When you first get into the fish keeping hobby, you normally just buy any brand name of fish flakes at Petsmart, Petco etc.. However as you go on your journey you learn about other types of flake foods such as Bloodworns, Beefheart, Spirulina etc.. There are literally dozens and dozens of brands of flake foods and different types of ingredients so it’s natural to feel a little overwhelmed. So which one is the best flake food for freshwater fish? I’ll go over the different types of foods and there ingredients as well as what they do best.
Beef heart
Ingredients: Fish Meal, Soy Meal, Beefhearts, Shrimp Meal, Wheat Flour, Brewers Yeast, Corn Starch, Krill Meal, Algenate Lecithin, Spirulina, Propolyene Glycol, Sorbitol, Calcium Phosphate, Anise Oil, Vitamins, Minerals, Ethoxyquin, Natural and Artificial colors.
Ideal for omnivores
This is my personal favorite and the type that I use for all of my fish. Beef heart flakes are thinner than other flake foods, which I prefer and find my fish do as well. Also it’s great for fry as you can crush it up to a dust texture easily. The major benefit to beef heart is that it promotes more rapid growth.
Spirulina
Ingredients: Plant meals, spirulina, fish solubles, whole sardine, salmon fillets, lecithin, krill, kelp, brewer’s yeast, salmon oil, mineral premix, vitamin premix, brine shrimp embryos, adult brine shrimp, carotenoid pigments, and preservatives.
Ideal for herbivores
Spirulina is a great fish flake for Cichlids, but obviously can be fed to other types of fish. It is ideal for color enhancement and it very easy for fish to digest.
Bloodworms
Ingredients: salmon meal, soy flour, fresh bloodworms, wheat, oat & gluten flours, frozen or dried brine-shrimp, dried spirulina, lecithin. Fish oil, vitamin b1, a & c. Choline hcl, biotin, methionine. Thiamine (source of vitamin b1), asorbic acid (source of vitamin c ). Dried bacillus subtilis fermentation product, dried bacillus licheniformis fermentation
Ideal for carnivores
Bloodworms are high in protein and shouldn’t be a staple food that is fed everyday, it could cause constipation. The biggest benefit of bloodworm flakes is the improved conditioning and enhanced spawning.
Brine Shrimp
Ingredients: Fish protein hydrolisate, yeast protein, soy, wheat gluten, artemia (dry weight), egg, marine plankton, milk protein, spirulina, Naturose (source of astaxanthin), lecithin, binder, HUFA oil, mineral mix, ascorbic acid (C), choline, niacin, riboflavin (B2), D-Pantothenic acid, thiamine (B1), pyridoxine (B6), folic acid, menadione (K3), biotin, Vitamin B12, Vitamin A, Vitamin D3, Vitamin E, and Vitamin A. Contains no artificial colors or preservatives
Ideal for carnivores
Another high protein flake food that is very popular due to how much fish tend to love it. Brine Shrimp also enhances color and tends to make fish more active.
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