(Part 2) Reddit mentions: The best fish food

I don't know about kelp specifically but you can grow microalgae. Macroalgae is only a small part of the photosynthetic life in the ocean, microalgae and plankton play a big role in converting CO2 into oxygen through photosynthesis.

Microalgae like chlorella, spirulina, polysiphonia, etc, convert carbon dioxide into oxygen through photosynthesis. Plankton do the same. There are endoplankton which eat other plankton for nutrition, but there are also phytoplankton that produce their own food through photosynthesis. The specific names slip my mind but there are green and gold ones.

You can purchase algae food here and here. You need equal parts of both, a teaspoon each per 10 gallons of water. Make sure you use filtered (preferably distilled) water, do NOT use tap water. (this kills the algae)

Spirulina and Chlorella can grow in fresh water or alkaline water, polysiphonia can grow in salt water so feel free to add ocean salt to your polysiphonia growing tank. (you can just use a fish tank or a mason jar, a bottle of water if it's clear and can have light penetrate. fish tank is probably best because it's hard to measure a tenth of a teaspoon)

here is a link to ocean salt.

The green and gold phytoplankton in this pack are photosynthetic and can grow if you give them minerals (algae food) and light (sunlight works or you could purchase a grow light) Not sure if the bottles in the link are live cultures but those are the types of plankton you can grow. (names are on the bottle)

You can purchase live algae cultures of spirulina, chlorella, and polysiphonia in the links provided. Just add light, water, and minerals, and they'll begin to replicate, grow, and turn their minerals into amino acids and essential fatty acids. I'm sure they'll clean up the air in your room, and you can also use them for food. (very nutritious)

That's basically how you grow them. I hope that helps, if you want to go johnny appleseed and plant algae all over the world to clean the atmosphere I'm not sure how to help with that. If you live in a sunny area and don't have stupid building codes then you could dig a pond in your backyard, maybe throw some koi fish in there, make a nice waterfall.

OK, Im just going to list a bunch of stuff I've purchased through this process. Nothing is in any particular order.

Almond leaves (for tannin) - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LKTX4VC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Moss - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0035Q65TQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Cholla Wood - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01H4FUMHY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Dried red Shrimp (Protein and Chitin) - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0027JCRVW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Instant Ocean (1/3cup per Gallon) - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000255NKA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Ultrasonic Mister/Fogger (for DIY Fogger) - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PAK21WU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Digital Temp Humidity Controller - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01I6BZ2IO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

LED White/Blue Light - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0191EWII2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

UTH (You may need to get a different size and this isn't the most recommended, but it works for me currently) - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00TR4HLEI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (This one has adhesive on the back of it, so you just stick it on like a sticker.)

Cork Bark Board - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0019J1VPY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s04?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Water Conditioner - https://www.amazon.com/Seachem-116043304-Prime-500ml/dp/B00025694O

If you have any questions, please feel free. To mitigate confusion I felt just listing this as a reference first is the best approach. If you are looking for a new tank so that you can get friends, i would suggest 30 or more gallons and work towards that instead of investing into the current tank which would get changed.

Personally with the 5 i have i clearly see they need much more room than the 15 gallon they have now. I am in the process of acquiring an 85-120 gallon tank for permanency. These guys can live 20+ years with the proper care and environment. but not everyone has that freedom. 30 is a totally doable size for 3 crabs. they can grow to jumbos and be fine in there, but im sure if they reach that stage you'll be looking for another tank. Jumbos need at least 12" of substrate for molting.

As long as the FIRST ingredient on the ingredients list is the actual item you're ok. Look at your Fluval Bug Bites. I use the Tropical Formula for Small Fish (the light blue container), the first ingredient is the actual protein itself, in this case Black Soldier Fly Larvae (ewww). But, if you look at the back of something like TetraMin (sorry Tetra) and the first ingredient is Fish Meal. So, fish meal may have fish but it will also have ground up small ocean fish, left over bits of fish, so it includes bone, waste, etc. and you don't know what kind of fish. In case you wondered why it's not as high quality.

So, for your Betta, as long as you're using the Bug Bites for Betta, that's fine with bloodworms as a treat, no more than a couple of times a week since they aren't very nutritious and if that were all a betta ate, might cause constipation and other problems. Frozen or freeze-dried brine shrimp same thing re the treat a couple times a week. Same for the Dial a treat. The treats are "or" not each of them 2 times a week. I would trade the Hikari Betta Biogold as it's fish meal first ingredient and look for something like New Life Spectrum (not sure why this one is unavailable, but look around) if your LFS sells it or on Amazon for Bettas.

For your Tetras, Sera is a great brand and I feed that to my fish. As long as you have enough in the tank to eat the tabs they're great. I feed the Fluval Bug Bites I mentioned above. They can get the same treats the Betta gets.

Sorry, don't know about the frogs. I have fed the Hikari sinking pellets for bottom feeders like loaches and Cories and Otos (the green and the orange packets) but I only noticed after that the first ingredient is a meal. So, I occasionally feed it because the packages aren't empty yet, but I won't replace them. I use the Bug Bites for Bottom Feeders for my Cories and Otos.

The other Brand I use is Omega One depending on the size of the fish, sometimes the shrimp micro pellets for color and the veggie ones but I think they're too big for tetras who can get bloated from too many of them. I sometimes use Seachem Chlorella or Shrimp Flakes just for something different.

Hope that helps.

Will try ordering that, do you know or could recommend any food? Only issue might be that customs may pull it up or finding one that will ship here, but fingers crossed. Will try get some tetra safe start at the same time, its a long shot that it will still be viable by the time it arrives, but could be worth the shot.

This morning he was a lot perkier though, he came up directly for food, begging for it, and again when I saw him a lil later so it is a positive sign I guess even if he is still not looking physically better.

Edit* they won't ship any medicated supplies to NZ, but I did find a shop that stocks safe start so am going to give that a go once this is all clear and safe- and will be able to maybe get this it wouldn't arrive til Monday- but am being positive for the moment

Going to refer back to here
buy some de-encapsulated brine shrimp eggs or Fry starter

As far as survival rate, it should be pretty good as long as you have nothing else in the tank that will eat them. The parents will protect the young, and each spawn will also help protect the next and so forth. As far as the breeding cycle, it takes 6 to 7 days from egg laying to hatching. And they spawn about every 3 weeks in ideal conditions. So expect the next spawn about 3 weeks after the first sighting of little fish. And the spawn size will likely get bigger each time. Hopefully you have something lined up with your LFS or have a way to sell them, unless you plan on getting multiple tanks or just one really huge tank.

Depending on what you have for filtering, I would look into getting something to put on the filter intake if you want to minimize babies getting sucked into your filter. While I've had baby plecos survive and grow to a good size in a filter, I don't believe the same would happen with baby Daffodils. My local LFS sold me some foam like this and I cut it to size to put around the intake. You'll need to clean it periodically as it acts just like an additional pre-filter filter.

These http://www.amazon.com/Omega-One-Betta-Buffet-Pellets/dp/B0040BJBC8 are fantastic. My girls love them and they're made with great ingredients. I would suggest floating any type of freezedried food in tank water in a cup for a minute or two before you feed the pellets because if not the pellets will expand in their stomachs. How would you like it if a loaf of bread rose in your stomach? As well, with these pellets take care not to over feed because they're small and it's tempting to put a lot in

Such an awesome fish! I HIGHLY recommend NLS Ultra Red. I've been giving this to my Geos for a few months now and the difference is amazing.

4 pellets a day or 4 pellets per feeding session? I only fed my betta boy 2-3 pellets twice a day, so that's not too bad. Better to underfeed a little than over!

For blind/visually impaired fish, it's best to stay to a pattern. Try to feed him in the same spot every day; they have little suction-cup feeding rings you can buy online to help with this, or you could probably DIY your own too. You may be able to train him to react to a signal (such as lightly tapping the water or something) that he can connect to being fed. Alternatively, you can get a small breeding box to put him in to feed him, but that may stress him out.

Another thing you can do is dip/soak his pellets in garlic juice, which will help him be able to smell his food and also acts as a small appetite stimulant if you feel like he is not eating enough. You can mince your own garlic and put it in tank water in a separate container to create a dilute garlic solution, or you can by pre-minced garlic in a jar and use the fluid from that, or you can buy garlic guard.

If theyre tetra theyre garbage.

Repashys community plus is a great staple, but if your heart is set on pellets check out northfin

Harlequin rasboras are predators, feeding on small crustaceons, insects, and other microfauna. Your tank could easily thrive on a blackworm staple.

Bettas require space, despite how they are sold in various stores. While there's no minimum, and certainly it may live in that small of a space, you'd need to be changing the water daily at a minimum, probably twice a day. Are you using tap water? If so, are you treating it with something to remove the Chlorine/Chloramines? Fish ailments are hard to diagnose, but a fish in a bowl like that will NEVER be healthy.

An ideal male Betta tank would be, at a minimum, 5gallons, with some kind of filter (minor water movement, Bettas don't like much current), with lots of hiding places, water maintained at 80-82 deg F, and frequent water changes with treated water. Also, I highly recommend the Hikari Betta pellets. I feed my Betta 2-3 pellets in the morning, and 2-3 in the evening. Do NOT overfeed, particularly when in a small container!

Looks like he has plants. A nice set of aquascaping tools?

Maybe some high-end fish food, like NLS or Repashy?

Spirulina 20 is great, my fish eat it right up.

Here's a really good review and ingredient analysis.

Found it on Amazon. By the picture it's definitely grams, not gallons.

Regardless, I want to know what's up with the original price haha.

He has a 55 gallon long with a fairly high waterlevel 3/4 tank filled. The filtration has been giving me some trouble lately -- it's an emperor 400 w/ biowheel (the impeller started giving me trouble last wednesday, only moving a fraction of the water it was before, but that doesn't fit the timeline of the issue). Foam basking dock, water temp is fluctuating between 76 - 79 in the day to night cycle.

I use the big rubbermaid basket in the picture as a feeding tub, filled with aquarium water.

His diet before I got him was 1-2 shrimp and about a tablespoon of turtlefood 5 times a week. That seemed like a lot to me.

I'm cutting that way back to a teaspoon of turtlefood every 4 days with treats once a week. I leave dried cranberries in his main tank for 2 days at a time, but that's part of his diet inspection. And I plan on doing a once a week calcium supplement, since this guy seems to be packing on 5-15% more new grown than what the literature says I should be expecting.

I'm considering switching him to goldfish since I'm so worried about his shell growth, but realistically I won't be able to tolerate that for more than a few months. Messy eaters.

The aquarium lights are special but I don't know their spec. Nor do I know the spec of the heating lamp. I know the previous owner was well aware of the lighting requirements, I'll try to get that info as soon as possible.

It is a 75 gallon tank. The LED light in the middle is this: BloomBoss PANEL Enhanced Spectrum 32 Watt LED Grow Light https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C31JM1M/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_4uhlub1S9G7BT every two weeks I add 1 teaspoon of chelated iron. (I mix it in a cup of water, I just don't dump powder in the tank) once a month I add 1 table spoon of Epsom salt. This is my magnesium supplement. I also dissolve that in a cup of water before I dump it in. The fish food is: AquaOrganic Aquaponics Fish Feed 5lbs https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A7CPFWE/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_nzhlub0ESWTYP and yes my friend, they will be eaten once to size. I also have two other tanks with tilapia and getting one more for breeding. Between those and my large outdoor Aquaponics system I'm working on, I should have a nice rotation of tilapia for the family.

Thanks for the reply! I'm afraid of under/over feeding them. If I bought something like these or these, how would you suggest I feed my 5 shrimp?

Break up the wafer and feed them a small piece every day or every other day?

White, stringy poop is usually an indicator of some sort of intestinal disease. Here is a link that lists symptoms and the recommended treatment.

In your case, due to the bloating and white, stringy feces, my best guess is Hexamita (see bottom of the link). The fish needs to ingest the medication so it goes through the gut. Hex Shield pellets (the smaller, 1mm size) might be a good option. If the betta doesn't go for it, try crushing the pellet with its normal food and see if that works.

I switched to hikari for about 2-3 weeks now. i've noticed a change in their color. i talked to some friends and they also recommend supplementing spirulina and new life spectrum ultrared. i've noticed the colors pop when i went to hikari and even more so once i supplemented spirulina. just thought i'd pass that along.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003I5QRDS?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00

http://www.amazon.com/New-Life-Spectrum-UltraRED-Enhancer/dp/B00B4FTME0

You want to feed a food that has a first ingredient of some type of meat. Some excellent foods are:

• New Life Spectrum
  
  
• Hikari Biogold
  
  
• Repashy

I personally started with mosquito fish and a few koi. I originally had an issue with mosquitos because the water had been sitting a while before I got my system going. I buy this organic food off of Amazon. While the fish were young and after I got some tilapia fry I crushed up the pellets. Now when I feed them they go crazy almost jumping out of the water.

I'm still really new to aquaponics but I would like to eventually do duckweed as well. Unfortunately since this is my first time I have nothing to compare it to but it's organic and easy to obtain.

Edit: fixed link

im using RO water and then adding salty shrimp gh/kh+ so am hoping am getting the right amount of minerals in the water. before I was using a mixture of dechlorinated tap and RO and added some cuttlebone for extra calcium. i left the cuttlebone in there when i switched to remineralised RO water.

so as far food is concerned, if I have bacterae, SL-Aqua MORE Baby Shrimp Food, Hikari Tropical Algae Wafers, what would you recommend I feed them on a weekly basis? I could prob get some blanched veg as well

I was gonna say don't, but it's only $8 and actually has decent reviews (but many are "good deal for the price" reviews).

I assume Bettas only...

Make sure to feed it something like this sometime, http://www.amazon.com/Tetra-ReptoMin-Sticks-Reptile-10-5-Ounce/dp/B00025640S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398191071&sr=8-1&keywords=reptomin+floating+food+sticks

they are not clear but here are the photos of the turtle

top view

front right

back view

and here is the picture of the enclosure

enclosure

thermometer/barometer. It looks like it is 82 degrees and low 50's humidity

dried up food

I use this heat/UVB mercury vapor lamp. I bought it two weeks ago and it blew out yesterday

I feed him this turtle food.

I give his water on a standard glass plate. I change it every day and every other day I drop the turtle pellets in the plate so he can eat it on his own.

Every other day or every other two days I put this liquid vitamin drop in his water dish. I put generous amounts

NLS is a good one. Omega One is not too bad.

The title says it all. I was feeling guilty after reading this post from /u/Jadis4742 and decided to upgrade Oscar's little tank. He went from this to this and he's noticeably brighter in color, much more active, and his fins seem larger and perkier after just a week. It's a Fluval Chi 5 gallon with a heater, filter, and leaf hammock.

I feed him Zoo Med Gourmet Aquatic turtle Food
and iv tried Romaine and Lettuce he is on his 2nd day of not eating so I think Im going to try and just feed him Green pallets I Really wanted him to try and eat greens but he just refuses to touch them. I think I will try to give him a couple Pallets and mostly greens Thank you ~

You could try breaking them into quarters. Leftover foods can cause an ammonia spike. Noticeable in smaller tanks, less so in larger tanks.

I use Hakari sinking wafers and they're about a quarter the size of that one. They also don't last long and start to dissolve when they become water-logged. Snails take care of whatever my BN plecos don't.

So I have a 1 gallon jar with 10 Malaysian Trumpet Snails and three RCS.


Yesterday, I did a water change and fed a bit of small fry starter formula that I recently got.


I noticed today that there was a hint of algae growing on the walls (which wasn't there before yesterday) and tons of white 'bugs' crawling on the wall.



What are they, and what caused them to suddenly appear out of nowhere? They weren't there yesterday.


Also, are they harmful? If so, what should I do? More water change / shorter period of light?


I'm wondering if my shrimps will eat them..

Also for food, I use New Life Spectrum Cichlid Formula 1 mm sinking pellets. I get 250g at a time, and it usually lasts a couple months at least.

https://www.amazon.com/New-Life-Spectrum-Cichlid-Formula/dp/B0002E7IRW

The biggest problem illness-wise that Cichlids can get is what's called "Malawi Bloat". It causes their digestive systems to swell, and they usually die quickly. No one knows precisely what causes it, but poor quality food or overfeeding can be to blame. There are a number of other good foods that will work, but I've had this recommended to me by a number of big aquarium keepers as the best, and I've never had a single issue with my fish being sick. It's a bit hard to find though, so I usually just order in the mail. PetCo and Dr. Foster's and Smith both carry it. This formula also has ingredients in it that encourages brighter colors in cichlids.

He gets 5 pellets of this every morning.

He's been like this for about a month now.

Good point.

I just picked up some of these bug bites.. Haven't tried them yet, but they're insect based and don't have krill.

I've always wanted to try this product in this sort of scenario. Might be worth checking out.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000256DV8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apis_1505141004997

http://www.amazon.com/New-Life-Spectrum-Cichlid-Formula/dp/B0002E7IRW/ref=sr_1_3?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1426712984&sr=1-3&keywords=new+life+spectrum+cichlid+formula

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B071NMW1V3/ref=ya_aw_oh_bia_dp?ie=UTF8&psc=1

$25 item

$10 item

$5 item

I vote for two $10 items.

don't go talking too loud you'll cause a landslide, Mr. Jones

https://www.amazon.com/Fluval-A6586-Bottom-Feeder-Granules/dp/B071NMW1V3/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?keywords=fluval+bug+bites&qid=1550763884&s=gateway&sr=8-4

Hikari Bottomfeeder Wafers.

You can too, for under $10!

I feed these for my cories. They'd be too big for the betta to eat completely, but it may still be possible for him to take bites. You could also try burying the food in the sand a bit so only the cories can find them:

https://www.amazon.com/Hikari-Tropical-Sinking-Catfish-Loaches/dp/B00025JZAY

I second this. Nonetheless, I have encountered stock with stringy, possible parasite-caused poo and this product (fed for about a week) did the trick:
https://www.amazon.com/New-Life-Spectrum-Shield-Sinking/dp/B00RXQ5I3S

Cory's were added a couple months ago and the betta was mostly fine with them and not acting weird like he is now, so I don't think it's anything they brought into the tank.

However, now that I think about it I forgot that I did add some different food to the tank recently. I tried some smaller Hikari pellets for the betta because the rasboras can be like piranhas at times and would occasionally steal the bigger Zoo Med betta pellets I have which are WAY too big for them if the betta was slow on grabbing it.

Ugh... my memory is bad I completely forgot about the new food. I don't feed them any frozen food (sorry boys). On a regular basis it was usually just TetraMin Tropical Flakes for the rasboras, Zoo Med Betta pellets (2-3 pellets 2x daily), and Hikari sinking wafers for the Cory's. The Hikari Betta Bio-Gold pellets were the only recent experiment. If it's possibly from food, that would likely be the culprit.

What I added to the tank when I got the Cory's (Hikari Sinking Wafers): Amazon link

What I recently added within the past 2 weeks from Petco (Betta Bio-Gold Baby Pellets): Amazon link

I used to break it down and throw in the tank, but it got messy after a few days. I now use Seachem Prime Garlic Guard (link below). I use a dose syringe to place some drops on my Goldfish’s food. I also cut one garlic clove in half and throw it in the tank water to hover.



Seachem Garlic Guard 500-Ml https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000256DV8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_qn0xDb7SS3430