Is the protein content shown accurately on food labels? Best food for FOWLR fishes?

Singspot · Sep 21, 2019

Hi There, pls let me know if there are any threads that already covers this, I will just check those out ...

My questions
1. Is the protein content shown accurately on food labels .. I have frozen pack from Two companies and their label show then vary HUGE in protien contents .. see attached Hikari says its is 12% but other company shows their plankton having 3% is this variation possible (given rest of items in the food is disclosed on the packet)
2. I have large FOWLR (220G tank) with 40 G sump and 40G QT with 3 large wrasse, 2 medium angelfish, 1 medium Hippo tang, 1 Dimond goni, 1 sailfish blenny, 1 medium humuhumu, 1 large saddle butterfly, 1 goatfish, pair of ocellaris, ... I feed pellets to all fishes except goatfish who eats only frozen food (any) and pair of clown who eats 1 particular type of pellet daily and most of the frozen. What are good food options for FOWLR and my collection of fishes.
..

Best food for FOWLR fishes?

Fishnut · Sep 22, 2019

Rods and LRS are a great mix of frozen foods that should supply all the protein and nutrients your fish need.

Singspot · Sep 22, 2019

Any pellet recommendations?

I prefer pellets as I can better limit waste, given my tank is a FOwLR..

Fishnut · Sep 23, 2019

If your fish are bigger then 3 inches try Hikari Marine A. For smaller fish a feed 2mm size PE Pellets by Piscine energetics. For both pellets I hold under the water for a few seconds and try to sink them in a corner of the tank with current off. This way I can better judge how much to feed and the food isn’t getting blown under rocks out of reach of my fish.
As I am sure you are aware dry foods will add much more waste into your system then fresh frozen.
Ingredients such as yeast, starch, flour, molasses, soybean, and a whole boat load of preservatives are found in pellets.

nereefpat · Sep 23, 2019

The difference in % protein is probably due to the moisture content and how they do the accounting for moisture in the two brands.

S2G · Sep 23, 2019

Nls is about the best pellet you can buy. I'd stay away from things with a high cash content or with terrestrial based plant stuff all in it. High protein with herbivore would be bad as well. Hardly any fish will eat nls that I've had so I ended up with omega one marine. The ingredient list could be better but everything eats it.

Frozen wise. I strain the water before feeding. I don't care what people say it has a lot of phosphates. LRS is an exception very clean frozen food, but it is pricey.

Gareth elliott · Sep 23, 2019

Animal feed companies are pretty accurate with the analysis. All states require some form of oversight most require access to randomly test on unannounced visits.

Where you will see most differences in what is in them will be based on what the “meal” is from. Most fish meal traditionally was from Chilean anchovies but as aquaculture grows, this resource decreases. And many companies maybe be using other protein sources in conjunction with fish meal. Personally the pellets i make for my fish are based on krill meal for the high Carotenoids and brewers yeast for the Cysteines.

Singspot · Sep 25, 2019

Fishnut said:
If your fish are bigger then 3 inches try Hikari Marine A. For smaller fish a feed 2mm size PE Pellets by Piscine energetics. For both pellets I hold under the water for a few seconds and try to sink them in a corner of the tank with current off. This way I can better judge how much to feed and the food isn’t getting blown under rocks out of reach of my fish.
As I am sure you are aware dry foods will add much more waste into your system then fresh frozen.
Ingredients such as yeast, starch, flour, molasses, soybean, and a whole boat load of preservatives are found in pellets.

thanks for the detailed response and picture!

Singspot · Sep 25, 2019

S2G said:
Nls is about the best pellet you can buy. I'd stay away from things with a high cash content or with terrestrial based plant stuff all in it. High protein with herbivore would be bad as well. Hardly any fish will eat nls that I've had so I ended up with omega one marine. The ingredient list could be better but everything eats it.

Frozen wise. I strain the water before feeding. I don't care what people say it has a lot of phosphates. LRS is an exception very clean frozen food, but it is pricey.

Agree my phosphate goes thru room if i feed exclusively frozen food ... even the lrs fish frenzy has a lot of small particle stuff that disolve in water ... I do not have cleanup crew or corals ... so I want to add only low-waste food.

Jesterrace · Sep 25, 2019

Amit Singh said:
Any pellet recommendations?

I prefer pellets as I can better limit waste, given my tank is a FOwLR..

Honestly the problem is that pellets are an inherently dirtier food source as they use fillers and preservatives that dirty your tank. Trust me I tried many different food sources (dry and frozen) and the water is visibly cleaner when you use a clean frozen food source (ie LRS Reef Frenzy). As for being pricey? Yeah, at $22 per 8 oz package it does seem pricey but a little goes a long way. I feed twice a day and I go about 6 months on a package of food. A single cat costs more to feed per year.