Why so many problems?

[Paul B]

I didn't mean flakes are bad, I meant there are "much" better foods that will get your fish in a state of health where they may spawn and may never get sick.
Flakes are baked and dry, most vitamins do not take well to baking and drying no matter what it says on the label. Do you know why white flour is always "fortified" with vitamins and minerals? Because it is so overly processed that it is essentially glue and not food at all. There is nothing in it to keep you alive so they put in some vitamins so they can call it food. They make white flour because it does not need refrigeration. That is also why they make flakes. Refrigeration is expensive to ship food in. Very few foods that don't need refrigeration are very good. If there is nothing in the food to go bad, there is nothing in the food. All good foods go bad and need refrigeration. If those Mysis are frozen and not dry, I am sure they are good.
Try to think of any foods that are healthy, that you eat, that don't need refrigeration. I said healthy, not cake and cookies.
I can only think of peanut butter.

 

[lokii_37]

I didn't mean flakes are bad, I meant there are "much" better foods that will get your fish in a state of health where they may spawn and may never get sick.
Flakes are baked and dry, most vitamins do not take well to baking and drying no matter what it says on the label. Do you know why white flour is always "fortified" with vitamins and minerals? Because it is so overly processed that it is essentially glue and not food at all. There is nothing in it to keep you alive so they put in some vitamins so they can call it food. They make white flour because it does not need refrigeration. That is also why they make flakes. Refrigeration is expensive to ship food in. Very few foods that don't need refrigeration are very good. If there is nothing in the food to go bad, there is nothing in the food. All good foods go bad and need refrigeration. If those Mysis are frozen and not dry, I am sure they are good.
Try to think of any foods that are healthy, that you eat, that don't need refrigeration. I said healthy, not cake and cookies.
I can only think of peanut butter.

And honey

Great thread. I feed as few flakes as i canget away with. But i am in the process of trying to expand the variety of frozen foods my wet friends get.

 

[Paul B]

I purposely didn't say honey, because I specified, foods that are good for you.

 

[dkeller_nc]

Yeah, I think we will have to agree to disagree.

It's true that a very few of the fish commonly kept in reef tanks are piscivores, but very, very few of them. Most classes are either herbivores (algae eaters by definition in the ocean), or they are omnivores whose diet is mostly zooplankton and macro-sized critters in the crustacean, mollusk, porifera and cnidarian families.

There is, of course, a very good reason for this. If most of our fish were piscivores, we would have to be dang careful about their sizes, otherwise there would be mass carnage with only a few fish left.

That isn't to say that most omnivorious fish won't eat other fish of suitable size, just that it's not their normal diet. And while zooplankton on a reef does indeed contain fish larvae, it's a pretty small component.

By the way - if you wish, the Two Little Fishies line of Sea Veggies are pre-prepared algae for herbivores that is something other than nori (kelp). I use it to occasionally feed my Mexican turbos that are in the tank to keep the red algae down. Otherwise they're bulls in the china shop!

DiscusHeckel: I would echo what Paul said - it's not that flakes/pellets are bad, it's that feeding fish only with flakes or pellets is probably going to lead to less than spectacular results. And with the wide variety of frozen fish foods on the market, there's really no need to do so, even if you don't have access to or wish to trouble with live foods.

 

[Paul B]

It is true that most fish are herbevores, that is because most fish on a reef are tangs. There are large schools of them and they decend all at once on a coral head for a few bites, then move along. Most of the rest of the fish will eat just about anything. Fish fry is a large portion of their diet as when I dive, I don't go with a bunch of tourists, I go by myself and lay on the bottom until I run out of air or until I learn everything I want to know about a fish. I love to watch trumpet fish. They just drift around, minding their own business, then all of a sudden, suck up a little clownfish while no one is looking.
Sharks do something like that also. They slowly swim around looking like they are not hungry, then suddenly turn their head to eat an unsuspecting mullet.
One very common fish on a reef are moray eels. You rarely see them in the day, but at night, they are all over the place and you wonder where they were all hiding. They pounce on fish as they are sleeping.

This morning I had the honor of taking a WW2 Navy Veteran out on my boat. He is one of my good friends Father N Law and is starting to lose his memory. He loved the ride and just kept saying it reminds him of his Navy days. His wife died last year and he is alone. He is 89 and can't walk to well and doesn't remember much, but I was honored to take him out. I think he had a good time and the sea did bring him back some pleasurable memories.

No, this is not him. This is Greta.

 

[Spyderturbo007]

I really wish I could buy Live Blackworms around here, but no one sells them. I could order them online, but with only 4 fish, I suspect the worms would die before my fish would eat 1/10 of them.

 

[Paul B]

No, don't order them online for 4 fish. You will end up throwing most of them out. I am surprised your LFS doesn't order them as a lot of people with freshwater fish use them.

 

[AZBigJohn]

I have not found an LFS in AZ Phoenix that sells them, either... My first thought was it was an east coast thing, but then I realized the online vendor everyone mentions is in California, so I guess it is just hit and miss...

 

[Paul B]

They are called California Black worms so I assume they come from California.

 

[jdaniels175]

if they are from California, at least they wont cause cancer

 

[AZBigJohn]

Nonsense. Everything in California causes cancer, at least according to all the signs in the restaurants and stores. One of these days they will discover research labs are what really cause cancer in lab animals.

Sent from my Radar 4G using Board Express

 

[lokii_37]

Nonsense. Everything in California causes cancer, at least according to all the signs in the restaurants and stores. One of these days they will discover research labs are what really cause cancer in lab animals.

Sent from my Radar 4G using Board Express

That's exactly it. It's not that you won't get cancer from Cali, you just won't be able to say you didn't know you would get it.

 

[Paul B]

The reason everything in California gets cancer is because of the sun, even though they like to blame it on blackworms, Oldsmobile exhaust, Cherry Cola, Dell PCs and Paris Hiltons dogs flea collar. Although that last one may be the key

 

[jdaniels175]

i heard a new study was pointing to reverse undergravel filters.

 

[Paul B]

OK, everyone here that has an older tank, that does not have a UG filter, raise your hand................Higher. :beer:

 

[jdaniels175]

Paul-
I'm on your side! Don't shoot!!!

 

[Paul B]

OK then

 

[Siebo]

This has been one of the most interesting topics that I have read in a while. Thanks for posting.

 

[Paul B]

What was it about anyway? California, or Paris Hilton?

 

[Siebo]

What was it about anyway? California, or Paris Hilton?

Ha! Any time you put Paris Hilton and Nutrition in the same topic you should scratch your head and ask what was that about!