The best fish food is...
Everyone wants their fish to be active, happy and healthy. That's why we created the worlds most LEGIT. Fish Food.
When it comes to overall fish health, you need to make sure you are feeding the highest quality possible. In a perfect world, fishkeepers would feed a mix of live, frozen and high-quality processed foods (pellets and flake). Unfortunately, most fish keepers don't have the time or desire to do all of the above and most processed foods are not made with your fishes health in mind...
As fishkeepers, we want maybe a few different types of food and most of the time they end up being pellet and or flake because they're the most convenient. We created LEGIT. Fish Food to help increase the health and wellbeing of fish owned by fishkeepers who might not have the time to provide a complicated diverse diet. We've got your back. In this article, we're going to discuss EVERYTHING so you have the best possible knowledge and tools to make the best decision for your fish and aquariums.
Why other foods aren't as LEGIT...
Most processed fish foods (pellet and flake) are made by giant corporations who's goal is to make as much money as possible. Ultimately, they use the cheapest, throw away ingredients found at the very end of the pet food industries pipeline. Here is a YouTube video that highlights exactly what we mean. But hey, as long as the fish eat it, who cares? WE DO. LEGIT. is made by fishkeepers, for fishkeepers who want the best for aquariums inhabitants!
At LEGIT. Fish Food, we want our fish to be happy, healthy and to display their natural behaviors to the best of their ability. To achieve this, we eliminated as much filler, preservatives and cheap ingredients from our fish food as possible. Here are a few aspects of a processed food you should look at:
1.) How is your fish food Made?
This one seems like it might be hard to determine, but luckily it's not. From cereal to dog kibble to fish food pellets, it mostly the same. Lot's of ingredients are gathered, they are mixed up and cooked. The resulting slurry then gets placed in a big machine called an extruder and out pops what ever shape the company wants.
Typically, a hot-extrusion process is used to form the pellets of fish food. Extremely high temperatures (~200+ C) are required to basically melt the ingredients together into a solid pellet. Furthermore, steam is often injected in the process in order to get air into certain types of floating pellets.
These high temperatures are known to denature proteins, break apart fats and ultimately reduce the overall nutritional value of the food. This hot-extrusion also negatively impacts other aspect of the food significantly, more on that soon.
2.) Main fish food Ingredients
Fish and invertebrate Meals
As weird as it sounds, fish meal is actually a great source of nutrition for your aquariums inhabitants. It has great ratios of macro and micronutrients that are perfect for, well... Fish! In fact, most all processed fish food (pellet and flake) contains some type of fish meal. Other types of meals we see in the fishkeeping hobby include krill meal (saltwater shrimp) and similar invertebrates.
These various meals are going to make up at least the first two ingredients listed on the back of the bag. Don't forget that all the ingredients are listed in order from most used to least used by weight. Some companies advertise using "whole salmon meal" or "whole fish meal" as to trick you into thinking that's better (I admit, I was fooled by this for a long time as well). Whole fish meal is often cheaper AND includes all parts of the fish that you don't want in the final product (carcass, etc.) More on this soon, (it all ties together).
3.) ASH and moisture Content
Ash content is not required by law to be on the back of your fish food label, go ahead and see if its listed... Ash is a term to describe all the inorganic material left over from the hot combustion process. Think of the Ash left over in a campfire or the char on an over cooked steak. Aquarium fish and most other pets for that matter, only need a few% Ash/minerals in their diet to be adequately healthy. Specifically for freshwater fish, they actually derive most of, if not all of their mineral requirements from the surrounding water...
Some foods have up to 20% Ash, leaving a great excess that your fish has to digest and eliminate as waste. Excess minerals/Ash in the gut has been shown to compete with other more important dietary requirements and ultimately slow digestion. Think about that really full, bloated feeling you have when you eat a ton of junk food... Not so great if your life is based around swimming!
Most of the Ash found in fish food comes from the high temperature processing of fish meals. Remember the "whole fish meal" talk we just had? When they use standard or whole fish meal (same thing for the most part) they are including the entire carcass of the fish, bones and all. When this boney material enters the cooking and then hot-extrusion process, this is where the bulk of the Ash comes from. This is a great way to NOT make the best fish food...
Food fact- You might notice that freeze dried bloodworms have a very high ash content of ~20% despite not being cooked or extruded in the same way. This high mineral content is solely based on the chitinous nature of the worms exoskeleton!
A high quality, sustainably farmed, de-boned fish meal is a much better alternative. Why isn't this the norm? It's expensive, that's why ;)
Did you know that ~10% of most pellet food is just water? This is called the moisture content and its listed on all pet foods in America.
When you combine 20% Ash and 10% moisture content, now every pinch of an already low quality food contains only ~70% "usable" bioavailable nutrition for your fish.
This may seem like an extreme example, but we've tested popular foods on the market and found 17% Ash, 9% moisture many times. Lets call this the "Not Good Pellet" More on this later...
Quick Fish Food Fact:
Cheap Fish Food = Fast Food. It might taste good, but you know it's not what you should be eating 100% of the time. Our fish don't get the luxury of picking out healthier options, they rely on us to do that for them. LEGIT. Fish Food has the lowest Ash and moisture content out of any pelleted food. This means less waste entering your aquarium and it lasts longer on your shelf.
How LEGIT. Fish Food is Different: (the best fish food pellet possible)
The normal way of making processed fish food (flake and pellet type) uses extremely high temperatures and steam though a process called hot-extrusion. When important ingredients such as amino acids (proteins), lipids (fats) and vitamins are exposed to these temperatures they ultimately degrade and become less bioactive.
LEGIT. Fish Food is not made in this way! Our food undergoes what's called a cold-extrusion, a process that does not heat up the vital components to nearly the same temperatures. This is a proprietary process, with modifications to a typical cold-extrusion. This is a key feature as to why LEGIT. makes the best fish food pellet on the market.
When components such as traditional or whole fish meal are used, high temperatures creates more Ash in the final product. The results are a food that has less nutritional value for your fish. They will have to use extra energy to make use of the foods components. LEGIT. uses a sustainably farmed, de-boned white fish meal that helps greatly reduces this problem and is one of the reason our product has the lowest Ash concentration in the industry.
The results are: The most nutritious pelleted fish food PERIOD.
Remember our example food "Not Good Pellet" with 17% Ash and 9% moisture? That's about 26% of each pinch being unusable and potentially causing digestion problems for your fish. Now add in the slightly intangible aspect of the hot-extrusion damage to it's most important ingredients. I could be that up to 50% of the remaining nutritional aspects of the food are partially compromised. I for one, would not want to eat that everyday!
LEGIT's pellets have the lowest Ash content on the market at an absolute max of only 7%. Furthermore, the moisture content is also the lowest with a maximum of only 5%. It's often much less.
LEGIT. SUSTAINABILITY
One of LEGIT's primary ingredients is the Mysis shrimp. It's an invasive species found in a few freshwater Canadian lakes. If left alone, the Mysis shrimp would overpopulate and out compete the native salmon causing major destruction of the ecosystem.
Piscene Energetics harvests fresh Mysis shrimp each Summer when they come up to surface waters to feed. The captured shrimp is loaded with healthy phytoplankton adding to its already impressive nutrient rich profile. Mysis shrimp are naturally rich in healthy fats like Omega-3 that help naturally enhance color, promote breeding and bolster your fishes health overall.
Furthermore, LEGIT. Fish Food is produced in small batches with a high degree of detail and oversight. This means your food is always fresh and at its absolute best every time you purchase. No food ever sits in containerships or in large warehouses before it reaches your aquarium.
Giving Even More Back
LEGIT. Fish Food is proud to support Project Piaba, the leading non-profit related to our hobby. Their efforts aim to protect and enhance the economy of people who create access to the fish we all know and love. These efforts also aid in the future sustainability of the Rio Negro region of the Amazon River Basin. For 2022 and 2023, LEGIT. Fish Food will contribute ~5% of every bag sold on our website and aim to only expand on this contribution.
FEED THE MOST LEGIT. FISH FOOD
Ingredients
Highest quality possible, engineered to be a complete source of nutrition
Made Better
Low-temp processing keeps ingredients intact and bioavailable
Sustainability
Removes Mysis shrimp and gives back to the sustainable future of fishkeeping
Final thoughts
We hope you enjoyed this overview of why we think LEGIT. Fish Food is the best fish food pellet. You also learned about how fish foods are made and the important aspects to look for. Hopefully now you have a good idea of how to judge your current fish food and if it's worth continuing to feed. We in no way want to convince you to throw out all your fish food in exchange for feeding LEGIT. exclusively.
Many other foods are definitely worth feeding. Frozen and live foods in particular. Freeze dried foods can also be a great option depending on the fish you're feeding. Hopefully we can continue to write articles shedding light on the best fish foods to feed your aquarium fish. Cheers!
Thanks for taking the time, here's a gift 😊
Use code "LEGIT" at checkout for a 17% discount on your first order with us.
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