Aqueon = NLS??

[xoolooxunny]

Ok, the newest fish store around me, the hidden reef, does not carry NLS. He led me too Aqueon instead, so I bought a little half oz container to try it out. Looks like high quality, multi color flakes, good fiber content, ingredients seem pretty good...question is...does anyone know if this stuff really IS good?

[Fishguy2727]

Not sure, but I have not even heard of it or if I have I don't remember it. I doubt it is as good as NLS. On a separate issue I like pellets a lot better anyways, they seem to fill them up much better.

[xoolooxunny]

Ok, I'll just keep this in the rotation of foods until I find out...variety is good, and if this stuff turns out to be not that great, hey at least they only get it a couple times a week. A lot of my fish are too small to eat pellets I think...Longfinned danios and neons to name a couple...

[Fishguy2727]

All my tetras and danios will eat the Hikari Cichlid Gold Baby pellets. They can't swallow them immediately so they hold on to them and run around with them as they soften. This slows down the danios from eating too fast.

[xoolooxunny]

Hmm, very good suggestion. My question now is why are they cichlid pellets? By that I mean do community fish get everything they need if its a formula for cichlids?

[Fishguy2727]

I also feed TetraMin Pro Crisps and occasionally frozen, but the cichlid pellets will be very good for them. The biggest platies I have ever seen I grew on just these pellets.

[xoolooxunny]

I was actually browsing the lfs today and they have hikari cichlid pellets really small, after seeing that, i was definitely more convinced that they will in fact be able to eat them!

[xoolooxunny]

here's a link to some of their products, take a look and let me know what you think...

http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/product/advancedSearch.web?command=Search&searchParams.keywords=aqueon&searchParams.size=10#resultBody

[Fishguy2727]

Do you know what their ingredients are?

[xoolooxunny]

whole fish meal(whole salmon, herring & other fish mixes), whole wheat flour, soybean meal, whole dried krill, wheat gluten meal, dried yeast, squid meal, wheat germ, corn gluten meal, kelp meal, fish oil, spirulina, garlic, natural astaxanthin, marigold powder, chili powder, spinach, choline chloride..

and then the list of complex words, long for: vitamin c, vitamin a acetate, D3, ribofalvin suplement, B12, niacin, source of vitamin k activity, folic acid, thiamine, B6, calcium, pantothenate, biotin, Vit E, manganese sulfate, cobalt sulfate, ferrous sulfate, copper sulfate.

phew...now ill give you the analysis...

crude protein (min) 41%
crude fat (min) 7%
crude fiber (max) 3%
moisture (max) 8%
ash (max) 7%
phosphorous (min) 1%

And now for the verdict.....?

[Tlewis]

Aqueon food is bottled and cooked by New Life Spectrium. All Glass Aquariums changed there name to Aqueon because they are doing much more than just aquariums now. It's good stuff. I use it for both of my tanks (reef and tropical fresh) Stinky stuff but the fish like it and there's no Ethoxiquin added for preserving (Spelling?) anyway, hope this gives light to a new food. It's not as specialized like New Life in regards to the species but its an all around good food for the beggining-intermediate hobbyist and the first ingredient is whole fish meal. NLS is an excellent food and if you use it and get good results, keep using it.

[jbeining75]

nice thats all worked out.... I was gonna say hikari is good food tlewis post up an intro....

[fishfanatic33]

Hey if your store doesn't carry it,see if they will special order it. My LFS,but they said they can order it every week if need be. Call New Life Spectrum for wholesaler locations and then see if your LFS can get it from that wholesaler

[Fishguy2727]

I do not think Aqueon is made by NLS.

[cocoa_pleco]

this is a really old thread

[Tlewis]

Fish Guy is right. It is not NLS food but it is bottled and cooked at there facility. I'm the territory manager for the west coast for All Glass Aquarium. All Glass has there own formula but NLS cooks and packages it for us. Hope this clears it up. Thanks,

[RainMan]

I was just searching for this product on this forum because my LFS stopped carrying NLS for cichlids. I've been using the Aqueon for 2-3weeks. From what I've seen... It's a solid product. My fish love it. I can't say it is any better than the NLS... but, it seems like another good alternative.

Here are some of their choices: Aqueon » Products » Food (http://www.aqueonproducts.com/products/food/) I think I am using the color sticks right now. They are almost the size of medium granules. A good size for medium-large cichlids.

<Edited for clarification>