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Tetra Tabimin
by broxi3781
As I have a fondness for bottom dwellers - in the aquarium that is, I look for types of food that sink as well as the traditional floating foods. This is meant to give the bottom feeders a fair shot at feeding time.
One of the foods I have tried was Tetra Tabimin. This is advertised as a complete food for bottom dwelling fish ... and claims to be biologically balanced for health colour and vitality. But on the same page that Tetra advertises this food as complete - it suggests feeding other foods for variety. I have to agree with the latter statement and would not use any single food without any additions for variety.
The advantage to this food is that it sinks, which is ideal for bottom feeders. Unfortunately this is the only advantage I can think of really, except that it is not messy to feed and does not stink as much as most fish foods.
The main disadvantage in my opinion is that most of my fish do not seem to like this and it just stays at the bottom until it dissolves and mucks up the water. Occasionally the plecto would eat a bit (and they usually eat anything) but as often as not it would just sit. You can actually see bits dissolving and clouding the water.
I have to admit being surprised at the ingredients list, which includes milk. I suppose fish will eat all sorts of things, but milk just seemed odd to me. I really can not say if this is why the fish did not eat it, but this is the only fish food I have bought that ended up in the bin. Uneaten food quickly dirties the water in a tank. I suppose if I were willing to with hold other foods long enough the fish would end up eating this, but I really do not see the point.
I found this a disappointing product from Tetra as I usually find their foods to be a very good quality. Maybe it is just my fish that do not like this, but with the variety of fish I have, I would have to think something would eat it. So for a fish food that my fish will not eat, and that quickly clouds the water, this product is only getting one star because dooyoo does not offer the option of no stars.
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Tetra Pro Colour
by broxi3781
If you look closely at the pictures on this tub of fish food, it certainly seems to enhance the colouration of fish. In all honesty I think the colours are more the result of computer enhancement of the photo than of the food, but this is another food will help bring out the best natural colouration in your fish due to having plenty of ... carotenoids.
Tetra Pro Colour is also a good balanced food and a good choice for the main part of your fishes diet. It is, considered a complete diet but I personally do not consider any flake a complete diet and think it is always best to add some other foods into the mix. However I would say this and frozen bloodworm would make a perfectly adequate diet for most fish.
Although I have used this food in the past, I am currently using just the ordinary, non colour enhancing flake. I can not honestly say I saw any difference in my fishes colouration using this, but then I have been feeding a good mix of foods anyway. For those wanting to limit their foods to only one or two types, I would have no problem recommending this. As with other tetra flakes, these do not dissolve as quickly as other foods, giving the fish time to eat them before they start mucking up your water. I have also noticed some hard flakes that do not get eaten get a cheaper mix. They remind me of nothing so much as cardboard, but Tetra has none of these.
I am taking one star of my rating for this as it is more expensive than ordinary flake, and not available in the big tubs I prefer to buy, at least not where I shop. I do think the colour claims are exaggerated a bit, but I do think this will bring out the colours a bit more than plain flake. I would recommend this for a small tank with fish like neons, rams, swordtails and fighters.
Once again I would like to point out that colour feeding brightens existing colours. It does not make fish fluorescent purple, hot pink or neon green. If you see fish with these intense colours it is caused by dying, a cruel and unhealthy practice - please do not encourage this by buying them.
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Tropical Cichlid Red & Green Sticks
by broxi3781
Although this food says for cichlids, I have found many types of fish will enjoy these. In particular, it is one of the very few I have ever seen my talking catfish eat.
These look very much like rabbit food pellets, except you get red ones as well as green. The green is very high in algae, which is a major part of the ... natural diet of many fish and very beneficial to their digestive process. This also contains a very good natural source of vitamin c which is meant to help keep the fishes immune system healthy. The red sticks are high in meat proteins and natural pigments which help bring out a fishes natural colours. I would really recommend these for anyone who has albino or white fish that they would like to give a pink hue to. Again I am not suggesting artificially colouring fish, only offering a varied diet that includes foods to enhance natural colour.
As you can see this food is meant for cichlids, but I have found aquarium frogs quite like the red sticks as well. I have also known my talking catfish to eat a few, and of course my plecostomus loves them. I also use these for parrot fish ( which are a type of cichlid, an unknown cichlid who came from a friends tank, and silver dollars.I especially like giving these to my clown loach as I think it helps bring out his bright orange colouration. Because the stick is fairly big, this food is not suitable for very small fish, like neons, but if allowed to sink to the floor, corydoras love it, as do kuhli loaches.
If you keep large tropical fish, give these a try, I do think most fish will enjoy them. I recommend these as a supplement though, not a complete diet. I personally believe that offering a wide variety of food stuffs most closely mimics the natural diet of most fish. I also tend to think a large variety provides a safety net, in that if one food is lacking in some substance, hopefully another will provide it. A wide variety also reduces the risks of environmental contaminants as no one substance provides the fished entire diet, so if one does carry anything harmful (such as mercury in fish meal) it will be more diluted. Finally, I just think that fish in tanks have little excitement in their lives beyond feeding time. I can not help but think that mixing it up makes it more enjoyable.
I am giving these five stars as I they contribute to a healthy varied diet for my fish, and I think the fish enjoy the change of pace.
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