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Post by jedicat on Mar 13, 2004 19:13:26 GMT -5
When it comes to frozen try to get the Hikari Bio-Pure line of any frozen food that you wish to feed to your bettas (brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, bloodworms or daphnia) It is far superior to San Francisco Brand. Hikari employs a process to eliminate parasites and other probs. I can't say enough about how great their line is. Have you had problems with parasites after feeding San Francisco Brand frozen foods? I feed my guys their frozen mosquito larvae, and haven't had problems with it thus far. I would be interested in knowing....if it comes down to it, I'll switch over. |
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Post by starlight on Mar 13, 2004 23:37:38 GMT -5
Have you had problems with parasites after feeding San Francisco Brand frozen foods? I feed my guys their frozen mosquito larvae, and haven't had problems with it thus far. I would be interested in knowing....if it comes down to it, I'll switch over. I fed SFB for about six months with absolutely no problems. I fed the bloodworms as you do. Then one day I was telling a betta friend about what I was feeding my guys. He asked me what color the SFB bloodworms were and I said brown. The Hikari's are bright red. If you looked at them side by side there's no comparison which one is better. Hikari BW are individual BW's, SFB is more of a mush. This is from the Hikari label...3 Step Sterilization...Odor free, parasite free, no harmful bacteria. I get the Hikari Frozen line at Petco. The SFB is more readily available. If you can't get Hikari, the SFB should be fine. If you can try Hikari, I think you'll see the difference. The Hikari line is relatively new and I've tried most of it. The Bloodworms, Mysis Shrimp, Brine shrimp are excellent products and imo far superior to any other frozen food that I've fed. If you feed frozen be sure to try it. I can't say enough about their frozen products. |
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Post by unoriginalNemo on Mar 13, 2004 23:42:38 GMT -5
I have a question about these different frozen foods, are they a regular diet thing or just treats? I thought bloodworms, brine shrimp, etc... are supposedly too rich to feed as a regular diet (and also cause constipation if fed too often?). Also what is the difference nutritionally and healthwise between frozen and freeze dried?
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Post by starlight on Mar 14, 2004 0:27:40 GMT -5
I have a question about these different frozen foods, are they a regular diet thing or just treats? I thought bloodworms, brine shrimp, etc... are supposedly too rich to feed as a regular diet (and also cause constipation if fed too often?). Also what is the difference nutritionally and healthwise between frozen and freeze dried? ======================================== unoriginalNemo...they are fed as a regular diet, not a treat. I feed pellets as a "treat". Please see my diet, posted in this thread. My bettas are first and foremost my pets, I try to breed and show them. They are Halfmoon bettas. Some are from Thailand and others are from top show stock. Think about it for a minute. In the wild bettas eat mosquito larvae, worms and insects that fall into their ponds. This is why bettas have upturned mouths. No one roams the rice paddies dropping Betta Bites, Bio-Gold or flake food (yuck!!) into the water. Bettas have lived successfully for many years eating this way. Their upturned mouths attest to this. I've asked Thai breeders what they feed, it's mostly larvae. |
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Post by jedicat on Mar 19, 2004 14:42:51 GMT -5
He asked me what color the SFB bloodworms were and I said brown. The Hikari's are bright red. If you looked at them side by side there's no comparison which one is better. Hikari BW are individual BW's, SFB is more of a mush. This is from the Hikari label...3 Step Sterilization...Odor free, parasite free, no harmful bacteria. I get the Hikari Frozen line at Petco. The SFB is more readily available. If you can't get Hikari, the SFB should be fine. If you can try Hikari, I think you'll see the difference. Hrm...I think this could be related to something my fish-guru was telling me about. He said that some live and frozen foods are mislabelled, and sometimes intentionally. Like how tubifex worms are sometimes sold under different names, because they have such a bad reputation. Tubifex are brown, so it's possible that the SFB "bloodworms" are actually tubifex. Good to know, and I will definitely check out the Hikari frozen bloodworms, if I get a chance. I avoid the PetCo around here like the plague, because of serious animal abuse issues, and not only with their bettas. They keep ferrets cooped up in a tiny space with woodshavings, don't seperate their mice by sex, and rarely if ever have anyone working in the fish department. |
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Post by starlight on Mar 19, 2004 16:09:15 GMT -5
"...I avoid the PetCo around here like the plague, because of serious animal abuse issues, and not only with their bettas. They keep ferrets cooped up in a tiny space with woodshavings, don't seperate their mice by sex, and rarely if ever have anyone working in the fish department."
Petco has their share of problems, that's for sure. I've read about the horror stories but the Petcos that I'm familiar with are fine. My only observations with Petco is with 3 stores in NY. Their bettas are well-cared for and their other animals are nicely kept. One Petco has an very nice adoption area for cats. (I used to breed/show Persian cats and I'm very sensitive to how cats are cared for.)
I love looking at their bettas. They usually have 75-100 (in tiny cups but in perfect condition). I don't know how they do this. It must be since they don't stick around very long. Sometimes I'll stop in just to look at the bettas.
Jedicat, do your bettas a big favor. I don't know any other place that carries Hikari frozen. Walk into local Petco, do not look at ferrets or mice. Head straight to the freezer. Pick up frozen bloodworms, brine shrimp, mysis shrimp or daphnia. I haven't tried the daphnia, I'm not sure that my bettas need it. I feed fd daphnia the few times a year that I need it.
Walk out of store and don't look back! Within a month your bettas' condition will thank you.
ps. before Hikari frozen was recommended, I had a full stock of SFB in the freezer. One look at the Hikari product and I knew I'd never feed SF again. I kept it in the freezer hoping to give it to someone but didn't get the chance. I don't like throwing stuff out but eventually that's what I did.
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Post by ACKislander on Mar 19, 2004 17:10:31 GMT -5
SFB is actually pretty good. Hikari has a phenomenal reputation because they put our a great product, but SFB also puts their foods through the same process (as far as I've read) and should be just fine to feed fishies. There are other questionable brands out there, but both SFB and Hikari should be just fine to feed your bettas.
Tubifex worms do have a bad rep, but their not all bad. You just want to stay away from live Tubifex because they harbor parasites and bacteria. If you buy them frozen from a reputable manufacturer, they should be ok. Or at least I haven't heard otherwise yet.
The difference nutritionally between frozen and freeze-dried are minimal. I'm not sure if freeze-dried contain ash which you find in pellet food. I'll have to look into that. The difference in moisture content is what makes frozen far superior to freeze-dried. It's the low moisture content in freeze-dried and pellet foods that cause most of the digestive problems.
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spiff
Junior Bubble Nester
Posts: 228
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Post by spiff on Mar 19, 2004 18:43:01 GMT -5
Tubifex worms do have a bad rep, but their not all bad. You just want to stay away from live Tubifex because they harbor parasites and bacteria. If you buy them frozen from a reputable manufacturer, they should be ok. Or at least I haven't heard otherwise yet. Are FD tubifex worms okay? |
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Post by jedicat on Mar 19, 2004 19:51:43 GMT -5
starlight: Which PetCo's in NY? The ones I've been to are in Staten Island and Hartsdale (Westchester county.) I don't think the Hartsdale one will even let me in the store anymore because of all the complaints I've filed. They see me coming and go, ack, that's the troublemaker! The moral of the story is, I'm actively boycotting them. But I do go to other stores, and I'll keep my eyes open for the Hikari brand. I'll probably call the store I usually go to and see if they have it, or if they don't, if they can special-order it.
spiff: I feed Wardley's fd tubifex regularly to my boys, and I haven't had any problems. They come in cubes and are made for large tanks with schools of middle-feeding fish, but I scrape off the corners and soak them before feeding. I don't want to say that fd tubifex are definitively ok, but I've had good experiences with them.
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Post by starlight on Mar 27, 2004 21:40:00 GMT -5
starlight: Which PetCo's in NY? The ones I've been to are in Staten Island and Hartsdale (Westchester county.) I don't think the Hartsdale one will even let me in the store anymore because of all the complaints I've filed. They see me coming and go, ack, that's the troublemaker! The moral of the story is, I'm actively boycotting them. But I do go to other stores, and I'll keep my eyes open for the Hikari brand. I'll probably call the store I usually go to and see if they have it, or if they don't, if they can special-order it. spiff: I feed Wardley's fd tubifex regularly to my boys, and I haven't had any problems. They come in cubes and are made for large tanks with schools of middle-feeding fish, but I scrape off the corners and soak them before feeding. I don't want to say that fd tubifex are definitively ok, but I've had good experiences with them. Jedicat, the Petco's that I mentioned as being good: One is on Union Square in Manhattan. It's a two level super-store and was the first Petco that I've seen. The other is in Mineola on Jericho Turnpike. All their animals, including the mammals are in exc condition. They have a nice cat adoption area as well. I bought some Hikari Frozen Daphnia tonight from the Mineola store. They have the complete line of Hikari frozen. |
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Post by starlight on Mar 28, 2004 14:31:20 GMT -5
Jedicat, the Petco's that I mentioned as being good: One is on Union Square at 860 Broadway in Manhattan 212 358-0692. It's a two level super-store and was the first Petco that I've seen. The other is in New Hyde Park at 2300 Jericho Turnpike 516 739-0031. All their animals, including the mammals are in exc condition. They have a nice cat adoption area as well. I bought some Hikari Frozen Daphnia tonight from the Mineola store. They have the complete line of Hikari frozen. |
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