New Gel Food...

[tebstan]

I was told by an Instant Ocean rep that it includes tuna oil, as a binding agent. I specifically asked about the binding agent, since gel foods haven't proven very popular. Dog food is my specialty, not fish food, but I thought it was a trustworthy source. (Tuna instead of fish may have been a slip of words, I trust the guy in general to present what he knows as truthfully as possible) Can tuna oil, or fish oil, somehow be made to form a binding agent? It's a lipid, correct? This is reaching way back into unsure memory, but I thought some lipids had binding capability. (Which is why I assumed the tuna oil as binding agent was feasible.)
Xantham gum and guar gum are used in binding agents in most canned pet foods, but it's not a desirable ingredient, just a necessary one. Is porcine gelatin digestible, or nutritious? Even if it is, does it taste as gross as it sounds? There's another food on the market with "gel binder" that isn't as appealing to fish as this new variety was. I can't think of the brand name, it's on the tip of my tongue.. very well known brand, but many don't like it. I'm sure you all know which one I'm thinking of. Has that one been compared to this one? I haven't compared ingredients.

[Europhyllia]

Third Coast how do you feel about soy based protein?

[corruption]

Yeah, the binding and preservative agents are the useless portions that should be rinsed away -- they hold the majority of the soluble phosphates.. This stuff may be difficult to rinse though -- the binding agents are pretty well part of the entire substance, theres a lot of varied size particles in the sample I tried...

-Corruption

[corruption]

Of note, I'm fairly certain the samples were the Marine Omnivore mix -- the ingredients show how varied the particulate will be..

-Corruption

[tebstan]

--- I know this thread is about the new gel food... but did anyone try the new pellet diets? They look interesting as well. Bits of nori and krill, mmm mmm, sounds tasty. (yeah, I like sushi.)

[corruption]

What brand pellet diets, Instant Ocean? Pellet-wise, I tend to stick with Hikari for my freshwaters, and New Life Spectrum for all the tanks myself... but more variety is always good

(BTW -- New Life Spectrum is AWESOME food.)

-Corruption

[Third Coast Tropical]

I believe the gelatin binder we used was indegistible (not 100% at this time though), and it hd no nutritive value. I have never tasted it, nor do I wish to,...so I can't answer that.

[tebstan]

NLI is good, but mine won't eat it. :( I don't have the heart to let them get hungry, and I love to feed things. But yeah, I meant Instant Ocean. Along with the gel food, they're introducing some pellet diets and some sort of new chemicals, conditioners I think. The omnivore diet is the one everyone has sampled, but there's 3 or 4 others coming out. The pellet diet is slow sinking, with visual bits of nori in the herbivore and krill in the omnivore diet.
Hikari pellets are great for FW, but again, I can't get mine to eat the marine pellets. ('S' variety). Any opinions on flake, or that other gel food? And heck, while we're at it, anyone use garlic or vitamin additives to soak their food in?

[Third Coast Tropical]

Third Coast how do you feel about soy based protein?

First, I am not a nutritionists....but have participated in research along with nutritionists and prepared several different research diets for cobia, and to a lesser extent, marine ornamentals.
It is more cost effective than fish meals, but to my knowledge, is void of the essential omega 3's and 6's, hence the addition of fish oil to these types of diets. I learned that the best type of protein to feed something, was a protein that most closely resembled that of it's own. I know it sounds gross, canabilstic and all, but it makes sense, as that is what the body is used to. Obviously, It doesn't work out like this most of the time. Most creatures are not canabilistic, and have a varied diet. There is lots of research inthe aquaculture industry looking at plant based proteins and thier role in helping reduce the use of fish meals, which again are costly and limited (This is a huge issue with aquaculture). Plant based proteins make sense, but there are still things to figure out before entirely replacing fish meals.

For a more exact answer, Dr. Ken Webb at UTMSI would probably love to answer these types of questions and could probably go on and on and on about them. He probably would be upset with me a little that I cannot provide a more definitive answer, but this is about all I have right now. He is UT's resident fish nutrutionist, and a good friend and colleague.

As for this particular diet, I was just curious what was in it. Never dogged it. Perhaps I'll try it, but for now, I am (and my fish) are completely happy with PE Mysis and Spirulina enriched artemia.

[corruption]

Selcon and Garlic extract are always good additives, but I rarely use them.. Flake wise, I like the Ocean Nutrition line (Formula 1, Formula 2, Prime Reef, all pretty good... occasional Brine Flakes (I call em Pringles -- the fish love em, but they're as healthy as potato chips ) I actually just found out that NLS has both a fresh and saltwater line for flakes as well -- I'm trying to find a distributor that carries the whole line now, cuz I'd like a few different varieties

My fish have all eaten pretty much anything I throw at them -- but they seem especially fond of Hikari and NLS.. the current jar of NLS I have is marine, so I tend to feed it less often to the others...not that the actual content is vastly different from the base NLS formula

-Corruption