Fish Cannabalism? (Hikari Staple Baby Fish Food)

Member Name: wendybull

Product:	Hikari Staple Baby Fish Food
Date:	31/08/06 (578 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Floats so easy to monitor

Disadvantages: Stinks to high heaven!

When we decided to buy our son goldfish for Christmas, we ended up buying a very expensive aquarium for them to be housed in and when we unpacked it there was a packet of fish food inside the tank. We assumed that the makers of the aquarium, Reef One, recommended this particular brand of fish food for use in their tanks and we have used it ever since.

Hikari Staple Fish Food is meant to be for baby goldfish and Koi fry, although how old a goldfish is before it is classed as adult is anyone’s guess? We have been using this for nearly a year now and when I have finished the latest packet I will be swapping to the adult version of this brand – Hikari Staple Mini Fish Food.

Hikari Staple is a floating fish food. It is made up of very small grey pellets that float on top of the water. This is extremely helpful in determining how much to give your fish to eat. Hikari recommend feeding your fish 2 to 4 times a day, and only place as much as your fish will eat in a few minutes. This is where the floating food comes in handy. Until you are familiar with your fish’s feeding habits you can very easily scoop out any excess food not eaten, thus avoiding your fish overeating and in turn producing more ammonia levels than necessary, which could be dangerous for them.

This type of food is also good in terms of helping the bio-cycle of your tank. Basically it will not cloud the water or interfere with the way the filter system works in conjunction with the good bacteria, which fights and neutralises the ammonia levels in the water.

Apparently goldfish aren’t too keen on a good old-fashioned Satsuma, so the fact that Hikari is high in levels of stabilised vitamin C is probably a good thing. Vitamin C in fish will promote their immune systems against infectious diseases and also give them resistance to stress, which can be very beneficial if you need to clean the tank more frequently in the beginning. This food will not enhance the colour of your fish though, if this is something you are interested in. You can feed in conjunction with this, a food called Hikari Gold Baby Fish Food, which includes carotene, a colour enhancer. I found this to be a little intrusive on the goldfish’s natural look but I am no specialist and have read this is perfectly safe to use with my fish food.

We have fed our two goldfish this food every day since we got them nearly a year ago and they do seem to really enjoy it. I am pretty sure goldfish don’t have taste buds and maybe it is just as well because if those pellets taste anything like they smell…… well I can only say the cat goes wild for them when I open the plastic sachet as they really smell of fish. Strange as it is a fish food, almost like fish cannibalism! However due to the pop seal at the top of the bag it does effectively retain the smell once it is shut and the cat leaves the packet alone, thank goodness.

We had a little trouble finding it to buy after the original packet ran out, however I found a supplier on eBay, who has a proper aquatics shop and we buy regularly from him now at £2 per packet and no postage, which is a very good deal as other dealers on the net will sell them cheaper but postage is quite high. This is for a smallish packet but on average, feeding two goldfish twice a day every day, the packet will last approximately two weeks or so.

All in all, for happy fishes and frustrated cats I can:

RECOMMEND

Summary: Healthy food for young goldfish