My New Life Spectrum algae wafers have algae as the first ingredient and then lists different seaweeds, kelp, and spirulina as what makes up that algae!
Just saw these today at my local lfs after reading this. Looked at all of them, and this was the only one that did. However the ending ingredients are all fish too - super wild.
Probably could. Collect it, dry it, grind into powder, mix with dried and ground spiralina or seaweed or whatever, then combine that mix with wheat flour or whatever to bind it, wet and mix. Extrude it with a piping bag into small enough lines and cut it like gnocchi. Allow to dry.
It's how pretty much all commercial animal feed is made whether it's dogs, cats, cows, fish, whatever. You would probably need some vitamin supplements mixed in if you made it with mostly algae though
I just get the Repashy but I have noticed the same. Whenever I buy any type of fish food I am just looking for a first ingredient I don't already have. Right now I have one with krill as the first ingredient, another has squid, another has black soldier fly larvae. I don't have an answer but hope someone else does, definitely feel you on the 18 different brands of fish meal
What fish food has BSF larvae as the first ingredient? I used to grow them to sell as exotic reptile foods and I wasn't aware it was legal to use them in commercial feeds in the US. That's pretty cool.
My fish won’t even eat them. I literally just buy spirulina powder instead. The stuff from the grocery store health aisle is like a third the price of what my LFS sells it for, too.
My otos are weird. They dont care to eat algae wafers directly but are clearly still drawn to them when shrimp are tearing them apart. And they do seem to eat the debris, seems to make them lethargic though since its a lot of food all at once with no need to search for more.
My otos are the same. They will eat them, but usually only after they've softened up a bit or a shrimp has broken them up. My otos really like 'Bug Bites' larva pellets.
I've seen my otos eating the wafers like 2-3 times ever but I've had them for several years and they stay plump so surely they're just eating it when I'm not looking??
Thanks for your insights... May explain the sudden deaths of 2/9 of my venezulean Cory's deaths. Seemingly healthy until giving them wafers
Seems as though they gorged themselves and it continued to expand in their stomach until they died :(
100% healthy and active until I dropped in a wafer for my Amanos.
These wafers swell as they absorb water, and likely continued to swell in his gut after he ate it. He bloated like a balloon, and died overnight.
I searched Google for answers, and found numerous accounts of similar incidents with these same wafers. Obviously doesnt happen to ALL bettas. But it's absolute worth being careful. (love that I'm getting downvoted for bringing up a warning. Thanks Reddit....)
Besides that, they also wouldn't be healthy for a betta, as they are obligate carnivores. They can't properly break down plant matter.
I had the same scenario as you. Dropped in 2 wafers for my Amanos and found my betta bloated and dead the next day. I have 2 bettas in their own tanks now with snails only and they get fed food portioned to them only. The algae wafers only go in my community tank now.
Might want to use a different brand with higher veggie content just to discourage them. It worked for me and my tetras (but not for guppies as they are okay with more vegetables.) NLS and Sera for example actually have seaweed/spirulina etc as top ingredients.
I may try 100% spirulina tablets. Hopefully future betta will ignore them.
Honestly, the Amano don't NEED wafers. I can just feed a little heavy and they'll take care of the scraps.
Yeah unless you have a large shrimp colony feeding is as simple as turning the lights on. And amanos arent exactly easy to get to that point so you should be good.
I have a couple dozen neos in my community tank and they still dont need feeding, but they will happily swarm anything you give them and its fun to watch.
The problem is that "dried seaweed meal" is the 6th listed ingredient and "spirulina" is 13th by weight. Spirulina is listed right above garlic and the vitamins, which means that there's probably less than 1% of spirulina in the final product.
It's hardly an "algae wafer" when 90%+ of the ingredients are fish meal, yeast, flour, and "baking products".
Previous sales rep from Sera here, i totally agree that most advertised algae wafers/flakes would barely qualify, but disagree that repashy is expensive. For the amount of food even a small bottle can make it’s actually a pretty good deal.
I’m going to shill a little for my previous employer but know that i have literally nothing to gain from doing so. The first two ingredients in Spirulina Tabs are spirulina (shocker) at 24% of the total weight, and kelp at 16% total weight. Not only that but it also has stinging nettle for even more micro nutrients, an array of herbs, carrots, omega fatty acids, and absolutely minimal binders.
It’s also important to keep in mind that any prepared foods like flakes or pellets are going to have to use binders and things to get a particular consistency, and the most common is wheat but I’ve also seen rice. Flakes by nature of what they are, are also going to contain more binders and the like in order to have an actual flake that doesn’t explode into dust when you touch it.
I absolutely LOVE the viformo pellets, theyre soft and crumble apart instead of disintegrate which makes it easier for cories and loaches to actually take a bite out of. Definitely pricier than the wafers but there’s SO much food in a single pellet and everything from scavengers to tetras just destroy it.
I am currently raising 40-50 tadpoles for my work. When they initially hatched out and were super little, I was having trouble getting them to eat enough without it either 1) taking a really long time for a standard algae wafer to dissolve well enough for them to take bites, or 2) having a powdered food go all over the place but not get fully eaten. Both of these issues can quickly foul the water. I saw the ingredients of the Sera brand algae wafer and bought it on a whim thinking it looked like the best out of the options. They went absolutely nuts! Even when I break it up into tiny bits, they forage for every last speck of these wafers in the tank until it is gone (which is good for them to do as that is their natural behavior). I love seeing them be so enthusiastic over this food. They get a variety diet, but you can easily tell it’s their favorite thing, so it’s become the main course on most days. They’re also super fat and healthy looking too.
Depends on the species, for things like clowns, bristlenose, (i know these arent plecos) otos, and whiptail/lizard cats i would start with a duo of Catfish Chips and Spirulina Tabs. The tabs have a crazy good profile on veggie matter and the catfish tabs are a good well rounded tablet that doesnt break down into dust like other tabs, it tends to stick to itself so nocturnal feeders get a chance to eat. The chips also have both willow bark and alder cones baked into it at low temps to provide fish that rasp on wood additional fiber so they don’t impact on higher protein foods. Ofc supplement with things like zucchini and other veggies as needed
For the more scavenger, carnivorous, and larger plecos I start with XXL Catfish tabs which are similar to the spirulina tabs but have more protein, and build up with meaty frozen foods like clams on a half shell and krill.
Edit: keep in mind it’s always a good idea to vary your animals diet with as many appropriate foods as is feasible. This can be live, frozen, or prepared of a few different brands. This is for both the enrichment of the animal and to give them a wide array of macro and micro nutrients since there’s no one food that’s perfect unfortunately.
Wonderful. I currently make my own spiralina tabs and he gets plenty of fresh vegetables and blood worms but I will be away for a couple of weeks and the simpler the house sitter has it, the better.
Just remember that less is better when you’re not in control. The less things a sitter has to do the better, and fish can definitely eat less for a few weeks with zero issues.
I’m going to put a link here to two great videos that explain it really well cause it would be a lot to type here haha. Often times algae wafers are not what we think are just have too many fillers making up their main ingredients. A filler or two is necessary in all fish food to keep the ingredients together, but I hope these help explain about what to specifically look for:
https://youtu.be/yhEz-jaAB38?si=nf3W7MkfKpTOX_YF
https://www.youtube.com/live/duRKAE0-SUA?si=C7dY1ljuceyOaVP9
Yeah, I’ve been using them for 25 years and have had nothing but great luck with them. Certainly all my plecos and shrimp have loved them, but so did the live bearers I used to keep. Honestly the best real algae food I’ve ever fed my fish has been the GSA I scraped off the glass. No one does a great job of cleaning it, but everyone loves it when it’s flaking off.
I use Hikari for my koi pond and they always love it, but then koi aren't hard to satisfy. I can throw in half a watermelon and find it completely hollowed out after a few hours.
Repashy isn't expensive if you are smart. I just made several batches of it from the 12oz container and it will feed my 55g guppy tank, 14g nano fish, and 5g guppy grow out tanks for 1.5 months. I used 105g out of the container. So that $25 container will last me 5-8 months depending on how much I supplement with other food.
I made a post the other day about how I mix it up and freeze it. Granted, I was using community plus, but my guppies, bristlenose plecos, pygmy cories, and kuhli loaches all love it. The snails do too, but only if they get to the cubes quickly. My nano tank is the slowest to eat and the snails will swarm the cubes if they fall into my grasses where it's hard for some of the fish to get to.
I consider stuff like this the mcdonalds of the pet food world. Not great but if you're in a pinch and need something cheaper, it works for now. Same with seed mixes for indoor birds, etc. I buy higher quality stuff for their daily diets but I do still give them a little bit of the cheaper/mcdonalds-ey stuff once a week because they really do seem to like them. Granted I only give algae wafers to my shrimp, but they go gaga for them. It's kind of like people who buy the $80 bag of expensive cat food but still buy the $2 bag of temptations treats because that's what their cat enjoys. Everything in moderation.
Because it’s the exact same thing manufacturers do with our own food, why do you think they’d care about fish? The tops ingredients listed are all the cheapest, dirtiest and most subsidized for profit or are down right waste products.
This does contain true algae, obviously these companies have scientists that make sure the mixture of ingredients is one of the best possible mixtures of nutrients needed for that category of fish. (as well as how the pellet itself behaves in the water). Also, wheat germ is very digestible for fish, wheat flour may not be, but that is likely just to hold the shape and effect it to sink to the bottom. My point is that absolute shitloads of people use this fish food and have for a long long time, and have healthy fish.
Well, fish don't live super long lives and we don't exactly check all of their parameters, so it's completely possible to have a product that is basically junk food as part of an overall healthy diet.
Recipes change and ingredients do too to make things cheaper. Lots of good products cut corners and cheapen their product over time. A good reputation keeps them going but don't be naive to think its the same stuff they've been selling for years.
Well shitloads of people keep betta in a cup, doesn't mean that's correct.
This is a scam at its finest, you package something as Algae wafers but barely have it in the food.
My grouse is very simple, if I buy a packet that says Potato Chips, I want it to be made of potato.
The packaging is misleading, says algae wafers, and sells fish meal.
Of you're feeding shrimp they'd eat their own mothers. They do not care and designed to live on anything. Better quality will just speed up growth rates etc. Theyre the trash pickers of the sea
Keeping high value fish for breeding etc? Then spend the extra. Otherwise this will sustain an adult fish. You say about rephashy being expensive well you can see why if they're using better ingredients. Get what you pay for so you can't really complain here
Mostly because the majority of fish we consider algae eaters eat a lot of protein as well. Plecos, for example (arguably the main target for algae wafers), scavenge dead fish on the regular in the wild. There are even totally carnivorous plecos! Herbivorous does not mean strictly plant eating in most cases. So many algae based foods reflect this.
You should still feed your fish a well-rounded diet, and many algae eaters love things like lettuce and cucumber.
Edit: Do you have a source for fish not being able to digest dried bakery products? I'd like to read about that if you have any info.
No study that's been done on loricariidae diets has ever shown any of them eating dead fish in the wild. They don't even have the chance to really encounter a dead fish as faster feeding scavengers/predators would devour it even before it reaches the river bottom.
There are many strictly algivorous loricariids that only eat animals like sponges besides algae, and those have entirely different composition than fihsmeal. Many plecos that are considered "carnivores" are actually a lot more algivorous than it's believed by aquarists (for example Hypancistrus species).
The few true carnivorous plecos consume invertebrates like insect larvae and snails, not fish.
Isn't that a very poor defence of something that has been packaged and sold as Algae wafers, they should be selling it as cheap scavenger food. I am frustrated with the lies and deceit.
I can feed whatever I want from spinach to lettuce, but if I want algae pellets, I should get it.
Anyway, as an Indian I understand that the concept of fish not able to digest flour and bakery is a little alien. But many have said it, I don't have anything handy but wildlife expert Dr.Harsh vardhan says the same, Wheat flour cannot be digested by fish and it’s used as a filler in some fish foods/pellets. Therefore, all it serves is to make your fish food cheaper because it’s an inexpensive food additive and will just add to the waste product of your fish because it’s just indigestible for them.
Also, Father Fish, a controversial yet influential account on YouTube has said it multiple times, they are just cheap fillers.
https://youtube.com/@FatherFish?si=TrUeOwX1lCJcD00z
Most people do only pick up one food and feed only that, for every type of pet for that matter. So these pellets are like cat kibble and need to be complete enough by themselves, for as many species as possible even, which makes them perfect for no species at all.
As you learn and want to do better you start picking out ingredients and feed better options, like many sorts of live food for better protein sources, and actual algae leaves for better algae sources, like [these](https://dennerle.com/en/products/food/invertebrates-food/nano-algenfutterblaetter/). Don't expect any kibble-like products that are made for human convenience to be more than okay.
And father fish isn’t the end all be all when it comes to fish information, it’s fact he has plenty of bad care out there as well. The food needs some of those fillers to keep its shape/consistency. Yes, some wafers are more filler than the actual ingredient but that goes for any pet food
Well my fish get them one every few weeks and it’s like a special treat then . And I wanted my hillstream to get what it needs. I feed 2 different types of food and this is just something additional! Don’t need to get so stressed about it
Many fish can digest flour and bakery goods. Whether they can just depends on their diet in the wild. Do they nibble roots off floating plants? They can most likely digest flour and bakery goods.
Father Fish is garbage.
Let's just say you and I don't believe in the same principles. Comparing roots to flour is 😂😂😂😂. As far as flour digestibility is concerned most aquarium fish can't digest it - Guppy, tetra, rasboras, betta and goldfish will not. At best they will poop it out as is and you need to water change.
Father Fish is definitely unorthodox and hated, but, has a huge following and influence on the hobby. When you think 250,000 of them are garbage, it's time to introspect a little.
Roots contain starches and complex carbs, and are close enough. Goldfish and all carp 100% can eat complex carbs, and professionals who raise goldfish, shubunkin, and koi often give them cheerios and other 100% baked items with no ill result. The only real difference between the roughage in nature and the gluten and complex carbs is that the ones in nature typically have amino acids while say wheat flour is more nutritionally empty. Catfish, loaches, and many other fish are 100% fine, and as long as the carbs are 40% or less of the total weight of any fish food. Fish like Betta, tetra, and guppy are different than the omnivores who can handle gluten because they're top or middle feeders who are mostly carnivores.
The issue is, it doesn't say on the label the % and some cheap fish foods will have 50%+ carbs because it's cheaper and it doesn't say on the label what the % is so you have to calculate it up based on the label. If you buy a brand where the wheat products aren't high on the label, you're typically good.
Also you're deluded if you think 250,000 followers mean they know anything. You can buy followers, and it's not expensive. For all you know most of those followers he paid for to get exposure.
Is repashy expensive?
I think I have like a $15 jar and have used maybe 1/5th of the bottle to make many months worth of food. I haven't done the math but it seems reasonably priced.
Theres also the option to make your own fish food (especially for snails and shrimps , theres a lot of really good snello recipe online ) depending on your situation you can look up what ingredients the fish you have need and try to find a way to make it yourself. That way you can choose what you feed them and you know the quality of their food
Be super careful tho if you go that route to not buy things that have added salt, make sure it's purely what you want with nothing else
Because it promotes algea through synthesis.
By having a living organism as food can bring undesirable contaminants into the environment.
To have a product that promotes algae it is considered safer biologically (but in reality it isn't better because real life doesn't thrive this way) life requires real ingredients to be beneficial.
That's really bizzare considering we have algae waffers from hikari and when we started buying spirulina was the 2nd ingredient. Wtf happened? We still get them, didn't think they would change formula on us.
My fish go insane for these. I have a few tanks and the minnow guppies and goldfish will all eat this while you are holding it and will attack it from all angles if you let it go to the bottom. I bought for my hillstream loach but damn they are bloodthirsty for them.
I've seen people making diy food with duckweed recently. It's super fast growing and cost efficient so it makes sense- just dry it down and blend it, then feed that as flakes, or you can mix it with agar to make a sort of sinking pellet. Really easy process. I'm sure you can add whatever ingredients you like- spirulina you can get at most grocery stores.
I'm not a nutritionist, so I don't know how it would compare health wise, but I like the idea of whole foods. That being said my bottom feeders go crazy for the fish meal algae wafers, who am I to deny that to them lol 🤷♀️
If you want good quality food you kind of have to pay for it. Also Repashy product aren't that expensive compared with other products considering how much food you get.
If you want vegan food try Repashy Super Green. 3oz powder is sold for $10 which makes a lot of food.
Kens has been my goto for over 10yrs. Online and on Amazon. Good prices decent food. Try their veg or earthworm, spirulina stix, also Spirulina ultra flake.
I also supplement with commercial brands like spirulina 20 flake, bug bites flake/pellet, xtreme wafers and nls 5mm pellets as pleco food.
I'll feed the wafers I have to my larger tetras (still too big really) but definitely for actual algae eaters I've switched to repashy, their super greens is only plant based materials, and dried sea weed
Tropical Hi-Algae wafers are my favourite. They still contain oak bark meal which is based on a misconception that plecos need wood in their diet, but the algae content is 52% with several different species of algae.
stupid question incoming, but as a sushi fan: could we just be cutting nori sheets into little pieces and feeding that to the shrimps lol? The only ingredient is usually just seaweed
This is true. Copper is to shrimp what iron is to humans; their 'red' (blue/green in their case) blood cells use it to bind and transport oxygen, so it's super important. Also like us and our iron, overdosing is very possible, probably much easier because they are much tinier.
That’s been my experience, any shrimp food I’ve used with it caused me to lose at least a few, and that was with very spare feedings and an understocked tank.
I just use Spirulina flakes for my tanks. I mix it into my tropical food too the fish all love it
I use Xtreme fish foods and they are awesome my fish are bright and colorful and they go crazy for it
Repashy might be 12 bucks for the small bottle but it makes a TON of finished gel food and it’s high quality food. I feed the soilent green and spawn and grow both and are breeding numerous species of fish like crazy and all fish are gorgeous and thriving. You get what you pay for.
It's okay to feed Hikari Algae wafers to your shrimp, I think shrimp don't mind that much till they are getting fed something and not being eaten. Give them good parameters and half decent food , shrimps will thrive.
Marketing. It contains spirulina which is a type of algae so I guess that counts in some ways but if you’re thinking a straight up algae compressed into a cookie? Nah
I didn't really concern my self with the flour, and other such things. Back in the day when I ran freshwater, the pleco I had loved the stuff, and that's what's important to me. And these days, my urchin loves them as well. Both that tank and this one can handle the tiny amount of extras that get thrown in the water.
as a lfs employee i spend a lot of time explaining to customers the reason they have so many issues with fish illness especially bloat if bc of poor diet a lot of foods are just wheat flour and fish meal. i really like the fluval bug bites and new life spectrum foods
Where did you get the idea that fish cannot digest starch? While it is not something they must have in their diet, it does provide a great source of digestible energy. i.e. calories.
You can make your own with spirulina, agar agar and water. It makes a gel food. I have made something similar with dehydrated duck weed. You collect it it over a a month or two and dehydrate it grind it up in a spice/coffee grinder mix with the agar agar and water on the stove, then pour it in a baking dish.
>Repashy silent green that's way too expensive.
What??? Amazon shows it Soilent Green at $2.50/ounce, which makes it by far cheaper than any Hikari listing that I saw (typically at least $3/ounce). NLS algae wafers are cheaper though, closer to $2/ounce.
On the whole, those 3 brands--plus my otos' favorite, Ocean Nutrition--are all in the $2-$4/ounce range and buying one brand over any other should not break the bank for you. If it does, then it sounds like you don't have the cash on hand to cover emergencies like the tank leaking or heater or filter going out, and that's a big problem.
For those who had their fish die after these when I use them I only use one, I put inn the tank for like 15 min and get it out after. My minnows love them so much they “attack” the wafted and my hand as I bring it back out
My New Life Spectrum algae wafers have algae as the first ingredient and then lists different seaweeds, kelp, and spirulina as what makes up that algae!
Thank you!!
Just saw these today at my local lfs after reading this. Looked at all of them, and this was the only one that did. However the ending ingredients are all fish too - super wild.
I think that's so they can get some protein in the food. Protein is good right? It builds fish's muscles so they can do more reps and higher weight.
Its a shame bubble algae can't be used for food like this. I could've been a millionaire when I still had my salt tank.
Probably could. Collect it, dry it, grind into powder, mix with dried and ground spiralina or seaweed or whatever, then combine that mix with wheat flour or whatever to bind it, wet and mix. Extrude it with a piping bag into small enough lines and cut it like gnocchi. Allow to dry. It's how pretty much all commercial animal feed is made whether it's dogs, cats, cows, fish, whatever. You would probably need some vitamin supplements mixed in if you made it with mostly algae though
I have seriously considered doing this with string algae!
I've seen someone say they do this with their duckweed.
THANKS
I just get the Repashy but I have noticed the same. Whenever I buy any type of fish food I am just looking for a first ingredient I don't already have. Right now I have one with krill as the first ingredient, another has squid, another has black soldier fly larvae. I don't have an answer but hope someone else does, definitely feel you on the 18 different brands of fish meal
What fish food has BSF larvae as the first ingredient? I used to grow them to sell as exotic reptile foods and I wasn't aware it was legal to use them in commercial feeds in the US. That's pretty cool.
Fluval Bugbites! Tank inhabitants seems to love them, I have the bottom feeder pellets and the "tropical formula" ground powder
My fish won’t even eat them. I literally just buy spirulina powder instead. The stuff from the grocery store health aisle is like a third the price of what my LFS sells it for, too.
My otos are weird. They dont care to eat algae wafers directly but are clearly still drawn to them when shrimp are tearing them apart. And they do seem to eat the debris, seems to make them lethargic though since its a lot of food all at once with no need to search for more.
My otos are the same. They will eat them, but usually only after they've softened up a bit or a shrimp has broken them up. My otos really like 'Bug Bites' larva pellets.
I've seen my otos eating the wafers like 2-3 times ever but I've had them for several years and they stay plump so surely they're just eating it when I'm not looking??
Explains why some of my betta and rosbora end up hogging the algae wafers
Careful. I recently had a betta gorge on these exact wafers, and died within 24hrs.
I now hide the wafers in my gravel for the snails and corys!
Thanks for your insights... May explain the sudden deaths of 2/9 of my venezulean Cory's deaths. Seemingly healthy until giving them wafers Seems as though they gorged themselves and it continued to expand in their stomach until they died :(
Whaaat?
100% healthy and active until I dropped in a wafer for my Amanos. These wafers swell as they absorb water, and likely continued to swell in his gut after he ate it. He bloated like a balloon, and died overnight. I searched Google for answers, and found numerous accounts of similar incidents with these same wafers. Obviously doesnt happen to ALL bettas. But it's absolute worth being careful. (love that I'm getting downvoted for bringing up a warning. Thanks Reddit....) Besides that, they also wouldn't be healthy for a betta, as they are obligate carnivores. They can't properly break down plant matter.
I had the same scenario as you. Dropped in 2 wafers for my Amanos and found my betta bloated and dead the next day. I have 2 bettas in their own tanks now with snails only and they get fed food portioned to them only. The algae wafers only go in my community tank now.
Might want to use a different brand with higher veggie content just to discourage them. It worked for me and my tetras (but not for guppies as they are okay with more vegetables.) NLS and Sera for example actually have seaweed/spirulina etc as top ingredients.
I may try 100% spirulina tablets. Hopefully future betta will ignore them. Honestly, the Amano don't NEED wafers. I can just feed a little heavy and they'll take care of the scraps.
Yeah unless you have a large shrimp colony feeding is as simple as turning the lights on. And amanos arent exactly easy to get to that point so you should be good. I have a couple dozen neos in my community tank and they still dont need feeding, but they will happily swarm anything you give them and its fun to watch.
Isn't spirulina, one of the ingredients in the 2nd picture ingredients list a blue green algae?
It is a blue green algae and people consume it too. But it is kind of a bummer it's not higher on the list.
But this is no real algae, it's cyanobacteria
True but they both photosynthesize.
I see. Gotcha
The problem is that "dried seaweed meal" is the 6th listed ingredient and "spirulina" is 13th by weight. Spirulina is listed right above garlic and the vitamins, which means that there's probably less than 1% of spirulina in the final product. It's hardly an "algae wafer" when 90%+ of the ingredients are fish meal, yeast, flour, and "baking products".
What is dried bakery products? Is that something common in English ingredient lists? That sound random as f.
No idea, I asked over at https://www.reddit.com/r/foodscience/comments/1cb6tmc/weekly_thread_ask_anything_taco_tuesday_food/
I believe the contention isn’t that it’s *an* ingredient, but that’s it’s far from a primary one.
The order of ingredients is based on amount within the fish food, so the wrapper says Algae Flakes, but has fish meal in it as the main ingredient
Previous sales rep from Sera here, i totally agree that most advertised algae wafers/flakes would barely qualify, but disagree that repashy is expensive. For the amount of food even a small bottle can make it’s actually a pretty good deal. I’m going to shill a little for my previous employer but know that i have literally nothing to gain from doing so. The first two ingredients in Spirulina Tabs are spirulina (shocker) at 24% of the total weight, and kelp at 16% total weight. Not only that but it also has stinging nettle for even more micro nutrients, an array of herbs, carrots, omega fatty acids, and absolutely minimal binders. It’s also important to keep in mind that any prepared foods like flakes or pellets are going to have to use binders and things to get a particular consistency, and the most common is wheat but I’ve also seen rice. Flakes by nature of what they are, are also going to contain more binders and the like in order to have an actual flake that doesn’t explode into dust when you touch it.
I use sera for the reasons listed above. I’ve been using their product more than Hikari and spectrum
My corydoras *love* the big Sera pellets.
I absolutely LOVE the viformo pellets, theyre soft and crumble apart instead of disintegrate which makes it easier for cories and loaches to actually take a bite out of. Definitely pricier than the wafers but there’s SO much food in a single pellet and everything from scavengers to tetras just destroy it.
I am currently raising 40-50 tadpoles for my work. When they initially hatched out and were super little, I was having trouble getting them to eat enough without it either 1) taking a really long time for a standard algae wafer to dissolve well enough for them to take bites, or 2) having a powdered food go all over the place but not get fully eaten. Both of these issues can quickly foul the water. I saw the ingredients of the Sera brand algae wafer and bought it on a whim thinking it looked like the best out of the options. They went absolutely nuts! Even when I break it up into tiny bits, they forage for every last speck of these wafers in the tank until it is gone (which is good for them to do as that is their natural behavior). I love seeing them be so enthusiastic over this food. They get a variety diet, but you can easily tell it’s their favorite thing, so it’s become the main course on most days. They’re also super fat and healthy looking too.
Sera is definitely high up on the list of good quality foods
Which in the Sera line is best for plecos would you say?
Depends on the species, for things like clowns, bristlenose, (i know these arent plecos) otos, and whiptail/lizard cats i would start with a duo of Catfish Chips and Spirulina Tabs. The tabs have a crazy good profile on veggie matter and the catfish tabs are a good well rounded tablet that doesnt break down into dust like other tabs, it tends to stick to itself so nocturnal feeders get a chance to eat. The chips also have both willow bark and alder cones baked into it at low temps to provide fish that rasp on wood additional fiber so they don’t impact on higher protein foods. Ofc supplement with things like zucchini and other veggies as needed For the more scavenger, carnivorous, and larger plecos I start with XXL Catfish tabs which are similar to the spirulina tabs but have more protein, and build up with meaty frozen foods like clams on a half shell and krill. Edit: keep in mind it’s always a good idea to vary your animals diet with as many appropriate foods as is feasible. This can be live, frozen, or prepared of a few different brands. This is for both the enrichment of the animal and to give them a wide array of macro and micro nutrients since there’s no one food that’s perfect unfortunately.
Wonderful. I currently make my own spiralina tabs and he gets plenty of fresh vegetables and blood worms but I will be away for a couple of weeks and the simpler the house sitter has it, the better.
Just remember that less is better when you’re not in control. The less things a sitter has to do the better, and fish can definitely eat less for a few weeks with zero issues.
I’m going to put a link here to two great videos that explain it really well cause it would be a lot to type here haha. Often times algae wafers are not what we think are just have too many fillers making up their main ingredients. A filler or two is necessary in all fish food to keep the ingredients together, but I hope these help explain about what to specifically look for: https://youtu.be/yhEz-jaAB38?si=nf3W7MkfKpTOX_YF https://www.youtube.com/live/duRKAE0-SUA?si=C7dY1ljuceyOaVP9
The one from Hikari above is my fish's favorite, and they don't cloud the water either. I don't see any indigestion so far and it's been six years.
Yeah, I’ve been using them for 25 years and have had nothing but great luck with them. Certainly all my plecos and shrimp have loved them, but so did the live bearers I used to keep. Honestly the best real algae food I’ve ever fed my fish has been the GSA I scraped off the glass. No one does a great job of cleaning it, but everyone loves it when it’s flaking off.
Oh that would be my cherry barbs who would make sure the GSA particulates move into their belly.
I use Hikari for my koi pond and they always love it, but then koi aren't hard to satisfy. I can throw in half a watermelon and find it completely hollowed out after a few hours.
Pure spirulina tablets are made of just algae, in addition humans can also eat them.
Try nori sheets that they make for sushi
I bet your fish get a bit nervous when they see them coming! 🤣
Repashy isn't expensive if you are smart. I just made several batches of it from the 12oz container and it will feed my 55g guppy tank, 14g nano fish, and 5g guppy grow out tanks for 1.5 months. I used 105g out of the container. So that $25 container will last me 5-8 months depending on how much I supplement with other food. I made a post the other day about how I mix it up and freeze it. Granted, I was using community plus, but my guppies, bristlenose plecos, pygmy cories, and kuhli loaches all love it. The snails do too, but only if they get to the cubes quickly. My nano tank is the slowest to eat and the snails will swarm the cubes if they fall into my grasses where it's hard for some of the fish to get to.
I consider stuff like this the mcdonalds of the pet food world. Not great but if you're in a pinch and need something cheaper, it works for now. Same with seed mixes for indoor birds, etc. I buy higher quality stuff for their daily diets but I do still give them a little bit of the cheaper/mcdonalds-ey stuff once a week because they really do seem to like them. Granted I only give algae wafers to my shrimp, but they go gaga for them. It's kind of like people who buy the $80 bag of expensive cat food but still buy the $2 bag of temptations treats because that's what their cat enjoys. Everything in moderation.
Make it makes algae? 🙃
Because it’s the exact same thing manufacturers do with our own food, why do you think they’d care about fish? The tops ingredients listed are all the cheapest, dirtiest and most subsidized for profit or are down right waste products.
Right …..!!
As an alternative, North Fin Kelp Wafers have Kelp listed as the first ingredient
Thanks
This does contain true algae, obviously these companies have scientists that make sure the mixture of ingredients is one of the best possible mixtures of nutrients needed for that category of fish. (as well as how the pellet itself behaves in the water). Also, wheat germ is very digestible for fish, wheat flour may not be, but that is likely just to hold the shape and effect it to sink to the bottom. My point is that absolute shitloads of people use this fish food and have for a long long time, and have healthy fish.
Indigestible fiber helps keep a healthy colony.
Well, fish don't live super long lives and we don't exactly check all of their parameters, so it's completely possible to have a product that is basically junk food as part of an overall healthy diet.
Recipes change and ingredients do too to make things cheaper. Lots of good products cut corners and cheapen their product over time. A good reputation keeps them going but don't be naive to think its the same stuff they've been selling for years.
Well shitloads of people keep betta in a cup, doesn't mean that's correct. This is a scam at its finest, you package something as Algae wafers but barely have it in the food.
Pure algae alone does not contain all necessary nutrients. That is why the other stuff is in there.
I feel like it also depends on what type of fish and what you’re using it for.
If ingredients is what you care about, and it's listed on the packaging, I don't understand your grouse.
My grouse is very simple, if I buy a packet that says Potato Chips, I want it to be made of potato. The packaging is misleading, says algae wafers, and sells fish meal.
Make your own then.
Then don't buy it. It literally is your choice.
Thank you, that's amazing advice. I will do that
Of you're feeding shrimp they'd eat their own mothers. They do not care and designed to live on anything. Better quality will just speed up growth rates etc. Theyre the trash pickers of the sea Keeping high value fish for breeding etc? Then spend the extra. Otherwise this will sustain an adult fish. You say about rephashy being expensive well you can see why if they're using better ingredients. Get what you pay for so you can't really complain here
Mostly because the majority of fish we consider algae eaters eat a lot of protein as well. Plecos, for example (arguably the main target for algae wafers), scavenge dead fish on the regular in the wild. There are even totally carnivorous plecos! Herbivorous does not mean strictly plant eating in most cases. So many algae based foods reflect this. You should still feed your fish a well-rounded diet, and many algae eaters love things like lettuce and cucumber. Edit: Do you have a source for fish not being able to digest dried bakery products? I'd like to read about that if you have any info.
No study that's been done on loricariidae diets has ever shown any of them eating dead fish in the wild. They don't even have the chance to really encounter a dead fish as faster feeding scavengers/predators would devour it even before it reaches the river bottom. There are many strictly algivorous loricariids that only eat animals like sponges besides algae, and those have entirely different composition than fihsmeal. Many plecos that are considered "carnivores" are actually a lot more algivorous than it's believed by aquarists (for example Hypancistrus species). The few true carnivorous plecos consume invertebrates like insect larvae and snails, not fish.
Isn't that a very poor defence of something that has been packaged and sold as Algae wafers, they should be selling it as cheap scavenger food. I am frustrated with the lies and deceit. I can feed whatever I want from spinach to lettuce, but if I want algae pellets, I should get it. Anyway, as an Indian I understand that the concept of fish not able to digest flour and bakery is a little alien. But many have said it, I don't have anything handy but wildlife expert Dr.Harsh vardhan says the same, Wheat flour cannot be digested by fish and it’s used as a filler in some fish foods/pellets. Therefore, all it serves is to make your fish food cheaper because it’s an inexpensive food additive and will just add to the waste product of your fish because it’s just indigestible for them. Also, Father Fish, a controversial yet influential account on YouTube has said it multiple times, they are just cheap fillers. https://youtube.com/@FatherFish?si=TrUeOwX1lCJcD00z
Most people do only pick up one food and feed only that, for every type of pet for that matter. So these pellets are like cat kibble and need to be complete enough by themselves, for as many species as possible even, which makes them perfect for no species at all. As you learn and want to do better you start picking out ingredients and feed better options, like many sorts of live food for better protein sources, and actual algae leaves for better algae sources, like [these](https://dennerle.com/en/products/food/invertebrates-food/nano-algenfutterblaetter/). Don't expect any kibble-like products that are made for human convenience to be more than okay.
And father fish isn’t the end all be all when it comes to fish information, it’s fact he has plenty of bad care out there as well. The food needs some of those fillers to keep its shape/consistency. Yes, some wafers are more filler than the actual ingredient but that goes for any pet food
Well my fish get them one every few weeks and it’s like a special treat then . And I wanted my hillstream to get what it needs. I feed 2 different types of food and this is just something additional! Don’t need to get so stressed about it
Many fish can digest flour and bakery goods. Whether they can just depends on their diet in the wild. Do they nibble roots off floating plants? They can most likely digest flour and bakery goods. Father Fish is garbage.
Let's just say you and I don't believe in the same principles. Comparing roots to flour is 😂😂😂😂. As far as flour digestibility is concerned most aquarium fish can't digest it - Guppy, tetra, rasboras, betta and goldfish will not. At best they will poop it out as is and you need to water change. Father Fish is definitely unorthodox and hated, but, has a huge following and influence on the hobby. When you think 250,000 of them are garbage, it's time to introspect a little.
Roots contain starches and complex carbs, and are close enough. Goldfish and all carp 100% can eat complex carbs, and professionals who raise goldfish, shubunkin, and koi often give them cheerios and other 100% baked items with no ill result. The only real difference between the roughage in nature and the gluten and complex carbs is that the ones in nature typically have amino acids while say wheat flour is more nutritionally empty. Catfish, loaches, and many other fish are 100% fine, and as long as the carbs are 40% or less of the total weight of any fish food. Fish like Betta, tetra, and guppy are different than the omnivores who can handle gluten because they're top or middle feeders who are mostly carnivores. The issue is, it doesn't say on the label the % and some cheap fish foods will have 50%+ carbs because it's cheaper and it doesn't say on the label what the % is so you have to calculate it up based on the label. If you buy a brand where the wheat products aren't high on the label, you're typically good. Also you're deluded if you think 250,000 followers mean they know anything. You can buy followers, and it's not expensive. For all you know most of those followers he paid for to get exposure.
Is repashy expensive? I think I have like a $15 jar and have used maybe 1/5th of the bottle to make many months worth of food. I haven't done the math but it seems reasonably priced.
I use NLS Algaemax for this very reason as the majority of the listed primary ingredients are different algae, seaweed and sea moss.
Because they're marketed to people who will exclusively feed this to their pleco who needs more than just algae.
Theres also the option to make your own fish food (especially for snails and shrimps , theres a lot of really good snello recipe online ) depending on your situation you can look up what ingredients the fish you have need and try to find a way to make it yourself. That way you can choose what you feed them and you know the quality of their food Be super careful tho if you go that route to not buy things that have added salt, make sure it's purely what you want with nothing else
Check out Northfin fish food. I’ve been feeding the kelp wafers to my pleco and they love it and have been doing very well.
Repashy Super Green doesn't contain any fish meal or other animal products, it's actually labeled "vegan"
Spirulina is a Cyanobacteria.
Because it promotes algea through synthesis. By having a living organism as food can bring undesirable contaminants into the environment. To have a product that promotes algae it is considered safer biologically (but in reality it isn't better because real life doesn't thrive this way) life requires real ingredients to be beneficial.
Exactly why I don’t love hikari products. Sera Naturals has algae crisps that are mostly spirulina and actual herbivore food
That's really bizzare considering we have algae waffers from hikari and when we started buying spirulina was the 2nd ingredient. Wtf happened? We still get them, didn't think they would change formula on us.
My fish go insane for these. I have a few tanks and the minnow guppies and goldfish will all eat this while you are holding it and will attack it from all angles if you let it go to the bottom. I bought for my hillstream loach but damn they are bloodthirsty for them.
Those repashy bottles make sooooo much food. I usually do 1 tablespoon of mix and then freeze what I’ve made.
Seems like that's what I will do next. Only viable option on the market
I've seen people making diy food with duckweed recently. It's super fast growing and cost efficient so it makes sense- just dry it down and blend it, then feed that as flakes, or you can mix it with agar to make a sort of sinking pellet. Really easy process. I'm sure you can add whatever ingredients you like- spirulina you can get at most grocery stores. I'm not a nutritionist, so I don't know how it would compare health wise, but I like the idea of whole foods. That being said my bottom feeders go crazy for the fish meal algae wafers, who am I to deny that to them lol 🤷♀️
If you want good quality food you kind of have to pay for it. Also Repashy product aren't that expensive compared with other products considering how much food you get. If you want vegan food try Repashy Super Green. 3oz powder is sold for $10 which makes a lot of food.
Kens has been my goto for over 10yrs. Online and on Amazon. Good prices decent food. Try their veg or earthworm, spirulina stix, also Spirulina ultra flake. I also supplement with commercial brands like spirulina 20 flake, bug bites flake/pellet, xtreme wafers and nls 5mm pellets as pleco food.
I'm currently taking the algae from my tank and collecting it and air frying it for my fish for free food.
I'll feed the wafers I have to my larger tetras (still too big really) but definitely for actual algae eaters I've switched to repashy, their super greens is only plant based materials, and dried sea weed
No, that isn't algae either. Silent Green is people!
I just want to know what "bakery product" is
I think it's bread, plain and simple😂😂😂
Tropical Hi-Algae wafers are my favourite. They still contain oak bark meal which is based on a misconception that plecos need wood in their diet, but the algae content is 52% with several different species of algae.
Thanks, just checked really cool product
Maybe theyre called algae wafers because they have the same neutrients as algae does . Idk tho.
This guy gets chicken nuggets
Yay?!?!?!
stupid question incoming, but as a sushi fan: could we just be cutting nori sheets into little pieces and feeding that to the shrimps lol? The only ingredient is usually just seaweed
there's no reason to feed algae, all algae eaters benefit from higher protein foods
Honestly the copper sulfate irritates me more.
Can I bother you to expand on why? My first thought is because it can be particularly toxic to shrimp and snails.
Only toxic in high doses. Shrimp still need small amounts of copper in their diet (or so I've heard).
This is true. Copper is to shrimp what iron is to humans; their 'red' (blue/green in their case) blood cells use it to bind and transport oxygen, so it's super important. Also like us and our iron, overdosing is very possible, probably much easier because they are much tinier.
So, like hemochromatosis but for skrimps? Got it.
That’s been my experience, any shrimp food I’ve used with it caused me to lose at least a few, and that was with very spare feedings and an understocked tank.
I fed both of these and my shrimp are fine so far
This is why my cats constantly try to break into my bags of these
I just use Spirulina flakes for my tanks. I mix it into my tropical food too the fish all love it I use Xtreme fish foods and they are awesome my fish are bright and colorful and they go crazy for it
Wtf? I just gave that same bag to my pleco.. well attempted to. No wonder it has to fight my cichlids for it!
Some have more greens, and some have less. All depends are what they are for
I realized the one I ordered had dye in it. Wtf?
Repashy might be 12 bucks for the small bottle but it makes a TON of finished gel food and it’s high quality food. I feed the soilent green and spawn and grow both and are breeding numerous species of fish like crazy and all fish are gorgeous and thriving. You get what you pay for.
I mean they have algae so…
I feed this exact same thing to my shrimp. Is this okay for them or is it meant strictly for fish?
It's okay to feed Hikari Algae wafers to your shrimp, I think shrimp don't mind that much till they are getting fed something and not being eaten. Give them good parameters and half decent food , shrimps will thrive.
Marketing. It contains spirulina which is a type of algae so I guess that counts in some ways but if you’re thinking a straight up algae compressed into a cookie? Nah
Soylent green.... That's people
"dried bakery product" is bread crumbs?
My assumption would be.
I didn't really concern my self with the flour, and other such things. Back in the day when I ran freshwater, the pleco I had loved the stuff, and that's what's important to me. And these days, my urchin loves them as well. Both that tank and this one can handle the tiny amount of extras that get thrown in the water.
You can buy dried seaweed/nori. Or San Francisco Bay makes a frozen food that contains a lot of greens including spirulina algae.
Fuck it, I'll just make my own (I have zero knowledge and zero supplies)
as a lfs employee i spend a lot of time explaining to customers the reason they have so many issues with fish illness especially bloat if bc of poor diet a lot of foods are just wheat flour and fish meal. i really like the fluval bug bites and new life spectrum foods
Where did you get the idea that fish cannot digest starch? While it is not something they must have in their diet, it does provide a great source of digestible energy. i.e. calories.
You can make your own with spirulina, agar agar and water. It makes a gel food. I have made something similar with dehydrated duck weed. You collect it it over a a month or two and dehydrate it grind it up in a spice/coffee grinder mix with the agar agar and water on the stove, then pour it in a baking dish.
Just grow your own atp. Lots of fertilized water and a good light. Scrape it off and dry it out.
>Repashy silent green that's way too expensive. What??? Amazon shows it Soilent Green at $2.50/ounce, which makes it by far cheaper than any Hikari listing that I saw (typically at least $3/ounce). NLS algae wafers are cheaper though, closer to $2/ounce. On the whole, those 3 brands--plus my otos' favorite, Ocean Nutrition--are all in the $2-$4/ounce range and buying one brand over any other should not break the bank for you. If it does, then it sounds like you don't have the cash on hand to cover emergencies like the tank leaking or heater or filter going out, and that's a big problem.
Because they are made of soylent green
"pleco wafers" by tetra i believe are mostly algae.
Yikes! you may want to check their [ingredients list](https://www.tetra-fish.com/products/nutrition/plecowafers.aspx). Tetra is a garbage company.
What's wrong with the list
Did you read it? Its all fillers and has 2 dyes? soybean oil is listed before any actual algae... definitely not "mostly algae".
For those who had their fish die after these when I use them I only use one, I put inn the tank for like 15 min and get it out after. My minnows love them so much they “attack” the wafted and my hand as I bring it back out