Favorite Tropical Flake Food

What's everyone's opinions on this? I don't have a lot of experience in this at all. Currently feeding TetraMin Tropical Flakes and Color Enhancer Plus flake from Wet Thumb Aquatics that I bought from a local hobbyist. So far, they've been keeping my fish alive and healthy!

I am using bulk flakes from angelfins. I have used ken's fish flake and found it very similar, but the shipping has gotten really expensive.
The colour food angelfins sells is excellent, and the growth food is a good, high protein flake.
I like tetra min, but it is really expensive.

I think I am using the same tetramin ones as rockview. I'm not sure if they are great or not, but the fish seem to love them.

CanadaAquariaAdmin wrote:I think I am using the same tetramin ones as rockview. I'm not sure if they are great or not, but the fish seem to love them.

That's kind of how I feel about them too. As long as they keep eating, pooping, swimming and looking nice I'm happy!

My favourite flakes are Spiruflakes from Biomaa, a Mexican brand. I always make sure I have enough in stock. Not only the 'vegetable minded' fish like them but all of them.

I buy bulk flake food from Kens fish for the many different flakes i need. Great foods and the fish love it.   

If you only have a couple of tanks then pet shop containers are the way to go. Tetra Min is a high quality food. I used to save up and buy it for my fish when I was a kid - some people get nostalgic for candy brands - I like the smell of Tetra Min.
If you decide to buy by the pound, you need to be able to use it after you open it. It does deteriorate nutitionally once opened. That said, I find the bulk dealers pretty similar. The quality is good.
I check online for prices and focus on shipping costs. That's the big killer with anything bought online.
If you're already buying brine shrimp eggs, Brine Shrimp Direct out of Utah sells quality flake in smaller quantities. It isn't the cheapest, but they have interesting stuff and everything I've bought there has been fine.
Ken's Fish is wonderful. Great stock. But unless you buy a huge amount, their shipping policies really hurt. It's best to get a few friends together and order there.
Angel Fins in Ontario has higher basic prices, but they ship well and seem good to 'work'. I'm not ordering ten pounds a shot, so they are better for me than Ken's.
There's a guy in Ontario who has been around for years but isn't set up to let you order online. He was very grumpy when I contacted him, and I admit, I wondered how long the food would sit around with the business style, and opted to pay a few bucks more elsewhere.
That's all I've found. If I had a local Mom and Pop store, I'd try to buy there. A local corporate chain? Go online. My best local store hardly carries any food because they seem to have decided the internet has them beaten there.
I buy all my equipment from physical stores to support them, but when it comes to food, with my large set-up, it just isn't possible to do so.

GaryE wrote:If you only have a couple of tanks then pet shop containers are the way to go. Tetra Min is a high quality food. I used to save up and buy it for my fish when I was a kid - some people get nostalgic for candy brands - I like the smell of Tetra Min.

Hahaha, this is too good ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^.  

Once again, great information. For those of us with smaller setups the store foods are fine. Nobody has mentioned Nutrifin yet. I don't mind supporting local business, but I never buy things from the big box pet stores unless I absolutely have to. That being said, I still shop around online. I know supporting local business is important so I do it where I can but if some hard goods are $100 less I'll order online. Canadian shipping rates are currently deterring me from ordering much online, however. If I lived south of the border I'd probably order significantly more.

None of my fishies will eat food from the surface so they get Hikari semi-floating micro pellets instead.

Re: buying in bulk... would you be able to make a large order last longer after opening by freezing the excess?

I order from Kens fish with others to do just that and avoid high shipping cost.

I do not have a huge demand for flake so I buy the LFS brine shrimp flake. However I do prefer Tetra Min because when I was a teenager with a basement full of tanks, the had everything as Tetra branded (before Hagen got into the act).

For my carnivores (remember I have small livebearers) I feed Ocean Nutrition Brine Shrimp Flakes, bought at the LFS. For my vegans, I buy high percentage Spirolina Flakes, aiming to get over 40% content.

For me live food is key. BBS I have been recently ordering from Betta Breeders Canada. As I cannot consume a bulk Brine Shrimp Egg Can, I order from this supplier. 10 grams of Saunders eggs for $2.50.