Food brand

[barry]

I have been feeding my fish tetra food and I'm trying to cut back on costs.

Can anyone recommend a brand I can purchase which is cheaper but still good quality?

 

[CometKeith]

I use Tetra too, but because I have only goldfish I only go through about one container a year. It's always fun being in line at the pet store with someone buying food for their cat that is spending a couple hundred dollars on cat food and I'm spending my $15 for the year!

 

[ZmanArt007]

I feed my fish a mixture of tetra color enhancing food and catfish food, which I got from a local livestock feed store for dirt cheap. It may not be made specifically for koi but its cheap and high in protein. It makes the smaller fish grow really fast! I also should mention that I don't feed my fish very much. One small handful once or twice a day depending on how often I'm outside around the pond.

 

[Dave 54]

Going cheaper isnt necessarally a good move you loose the garentee that the more expensive brands come with in that the are in date vitamin/protien wise etc you simply dont know what your feeding your fish with a lesser brand than say tetra or Hikari which many of us koi keepers think of as a cheaper brand already
Hope this helps

Dave

 

[Lisak1]

I'm not sure how much you will even save to make it worth it. Unless you have a big pond with lots and lots of fish. Our total fish food expenditure for the year is well under $50. But we only feed from May - October, and we have less than 30 fish and many of those are small and only eat a pellet or two a feeding. We only have 8 or 9 big guys - who would eat ALL DAY LONG if we kept throwing them food!

Perhaps a high quality food but in lesser amounts?

 

[JohnHuff]

I have been feeding my fish tetra food and I'm trying to cut back on costs.

Can anyone recommend a brand I can purchase which is cheaper but still good quality?

What is your setup? It's even possible you can cut down your feeding and save that way. Some owners with garden ponds don't even feed their fish.

 

[LarryM]

I have been feeding my fish tetra food and I'm trying to cut back on costs.

Can anyone recommend a brand I can purchase which is cheaper but still good quality?

I like Blue Ridge food for 2 reasons. First it is a bit cheaper than the other quality brands, and second is because it is the same food they feed their fish at their hatchery. Since most of my koi were born there, it seems logical to feed the same food they grew up on.
You can also save a little cash by buying a larger bag maybe. I would shy away from cheap catfish food. I go through about 200 lbs of catfish food a year on my bluegill/bass pond. Last year I thought I could "save" money by mixing the catfish food with the regular koi food. The result was a big ammonia spike because the cheap food made the koi produce much more waste and ammonia. Just like if you feed your dog the cheapest food you can buy, you are going to find 3 times as many turds in your lawn. And bigger ones too. Feed catfish food to catfish, and koi food to koi.

 

[dieselplower]

Exactly. A higher quality food will produce less waste since the fish can use more of it. You could feed 10 pounds of good food or 15 pounds of cheap food, and the fish could get the same amount of nutrition while putting 5 pounds less poop into the pond with the good food.

 

[dieselplower]

However I will also tell you I search amazon for pretty much all my fish supplies and feel there are good deals to be found there.

 

[Tula]

I feed Black Water Creek koi food and purchase it from Fosters and Smith. I feel the cool season , wheat germ variety in the spring and fall and max growth for hot summer months. If is reasonably priced and supposedly good quality.

You can keep your eyes out for sales on their web site

 

[Mmathis]

I have been feeding my fish tetra food and I'm trying to cut back on costs.

Can anyone recommend a brand I can purchase which is cheaper but still good quality?

Do you have koi or goldfish? Many of us with GF feed very little and let the fish feed off the algae.