New Life spectrum food?

[April]

anyone use new life spectrum food? curious..i was told its a great food .
so wondering whos tried it..and how the fish like it before i buy it. : )
they sell big buckets. mostly pellet food i believe.
http://www.cichlid-food-canada.com/article.html

[AmberC]

I do. I used it with my Africans first (I dont have the afry's anymore) and now I use the NLS Discus formula. The only one they had at my lfs tho was the super tiny pellets. My guys look at me like "What the heck" when I first drop it in.. but then they eat it up. They are sinking pellets and sink pretty quickly. Sometimes the discus dont like that so much.

[April]

they said the discus formula is the same as the cichlid food...and you can get it in bigger quantities. they said the discus one they only have in small containers.

[LizStreithorst]

That's good to know, April.

I've used it and like it, but I got hooked on these Salmon pellets from someone in Canada that I found on Aquabid.

[brewmaster15]

April,
Its one of the many foods I feed...I get all my discus to eat it.... Its a little tricky at first, especially with spoiled or picky eaters... and seems to me a bit messy when compared to tetrabits... but I like the nutrient list.. I feed the 1mm size pellets.



Jehmco sells the 5 lb pails as well.

hth,
al

[ed8t]

All my non-discus fish inhales the NLS food, the discus will eat it...took awhile though, had to mix it in with colorbits. It's dense so it sinks faster than other bits I'ved used.

The discus formula are 1 mm size. You can buy smaller quantities locally @ Big Al's. I can give you a sample to try the next time I'm in your neigbourhood...hopefully to pick up some fish :) , but that probably won't be until June though...

[Greg Richardson]

That's good to know, April.

I've used it and like it, but I got hooked on these Salmon pellets from someone in Canada that I found on Aquabid.


If you find a link to that please post it. TIA.

[traco]

I've got the "grow" pellets and the "community" pellets. They sink fast, my snails love it. The discus watch them sink to the bottom. The baby discus tank don't really like them that much either. But I still keep trying to feed it once in a while.

[traco]

anyone use new life spectrum food? curious..i was told its a great food .
so wondering whos tried it..and how the fish like it before i buy it. : )
they sell big buckets. mostly pellet food i believe.
http://www.cichlid-food-canada.com/article.html

Oooo, did someone get some new fish? Or just trying to figure out for fish you've already got?:D

[bz79]

NLS and Dainichi Color FX are the only things I feed my discus, they love both.

[April]

barb, new fish tomorrow. same source..different colours.
Ed i ordered little 2 inch ones for you..to grow out for you till june. if they turn out great..good shape..then cool. if not..well ill keep some or sell some. i got 5 alencers and 5 santarems.
i have jasons little ones in my tanks now also. so give me a im or call after june . maybe ill even have my own homegrowns by then. crossing fingers..my santarem has met a nice flachen girl at this point..rebel. :)
im thinking of ordering the new life spectrum for myself and reselling . but had to get feedback on discus people first..bc aquaria alot of people swear by it..but its hard to find.

[April]

heres from the company rep in canada. an explanation.
here are the formulas that I would recommend for Discus.

Discus Formula
Optimum Freshwater Flakes
TherA Formula (1mm sinking pellets)
Grow Formula (.35 mm sinking pellets)

The flakes are based on Krill, Herring, and Mussel, with a mega dose of garlic.
Protein 49%, crude fat 8%, and are hands down the highest quality flakes that you will find.
The TherA formula is 38% protein, and 7% fat, and also contain a mega dose of garlic, more than any other commercial food on the market. The pellet formulas are more nutrient dense than flakes, so for adult fish (no matter the species) I always recommend the pellets. The Growth formula is 50% protein, and 9% crude fat, and are very tiny pellets, and are designed for small fry right up to young juvies. If you start them out on this formula you will not only get great color & growth, but will also have a much easier time keeping your water quality in optimum condition. The Discus formula is much the same as the Cichlid formula, and are designed as a high quality maintenance formula for adults.

The key to this food is the high digestibility, so all of the ingredients are easily assimilated & utilized by the fish. In other words, no cheap grain fillers like many of the commercial foods currently on the market.

[LizStreithorst]

Greg, For some reason she no longer seems to be listing the Salmon pelletson Aquabid. When I contacted her I found out that she does have them in stock. Her user name on Aquabid is Regina111. She also sells excellent sponge filters.

[traco]

Okay, I brought out the NLS pellets again and will feed to the discus. It is much easier when you have a barebottom tank, the pellets sink and the discus can pick off the bottom. I found when I feed in my planted 90 gallon tank, the ones eating the pellets mostly are the trumpet and apple snails! Expensive food for snails.:D

[April]

good barb your fish can be my guinea pigs before i buy it. : )

[Kap]

My discus love NL Spectrum products. The 1 mm size works well. I use a combination of Cichlid Formula, Discus Formula,and TherA, which has garlic in it (anti-parasitic). Supplement with NL flakes now and then, too, which also has garlic (cannot remember the specific name of the product). The contents of the various foods seem very similar, except for the garlic. The size you want may determine what you get because not all formulae are available in all sizes, from what I can determine (or at least get from my suppliers). Unless you have alot of discus, 5 lbs. would last a long, long time! I buy smaller containers because I have just a few fish to feed. This may be more expensive, but I can get fresh product more frequently, though evidence indicates the stuff stays fresh a long time (pellets especially). JMHO.

[Greg Richardson]

Thanks Liz!

[poconogal]

I have the NLS Discus formula. Most of them ate it the first time, but my complaint is that they fall way to fast and lots of times the Discus watch it drop, like... wow, there goes another one! They will pick at the bottom, but since I do have some pebbles scattered, they can miss some and I don't like food sitting on the bottom. Tetra Colorbits, though, never, ever reach the bottom!

What I don't get is that on the nutrition label, it has a lower protein percentage listed, something like 38%? I always thought that Discus need a higher protein food, yet NLS is supposed to be excellent??? What's up with that, anyone know?

[RD.]

The protein percent on a label doesn't tell you anything about the quality of the protein, only the quantity of nitrogen. The value of protein is directly related to the amino acid content. It doesn't tell you how that protein was processed, or if it's even in a form that your fish can properly digest & utilize. As an example, feather meal is quite high in protein, but overall is generally poor in digestibility. A fish food label could state 50% protein, but if only 60% of that protein is in a form that's available to the fish, then suddenly that figure on the label becomes somewhat meaningless.

I shake my head when I see hobbyists on various forums discussing protein % on various labels, as though Food A with 45% protein is somehow superior to Food B that has 35% protein on the label. The only protein that truly counts, is the digestible protein (DP) as in the amount of protein that can be fully assimilated by your fish.

HTH

[April]

cool so what we would we look for when we are looking for digestible protein?
thats the way i heard it with dogs..shoe leather can be considered protein. but not digestible protein.

[RD.]

Raw ingredients such as various marine proteins like krill, herring, mussel, squid, etc that have complete amino acid profiles & are easily assimilated by most species of fish. What you don't want to see is large inclusion rates of numerous grains & grain-byproducts.

One thing that I pay close attention to in ALL fish foods is the amount of raw ingredients that are based on grains, grain by-products, and various other carbs/starch. All flakes & pellets require a binding agent such as wheat flour, and some fish will do better with a higher inclusion rate of plant matter, but other than to spare manufacture costs there's no need to use massive amounts of grain based products & by-products. Flakes are much more difficult to manufacture if a low inclusion rate of grain based binders are used, so I always allow a little more leeway with flakes, vs pellets.

In many aspects fish food is much like dog food, neither species are designed to eat large amounts of grain/starch, yet many pet food manufacturers use large inclusion rates of these ingredients as they provide a high percentage rate of protein, a low cost source of energy, and are generally far less costly than ingredients such as fish meal, krill meal, mussel meal, etc.

Take a close look at the ingredient lists of most of the supermarket dog food kibble & this should become rather clear. corn-corn-corn, wheat-wheat-wheat, and if you add all of those ingredients up as a TOTAL amount of corn, wheat, etc, they will usually weigh in at FAR more than what the manufacturer lists as the MAIN ingredient. (usually chicken, beef, lamb, etc)
Keep in mind that ingredients are listeded individually weight, not as a total sum of each type or form of ingredient.

The end result is more feed required to supply the same amount of growth, energy, repair, egg production etc, compared to a high quality food, and the less digestible foods produce far more waste. (just like with dogs) This is where the "sticker price" of Brand A compared to Brand B can be rather deceiving to the average consumer. Like most things in life, you usually get what you pay for.


I was in one of the LFS's today & had a close look at one of the so called Premium Algae Discs.


Here's what's listed by weight (in descending order) on the ingredients list;

Spirulina Algae Meal, Corn Gluten Feed, Corn Meal, Corn Distilled Dried Grains, Wheat Flour, Wheat Germ, Wheat Gluten, Wheat Middlings, Linseed Meal, Canola Meal, Dehulled Soybean Meal, Soy Protein Concentrate, Pea Protein, Brewer's Dried Yeast, Corn Flour, Rice Flour, Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal, Soy Protein Isolate, Ground Barley, Calcium Carbonate, Soybean Meal, etc .........

Keeping my previous comment in mind, guess what the true main ingredient is in this food?

I suspect that if one was to clump together the various grains as a single listing, it would read more like this;

Corn, Wheat, Spirulina, Vegetable Oil ........ with this food containing FAR more grain & grain by-products (corn & wheat), than anything else.



I wonder how well this product would sell if they had marketed it as Premium Corn Discs?

[RyanH]

My Discus will pick at it when hungry but aren't that crazy about it. My angels go insane for it.

I've gotten good growth rates in the past when I've fed it to juveniles along with beefheart.

[Ed13]

I buy the All purpose formual in the 5 lb bucket, I won't feed any other kind of processed food. There is nothing better as afar as I'm concerned. When I was introduced to it, the appeal was that at the time I was maitaining in my home two planted tanks, an African cichlid tank, a saltwater tank, an a SA and CA cichlid and catfish pond and I needed to find something I could feed to all of them and that ment a food that could be used for delicate herbivores as tropheus spec, Loricarids, and Tangs while also feeding Frontosas, Calvus, harlequin tusks etc, plus other omnivores

The improvement in color amd fry production from the African cichlids alone convince me, now if I need to feed something else to vary the diet or for someone that doesn't like it too much(unfurtunately the only two fishes that I've own that didn't eat it with gusto have been discus:( ) I make my own.