the overflow too quickly unless 'pre-wetted' for a second. For the few fish in my tank that cannot eat 2mm, **** em! Find something else to eat.

I also make a home blend of tilapia, haddock and shrimp. Next batch will supplemented with nori and vitamins. It's an iterative process.

 

[ltidwell1]

New Life Spectrum seems the be the the pellet food of choice.
I noticed that some people make their own frozen fish foods. Is that more cost efficient and do the fish respond as well as they do to the packaged frozen food at pet stores?

 

[tonymission]

I feed NLS in my rotation but I think my fish like the reef nutrition / Neptune systems food that was made for the apex auto feeder. Also feeds the corals. I probably feed this 2-1 ratio versus NLS and mix in some mysis throughout the week. Pure Reef has some of those RN pellets if anyone is interested. Really can't recommend them enough!

 

[lsu_fishfan]

I use hikari marine S

 

[mikesmith34]

I like NLS as well as ocean nutrition 2 small pellets. The small ocean nutrition is good because it sinks rather quickly so I stays out of the overflow. Sometimes I don't want to push the bit ton to stop the return pumps. Lazy I quess, however the fish like both. They get frozen 3-4 times a week, reef chilli and frozen cyclopeeze on the weekend.

 

[marquiseo]

New Life Spectrum. Yes well fed fish= less aggression.

 

[franciscosalazar]

I've only tried this, seems like a quality product.

 

[ltidwell1]

Bgcoop8784;977242 wrote: Honestly I like the reef frenzy. I make my own for the heck of it...fresh shrimp, scallops, sometimes squid, silversides, nori and some selcon....blend up, pat flat in a freezer bag, and freeze. I throw in whatever I have, sometimes I use cyclop-eeze and krill if I have some.

And yes they respond well to it, I dunno if they respond any better than the reef frenzy, heck...they kinda respond to whatever I drop in the tank.

Thanks, that's great information. And I'm pretty sure my fish would eat Cheetos if I dropped them into the tank, so I may try making my own frozen food.

 

[hiimsean]

I feed NLS pellets and Ocean Nutrition flakes mainly. I have some mysis, don't remember what brand, I feed every so often. I've been thinking of making my own for the fun if it.

 

[saltbubbles]

NLS pellets mixed into DIY fish food

 

[lant]

80% NLS, 10% LRS, 10% Hikari Marine S the veggie kind....It's green, forgot the exact name. You can't really go wrong with NLS. LPS love it too.

 

[lagunareef]

All of the above...

Also, you can't go wrong with Fauna Marin or Elos. Try them all and see what works best for you and your fish needs.

 

[jrhunter0000]

spectrum pellets they have them in different mm size. always been a fav choice for me.

 

[gacolt]

i use new life spectrum and hikari seaweed extreme pellets.the seaweed is use 2littlefishies red seaweed and brine/mysis mixed w/ reef frenzy