 
Fish Nutrition (Proper Aquatic Nutrition). What ingredients are needed for optimum fish nutrition, growth and health; facts about fish foods• Introduction of what makes a quality fish food • Building Block Ingredients • Fish Food Sources • Homemade Fish Food • Frozen, Live or FD food • Gut loading live food • How and When to feed fish • Fish Indigestion • Summary |
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INTRODUCTION: This article is primarily about prepared fish foods, however prepared fish foods should not be your sole source for aquatic nutrition for your aquarium, especially young fry (although powder Spirulina 20 is an excellent fry food). Near the end of this article I do discuss some live, frozen and FD foods. There is a lot of confusion about what constitutes a quality flake food (or pellet). The aquarist needs to understand that there are similarities and differences between fish and other animals. For example; Fish get most of their energy needs from fat, but in humans carbohydrates are a better source. Another point is amino acids (the building blocks of proteins); almost all animals have different amino acid needs. For example; Cats need Taurine in there diet or they can suffer heart problems. Then there is the speed of digestion, some fish such as goldfish tend to have slower digestive tracts (I like to compare it to a horse, but there are major differences such as the stomach). But the similarity is that if too high a protein or the wrong protein diet is fed, the horse may colic, and in goldfish they will build up intestinal gas and infections including swim bladder or dropsy will ensue. The wrong amino acids in any fish will lead to aquarium pollution (extra ammonia) and renal failure. Another note about fish food is what carnivores need. Carnivorous fish often consume whole animals including intestinal contents, which often include plant material. A quality fish food for carnivores must include vegetable matter such as spirulina. Some background: The tests on Spirulina based fish foods are my oldest, dating back to the late 70s where I used a Restaurant with over 80 aquariums that I had a full control maintenance contract to perform side by side comparisons of different fish foods including a Spirulina based food called “Green Flake Plus” by Aquatronics. I later earned the nickname, “Green Flake Man” due to the amount of this product I used and sold. My point in mentioning this is that I have received some rather nasty comments in forums (Yahoo Answers in particular) when I mention that I recommend this over TetraMin or others. The comments usually will state that “I have reared many fish over the years exclusively on TetraMin and they have done fine”. That is fine, so have HOWEVER scientifically controlled tests state that you can do MUCH better with your fish food flake. Of the results I noted (in BOTH saltwater and Freshwater) were: improved color, slightly better longevity, but most notably, an easily noted lesser incidence of disease. Another comment that is very anecdotal and without real nutritional basis is “My fish love fish food xyz so much, this must mean this is a good food”. This is about as bad an argument as it gets for fish food quality. My children will take a piece of candy almost every time over a carrot, but that does not make the candy better. An even better comparison is I once read a study at a pet nutrition seminar that showed a dog will almost always prefer cat food over dog food, yet if you took this to heart and fed your do nothing but cat food, you would have a very sick dog over time. HERE ARE A FEW BUILDING BLOCK INGREDIENTS: AMINO ACIDS:  An amino acid is any molecule that contains both amines (organic compounds that contain nitrogen as the key atom. Structurally amines resemble ammonia) and Carboxylic acids (organic acids characterized by the presence of a carboxyl group). Amino acids are used as the basic components of proteins.The net protein utilization is profoundly affected by the limiting amino acid content or protein quality (the essential amino acid found in the smallest quantity in the foodstuff), and somewhat affected by salvage of essential amino acids in the body. It is therefore a good idea to mix foodstuffs that have different weaknesses in their essential amino acid distributions. This limits the loss of nitrogen through deamination and increases overall net protein utilization. Eggs (whether fish or even chicken) have the highest protein quality of any source. Which makes hard boiled egg crumbles an excellent food source for fry. DL-methionine is an essential amino acid for producing the “Lionhead” feature in goldfish. Methionine is one of eight essential amino acids. High levels of methionine can be found in the vegetable proteins of spinach, green peas, garlic, and Vegetable protein extract which is used in many commercial foods such as Sanyu Koi and Goldfish Food. DL-methionine can also be found in whole fish meal. Other essential Amino acids include (essential meaning amino acids that cannot be produced within the fish’ body from other nutrients and proteins): Arginine, Histidine, Isoleucine, Leucine, Lysine, Methionine + Cystine3, Phenylalanine + Tryosine4, Threonine, Tryptophan, and Valine. Other quality sources of usable amino acids include: Whole fish meal (salmon is best), Cylcops, fish roe, squid meal, and even spirulina algae. Bottom line; Not all protein sources are equal. An analogy used at a pet food seminar I attended was this: You can achieve the protein analysis on many pet foods with a used pair of leather shoes, but leather shoes contain little usable proteins. Another point as to grain or plant sources (Spirulina does NOT fall into this category), is that proteins in cereal grains and other plant concentrates do not contain complete amino acid profiles and usually are deficient in the essential amino acids lysine and methionine. FATS (lipids): Molecular compounds that are generally soluble in organic solvents and largely insoluble in water. Fats are important for insulating body organs against shock, maintaining body temperature, and promoting healthy cell function. They also serve as energy stores for the body. Fats are broken down in the body to release glycerol and free fatty acids. The glycerol can be converted to glucose by the liver and thus used as a source of energy. The fatty acids are the main source of energy in fish, especially for many tissues, such as heart and skeletal muscle. Another important function for fats are for vitamin absorption. Vitamins A, D, E, and K are fat-soluble, meaning they can only be digested, absorbed, and transported in conjunction with fats. The lipids (fats) in fishes can be separated into liquid fish oils and solid fats. This is why fats/lipid for use in fish food are best obtained from aquatic sources such as Whole Fishmeal. Fish lipids are highly digestible by all species of fish (& animals) and are excellent sources of the essential polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in both the omega-3 and omega-6 families of fatty acids. The predominant omega-3 fatty acids in fishmeal and fish oil are linolenic acid, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). Both DHA and EPA fatty acids are produced and passed along the food chain by small-size algae and zooplankton, which are consumed by fish. Fishmeal and oil contain more omega-3, than omega-6 fatty acids. In contrast, most plant lipids contain higher concentrations of omega-6 fatty acids. For example, oil extracted from soybeans, corn, or cottonseed is rich in linoleic acid, an omega-6 fatty acid. Some oils, like those from canola and flax seeds contain linolenic acid (of the omega-3 family), however, its conversion into essential DHA and EPA by most animals may be limited. CARBOHYDRATES: Molecular substances which include the sugars, starches, gums and celluloses. The common attributes of carbohydrates are that they contain only the elements carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, and that their combustion will yield carbon dioxide plus one or more molecules of Water. Most of the carbohydrates that enter the diet of fish are of plant origin. Carnivorous fish such as groupers, therefore, deal with little carbohydrate. Indeed, experiments have shown that these species are ill-equipped to handle significant quantities of raw carbohydrate, in their diets. The ability of fish to digest carbohydrates depends on their ability to elaborate amylase. All species of fish have been shown to secrete at least some amylase. It has also been demonstrated that activity of this enzyme was greatest in herbivores. Carbohydrates are not a superior energy source for fish over protein or fat although digestible carbohydrates do spare protein for tissue building. Also, unlike in mammals, glycogen is not a significant storage depot of energy in fish. The more efficient metabolism of amino acids over carbohydrates (glucose) for energy could be due to the ability of fish to excrete nitrogenous waste as ammonia from their gills without the high cost of energy in converting the waste to urea. FISH FOOD SOURCES: FISH MEAL:  Fish meal has been widely used as a protein source for many years for fish. Two basic types of fish meal are produced; (1) Produced from fishery waste (salmon, tuna, etc.) that are associated with the processing of various edible human fishery products and this fishmeal is rendered from fish offal, trimmings or cuttings, and other wastes principally from filleting and canning operations from the edible fisheries (e.g., tuna, cod, haddock, hake, pollock). (2) When specific fish (Herring, Menhaden, Hakes, Jacks, Pollack, etc.) are harvested just for the purpose to produce fish meal. The fish can be dried directly drying or cooking prior to drying and oil extracted. Most of these fishes are small, bony, with high content of oil, and considered of little edible use (e.g., anchovies, herrings, capelin, menhaden). In addition to being a by-product of human fish production it is also a by-product associated with fish oil production, which is where many commercial fish foods obtain fish meal from. Fish that are only used for the production of fish meal is the best source, listed on ingredients as “Whole Fish Meal” or “White Fish Meal”. Fishmeal of high quality provides a balanced amount of all essential amino acids, phospholipids, and fatty acids (e.g.,DHA or docosahexaenoic acid and EPA or eicosapentaenoic acid) for optimum development, growth, and reproduction, especially of larvae and brood stock. The nutrients in fishmeal also aid in disease resistance by boosting and helping to maintain a healthy functional immune system. Most plant-based proteins (with the exception of Spirulina, which is not actually a plant or even a true algae), even when properly processed, are usually not as digestible as fishmeal; and their inclusion rate into the diet is often limited as it results in depressed growth rates and feed intake. Over-all protein digestibility values for fishmeal are consistently above 95%. In comparison protein digestibility for many plant-based proteins varies greatly, for example, from 77% to 96%, depending on the species of plant. Whole Fish Meal is an excellent DL-methionine which along with some fats is important to large head growth in certain cichlids and Orandas/Lionhead goldfish. Unfortunately many leading brands of fish food use only bi-products or low quality Fish Meal which is not complete. Whole Fish Meal averages between 17% and 25%. More ash indicates a higher mineral content, especially calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium. Calcium and phosphorus constitute the majority of the ash found in fishmeal. This makes Whole Fishmeal an important source of very essential minerals that fish need for osmoregulation. Fishmeal also contains certain compounds that make the fish food more acceptable and agreeable to the taste (palatable). This property allows for the feed to be ingested rapidly, and will reduce nutrient leaching. It is thought the non-essential amino acid glutamic acid is one of the compounds that imparts to fishmeal its palatability. Use of high quality fish meal ranges from 5-7% for koi and goldfish, and up to 40% to 55% for high protein tropical fish, trout, salmon, and some marine fishes diets. Unfortunately the cost of high-quality whole fishmeal (65% protein) is 2.0 to 3.5 times the price of soybean meal so its use is often low as compared to soybean meal or lower quality fishmeal in low end fish foods (which make up the more popular brands too). SHRIMP MEAL (& Plankton):  Shrimp meal can be made from either cull shrimp that are being processed before freezing or from whole shrimp that is not of suitable quality for human consumption. The material to be made into shrimp meal is dried (sun or using a dryer) and then ground. Shrimp meal has been used in trout and salmon diets as a source of pigments to impart the desirable color in the tissues.  Shrimp/Plankton either whole or as a part of another prepared food is an excellent source for fats needed for the growth of heads in Flowerhorn Cichlids.Shrimp meal has been found to be an acceptable supplemental protein source for fish, but inferior to whole fish meal. SQUID MEAL: Squid Meal is made from squid viscera portions from cannery plants including egg and testis. Squid Meal is high digestibility of protein source, which provides a full range of amino acids for fish. It provides various kinds of vitamins and minerals and also 1.0-1.5% of cholesterol that is suitable for fish fry and young fish. BRINE SHRIMP:  Just over a centimeter in size, the adult brine shrimp (Artemia) is a common food source for fish. They can be purchased at many Pet Stores as adults, Freeze dried or even eggs. The eggs look like a powdery brown substance but in reality the substance is thousands of cysts—eggs surrounded by protective cases. When added to water, these cysts will hatch into shrimp nauplii within a few hours.As a food source brine shrimp are relatively limited (mostly because of their high water content). They are a good source of carotene for color and act as a natural laxative in fish digestive systems. The proteins they do supply are of high quality. Depending on the source they also can supply vegetable matter due to their consumption of algae. SOYBEAN MEAL: Use of soybean products in the aquaculture industry have become the focus of protein substitution in fish food around the world. The high protein level makes it a key ingredient for aquaculture feeds since soybean meal is considerably less expensive than traditionally used marine animal meals. However, proteins in cereal grains and other plant concentrates do not contain complete amino acid profiles and usually are deficient in the essential amino acids lysine and methionine. The limiting amino acid content of soybean meal is high, and is not on the level of Whole fish meal and especially egg. SPIRULINA:  Spirulina is a blue-green plant plankton rich in raw protein and seven major vitamins: A1, B1, B2, B6, B12, C and E. It naturally contains beta-carotene, color enhancing pigments, and whole range of minerals. In addition, it contains all essential fatty acids and eight amino acids required for complete nutrition. Spirulina is different from other algae and is similar to bacteria in many ways, occupying a niche between plants and bacteria. Spirulina is similar to cyanobacteria in structure (spiral shape, unlike true plant plankton), which can be toxic. Spirulina Blue- Green algae are recognized by the body (fish in particular) as a bacterium, causing an increase in antibodies, which in turn increases disease resistance. Spirulina is also high in usable or digestible amino acids. Spirulina is probably one of the best fish food ingredients available, INCLUDING for carnivores (usually fed via gut loading, more information later in the article). For much more about Spirulina of which there is MUCH new evidence as to the health benefits there in: Spirulina Algae; The aquatic health benefits for Tropical, Marine and Goldfish. THIS IS A MUST READ ARTICLE! WHOLE WHEAT: Carbohydrates as explained earlier are not the best source of energy in fish, but still can be useful, especially when whole wheat is used. One reason is for roughage, especially in goldfish and koi, but also for other fish for the wheat-germ found in whole wheat is a natural source of vitamin E, an important vitamin to promote healthy growth and fish color. FISH FOOD SOURCES NOT TO USE: *Lettuce; this is mostly cellulose and empty nutrition and worse lettuce is an excellent breeding ground for bacteria that can in turn cloud your aquarium and compete with fish for oxygen (many labs use lettuce for this). *Bread; again mostly empty nutrition to fish (maybe not for humans, but as noted earlier fish get their energy primarily from fats). Also bread again will attract un wanted bacteria. HOMEMADE FISH FOOD: You can make your own supplement for general fish feeding that is high in DL-methionine; Start with whole salmon which is an excellent source of carotene for color (frozen or even canned works), frozen peas, hard boiled egg, frozen or FD brine shrimp, duck weed or spiulina powder, and fish oil (cod liver oil works fine). Blend this mixture then add corn starch to the paste to dehydrate. Spread this paste on small strips of foil (or even wax paper if your dehydrator does not get to hot). Make sure you leave room for air circulation. For a frozen food, substitute the corn starch with unflavored gelatin powder. For goldfish and koi, add wheat germ powder. For more carnivorous fish increase the whole fish and decrease the spirulina powder or duckweed. Calamari (squid) can be added too for carnivorous fish, but make sure that all the ink is removed from whole squid. For spirulina powder, Spirulina 20 Flake can be substituted, but since this already a complete diet for many fish, I double the amount of this and decrease other ingredients by comparable amounts. Here are basic percentages, please note that you can change these percentages to suit your fish food requirements: BASIC/ GOLDFISH/ CARNIVOUR Whole Salmon: 25% 20% 30% Peas: 25% 25% 15% Egg: 20% 15% 25% Brine shrimp: 15% 15% 15% Spirulina Powder: 10% 15% 5% Wheat Germ: 0% 5% 0% Squid: 0% 0% 5% Fish Oil: 2% 2% 2% Corn Starch or Gelatin: 3% 3% 3% LIVE, FROZEN OR FD FOODS: As stated earlier, this article has been primarily about prepared foods; however this is not to say that this is all you should feed, far from it. Many fish benefit from live or freeze dried supplements such as Brine Shrimp, Blood worms, Daphnia, Microworms, Whiteworms, Walter Worms and more. Make sure that you make sure that live foods come from an uncontaminated source and some foods such as Tubiflex Worms are raised in polluted waters which make them a poor choice.  Gut Loading/QuarantineIf feeder goldfish are used, I strongly recommend not bringing them home from your LFS and dumping them in your aquarium, rather I recommend a 30 minute Methylene Blue bath followed by a day in a quarantine tank where they are “gut loaded” with a Spirulina Algae or vegetable based food such Spirulina 20 Flake . In the wild most carnivorous fish get these types of nutrients form the “guts” of their prey, but unfortunately most feeder fish have empty digestive systems to keep pollution low in holding tanks and transport. This is an IMPORTANT aspect of feeding live foods such as feeders that many aquarists miss and should not be ignored for long term health of your carnivorous freshwater or saltwater fish. This also can be applied to ANY live food fed to any fish, whether it be worms community tanks, or crickets for Arowanas. Worms & Brine Shrimp For young fry such as Bettas; Walter Worms, newly hatched brine shrimp, vinegar eels or Micro Worms are an excellent choice (Micro Worms tend to drop to the bottom and Vinegar Eels may be a good alternative). Here is place to purchase Grindal Worms, Walter Worms, or Vinegar Eel starter cultures: Over a Copper Moon; Live foods Here is a little about Micro Worms: Micro Worms are nematodes (Panagrellus). Microworms are one of the easiest live foods to culture. Micro Worms are small .5 -1.5 mm and difficult to see individually. They are white, un-segmented worms that move continuously. The tail end is pointed while the mouth end is generally more rounded. They are approximately 15 times as long as they are wide. Due to their size and shape, they can be fed to fish that are too small to take a brine shrimp nauplii. Microworms can remain alive in fresh water for twelve hours or more. Microworms reproduce sexually. The males have a curved tail, are smaller, more slender, and lower in number than the females. Micro Worms are live bearing, producing 10 to 40 young every 1 to 1.5 days for an average 20 to 25 day life span. This results in each female producing approximately 300 offspring. The young reach sexual maturity in approximately three days. Their size increases by three times during the first day and five to six times during the next three days. The Micro worm nematodes are 76% water and 24% dry matter; 40% of the dry matter is protein and 20% is fat. Micro Worms are easily cultured (here is a link to a starter culture: Live Microworm culture A simple mix is one cup of quick oats, baby cereal, Cream of Wheat or similar (with maybe a tiny pinch of dry yeast) to one and a quarter cups of warm water. Mix thoroughly and pour into a suitable container. Yogurt containers or similar types of containers work well for culturing Micro Worms. Allow cooling, and then seed the mix with worms, putting the lid on (with small holes for ventilation) and leaving in a cool place. The temperature should be between 65 to 75 degrees. Within a few days you will have Microworms to harvest. For MORE information about worms for feeding as well as many more resources (including links from which to purchase), please see this Aquarium Answers Article (near the bottom): "Trematodes, Nematodes, Annelids, & Feeding Worms" HOW AND WHEN TO FEED FISH No one fish food should be relied on as your fish’ sole nutritional source. For a community freshwater or saltwater aquarium start with a good basic flake such as HBH Tropical and Marine Flake , Spirulina 20 Flake , Omega , or many other quality fish foods available (it is also a good idea to switch different flake foods day to day, especially foods such as Spirulina One which will also improve your fish immune system). Be wary of the many low quality fish foods available as well. Do not feed two different fish foods at the same time as fish will pick and choose and this will defeat the purpose of varying the diet of your fish. It is helpful to soak dry foods for about 5 minutes to prevent ingestion of air that can cause digestive problems (more so with pellet foods). Balance these flake foods with Freeze dried foods such as FD Bloodworms or Brine Shrimp or Frozen fish foods. I especially recommend the many prepared frozen fish foods now available by companies such as Ocean Nutrition for marine fish, many of these foods address the specific needs of certain fish species. Live foods such as blackworms, daphnia, and brine shrimp also make a good additions to your fish’ diet. Make sure and soak live brine shrimp for 5 minutes in freshwater prior to feeding these to marine fish to prevent disease transfer. For larger fish such as Cichlids, the same regime works, however you want to consider a pelleted fish food as well such as Hikari or Sanyu Tropical pellets. Be carefull with the feeding of worms in many African Cichlids as I have observed constipation when these are fed regularly to these Cichlids. And with goldfish pelleted fish foods such as Sanyu Goldfishand a spirulina based flake food such as Spirulina 20 Flake are a good start supplemented with frozen or FD Brine Shrimp (for constipation). Hulled peas can also make a good addition for goldfish too. It is very important with goldfish to soak dry foods for 5 minutes in water to prevent air ingestion. Please see this article for more “Proper Goldfish Feeding” Most fish generally do well being fed twice per day (sometimes three times) in aquariums (or ponds) over 70 degrees Fahrenheit. In ponds when temperatures fall this will need to be cut back, please see this article for more “Pond Information, help” Many predators only need to be fed every other day or even less (such as saltwater lion fish or Arowanas in freshwater which due best with live or FD crickets IMO) FISH INDIGESTION: For problems with intestinal distress in fish (very common with goldfish, however Bettas and many other fish can suffer too), you fist want to avoid this by feeding foods with the right ingredients and keeping your fish in water with the Proper Electrolyte levels. It is also important to soak dry fish foods (especially pelleted foods) for 5 minutes to prevent ingestion of air that is trapped within dry fish foods, this air can lead to indigestion or even severe problems occasionally such as Aeromonas Bacteria infections. However this still may occur. I have found that about a ¼ teaspoon of Epsom salts per gallon of ‘bath’ water for 30 minutes along with increased salt (sodium chloride) in the aquarium, about 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons or even double this for fish that can handle this (do not double for catfish, loaches or similar). Shelled frozen thawed Peas are recommended for strengthening digestion, reducing water retention and helping to promote elimination. And finally Spirulina Algae as well as Brine Shrimp are also effective for easing digestion and preventing these problems from the start. SUMMARY: This information is intended primarily for prepared foods however it can also be applied to live, FD, or frozen foods as well. You can improve live foods by “gut loading” them such as feeding Spirulina 20 Flake to your feeder fish or to black worms 30 minutes prior to feeding your fish (I have seen good color improvement in black worms fed to Bettas this way). This is actually quite natural for carnivores in particular as in the wild a worm or food fish rarely has an empty belly.  For head growth in Flower Horn Cichlids, Orandas, Red Devils, make sure your fish’ diet includes whole fish meal and shrimp in their ingredient list (for goldfish such as Orandas, there needs to be more vegetable higher in the list of ingredients and less raw proteins). There are many good pelleted foods such as Sanyu Tropical Pellets that achieve this.The information given here should also help you to make a better choice when purchasing prepared fish food (especially when feeding young fish!), such as the examples below: Here is an example of ingredients for three Betta Foods: Tetra BettaMin; Fish Meal, Ground Brown Rice, Dried Yeast, Shrimp Meal, Wheat Gluten, Brine Shrimps (FD), Potato Protein, Dehulled Soybean Meal, Fish Oil, Soybean Oil, Sorbitol, Algae Meal, Lecithin, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (Stabilized Vitamin C). Coloring Agents: Red No. 3 Dye (E127). Ethoxyquin as a Preservative. Wardleys Premium Betta: Fish meal, whole grain wheat, shrimp meal, soybean flour, brewers dried yeast, wheat germ meal, wheat gluten, fish protein concentrate, fish oil, l-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate, crayfish extract in soybean oil, iron oxide, vitamin premix containing (wheat middlings, vitamin A supplement, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin E supplement, B12 supplement, riboflavin supplement, niacin supplement, calcium pantothenate, menadione sodium bisulfite complex, folic acid, pyridoxine HCI, thiamine mononitrate, d-biotin), choline chloride, marigold petal extract, canthaxanthin, ethoxyquin (as a preservative). Sanyu Betta Gold: White fish meal, shrimp meal, soybean meal, wheat flour, rice bran, wheat germ, yeast, vitamin A, B C, E and other minerals Compare the above ingredients, the differences are striking! Tetra starts with low quality fish meal (vs. high quality Whole White fish meal), then has cereals as the next two highest ingredients. Cereals are needed as a filler, however the cereals should not be this high in the ingredients for a carnivore such as Bettas. Compare TetraMin to some of the facts I have explained, then compare foods such as HBH Tropical and Marine Flake ;Spirulina One Flake ; Hikari and Sanyu Foods, such as Sanyu Betta Gold (Sea Chem makes an excellent Betta Food as well). The differences are quite clear for long term growth and health. When it comes to feeding young fish (fry), a quality prepared food is even more important. A comparison I would use is this; would you feed your infant cows milk instead of formula? My point is fish fry are even more sensitive to poor nutrition. I prefer to powder my fish Flake foods and my favorites are Spirulina 20 (for ease of digestibility and usable protein) and Hikari First Bite. Here are the ingredients to compare: Hikari First Bites: Ingredients: Fish Meal, Milt Meal, Wheat Flour, Antarctic Krill Meal, Clam Meal, Spirulina, Seaweed Meal, DL-Methionine, Monosodium Glutamate, Garlic, Enzyme, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Niacin, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Choline Chloride, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate, Inositol, Manganese Sulfate, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Calcium Iodate, Cobalt Sulfate, Magnesium Sulfate, Aluminum Hydroxide. Spirulina 20: Spirulina, ground whole wheat, whole fish meal, defatted soy meal, wheat flour, torula dried yeast, vital wheat gluten, fish oil, biophos, soy oil, lecithin, natural colors. As you can see, both are excellent formulas, although different in their nutrition approach (they can be used together). Resources (references), further reading http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/FA122 For more aquarium information and articles (pond too), please visit this site:   
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