Aquatics 101 S1EP2 Selction& Preservation of Fish Feeds

Fish feed selection and preservation are important for the health of fish. Different fish have different protein needs, so it's important to research the diet of the fish you are keeping. Providing the correct ratio of animal and plant protein is crucial, as giving the wrong protein type can lead to weight loss, fatty liver, and immune system issues. Fish feed should contain fish meal for intestinal health, and herbivore fish can also have soy meal. The feed should clearly label the content of vitamins A, C, D, and E. Fat percentage varies for carnivore and herbivore feeds, and too much fat can cause health issues. Protein percentage should be adjusted based on the fish's growth stage, with lower amounts needed as the fish grows. Proper storage is also important, as fish feed can oxidize and lose its nutritional value. It is recommended to throw away old feed after 2-3 months, or divide it into smaller portions and store in the refrigerator. When using refrigerated feed, Hey guys, welcome back to Aquatics 101. Today we are going to talk about how to select and preserve fish feed. Let's start off by explaining why a good and appropriate feed is essential. Fish consumes food from various sources in the wild, varying from crustaceans, algae, smaller fish, insects, bacteria, etc. Manufactured fish feed is basically the sum of all the nutrition that the fish needs. However, different fish have different needs for protein. Although most fish are omnivores, they still have proclivity for a plant-based diet or meat-based diet. For common herbivore fish includes like plecos, goldfish, and cichlid, and carnivores include tetras, cordoras, channas, and arowanas. They're still omnivores, but just tend to eat more of that in the wild. We'll have to select corresponding feed with the proper protein type for the fish. So when we're selecting fish feed, we'll first have to do some research about the diet of our fish that we're currently keeping. We can do that simply by typing in the name of the fish online and find out. If we fail to provide the correct ratio of animal and plant protein in the feeds, the fish will have an extremely hard time digesting it. For example, if we give a carnivore fish a lot of plant protein, it will lose weight significantly and eventually dies. As for herbivore fish, it usually doesn't die if you provide it with a lot of animal protein, but instead it will be suffering from fatty liver and the immune system issues that come along with it. In both cases, the fish will have a worse immune system and sometimes incorrect body development like a bended spine or the scale might fall off. So after we make sure that the protein type is proper for our fish, we'll have to check the ingredients as a part of the feed. A basic fish feed should always contain fish meal, which is the powder of fish remains, and usually we should be able to see that in the ingredients parts of the fish feed. Fish meal has been scientifically proven to maintain the fish's intestinal health. Therefore, if you don't see fish meal in the ingredients, just skip that one and look for other fish feed. This even applies to herbivore fish as well, just that the portion of fish meal in all the protein may be less than carnivore feeds. For herbivore fish, soy meal is often on the label and is totally fine for your fish even though in some rare cases, soy meal may be a factor attributing to digesting problems, but you don't have to worry about that since there's not much other option than soy meal on the market. If you're keeping a carnivore fish like arowanas, or chanas, etc, and soy meal is the very first ingredient on the list, discard that feed immediately, because usually the sequence on the ingredient list indicates the portion that it possesses in a feed. Also, choose the one which labeled clearly what kind of protein it uses instead of using vague words like animal protein or plant protein. Well, as we said earlier, choosing correct protein resource is essential for the fish. Then to vitamins, the fish feed should always label out the content of vitamin A, C, D and E. Usually, vitamin A will be labeled as international units, which is IU, and vitamin C and vitamin E will usually be labeled with mg. The portions would vary depending on the brand, but it usually doesn't affect your fish health that much as long as you preserve it correctly. And to the fat percentage of the feed, carnivore feeds usually have a higher fat percentage ranging from 8-10%, and herbivore ones may range from 3-6%. While fat is extremely important for the absorption of the fish of lipid soluble vitamins such as vitamin A, D, E and K, but high levels of protein often cause fatty liver for fish, so if you don't have much experience in keeping a fish, I would recommend you to choose the feeds with lower fat, since once a fish is overweight, it usually comes along with a whole lot of health issues. Then on to protein percentage, there is kind of like an urban myth that the higher protein percentage, the better the feed is. However, the fact is that except for fish fry, fish usually does not need a lot of protein. The more protein you give, the heavier the burden its liver will have to bear, which is why we could often see herbivore fish like goldfish or carp or plecos resulting in overweight and fatty liver. It's because their diet in the wild is mostly algae and veggies, which usually has a protein percentage less than 30%. As your fish grow, the less protein it needs. For a fish fry, 40-50% would be a decent amount of protein, but for sub-adult and adult herbivore fish, slightly above 30% would be adequate, and for carnivore ones would be around 35-40%. So basic principle is that as long as your fish is not a fry, a lower amount of protein could avoid you a lot of problems, because it could prevent overweight and some immune system problems. It's actually pretty hard to have your fish to have malnutrition in protein if you are feeding your fish with manufactured tablets and stuff. So don't worry about the protein levels. So the basic principle for feed selection is the ratio of plant and animal protein is more important than the percentage of the protein, and definitely pay attention to the source of the protein. As the fish grows, the less protein it needs. Then we'll talk about the storage, how to preserve the fish feed. Basically, if you haven't finished the fish feed in 2-3 months, I would recommend you to simply just throw it away and buy a new one, because once you open it, the unsaturated lipid acid in the feed will start oxidizing. But instead of oxidizing itself, the vitamin C in the fish feed, as an extremely strong antioxidant, will take the hit first, and slowly degrading as the time passed. The level of vitamin C will approximate to zero in about 2 months, and then the oxidation will go on to other antioxidants like vitamin A and etc. Whilst vitamin C is crucial for the fish's survival like the synthesis of collagen, neutralizing free radicals, boosting immune system and coloration, the oxidation process will accelerate if the feed is placed under sunlight like the UVA, UVC or heat, or moist and other factor. So when acquiring fish feed, if you're only keeping a small amount of fish, just buy the smallest package that you can find and renew it every 2-3 months, if financially plausible. But if you actually think it may be a kind of a waste, just divide the package into smaller portions that you can use up within 2 months, and then put each of them inside a zip bag, and then put it into the refrigerator. Remember to squeeze all the air out before putting it into the refrigerator, so it will limit the oxidation process. And the key part is that, this is extremely important, the key part is that when you're using the feed from the refrigerator, remember to let it sit back to room temperature before opening the zip bag, or else the moist would slide in into the feed the instant you open the bag, and the feed would spoil in about like maybe 1-2 days. And this is a tip I give to every of my customers when they only keep a small fish tank or a small amount of fish that they couldn't use up the fish feed within 2 months. So this is the end of the second episode regarding to the selection and preservation of fish feed. If you have any questions or thoughts, welcome to comment below. And thanks guys, wish you all have a great journey on keeping fish.