Top 11 Premium Fish Food and Supplement Known to Enhance Fish Colors
Fish food is commercially available everywhere. However, they are not created equal. Some fish foods are superior to others. The quality of fish food does make a huge difference to the colors and overall health of the aquarium fish. We will discuss a list of the best fish food, and the reasons why they are better.
Check the fish food label for ingredients
Different fish food has different ingredients. The same as the food items consumed by humans, the fish food ingredients are listed in the order from the highest percentage to the lowest.
A lot of fish foods have “fish meal” as the first ingredient. Under most circumstances, fish meal is mostly leftover of fish parts. E.g., fish skin, fish organs. It is what’s left after the best parts removed for human consumption. Fish meal is in the fish food because it Is cheap.
A high-quality fish food always has the word “whole” in the first ingredient. For example, whole salmon, whole shrimp, and whole krill. As the word suggests, “whole salmon” is the whole of a salmon fish. It is far superior to fish meal in term of nutritional value. Same goes for other whole seafood in the ingredients.
Simply put, please check the label for ingredients when buying fish food. In most cases, stay away from anything start with “fish meal.” Nod and smile when you see “whole” in it.
Besides the “whole” vs. “meal” part, there is also a long list of other ingredients in every fish food.
Make sure the wheat flour and other filler are at the very bottom of the list. As a filler, wheat flour offers no nutritional value for most species of fish. Manufacturers use wheat flour to make the fish food stick together as flakes or pellets. However, overuse it will low the nutritional value of the fish food. Too much wheat flour can also create fine dust when the fish food breaks apart. It will pollute the water more easily.
The following is a list of the best fish food made from “whole” seafood.
- Omega One Flakes
Omega One is one of the best brands of premium fish food. They make multiple version of flakes which are all the same with only minor differences. There is Omega One Freshwater Flakes; Omega One Garlic Marine Flakes; Omega One Super Color Flakes; Omega One Veggie Kelp Flakes.
They all have “whole” salmon in the flakes as the top ingredient. Salmon is one of the best seafood in term of its nutrition. It is also known to enhance the color of the fish. Many fish owners have reported their fish show better colors after consuming Omega One flakes as a staple for a month or two.
2. New Life Spectrum Pellets
New Life Spectrum pellets is another one of my favorite premium fish food. They use whole krill as the first ingredient. Krill is easy to digest. It is also known to enhance fish colors. They are one of the natural food for fish in the wild. While krill often appear in many fish foods, New Life Spectrum has it “whole” which is hard to find.
As pellets, it can be a staple food for daily feeding. NLS pellets have 3mm, 1mm, 0.5mm versions. You may choose any size according to the size of your fish.
3. Omega One Freeze Dried Bloodworms.
Bloodworm is the larvae of midge flies. In the wild, they are the natural food source for both fish and birds. While in nutrient they are about the same as mosquito larva, they are better at enhancing fish colors.
Since bloodworm is a meaty food, we do not recommend feeding it to the fish on a daily basis. One or twice a week as an occasional treat will be enough to bring out the color of your fish.
4. Omega One Freeze Dried Brine Shrimp
Brine Shrimp is another very good food for fish. Many aquarium fish hobbyists hatch fresh brine shrimp from eggs to feed their fish fry. Since not everyone has the time and energy to hatch the live brine shrimp, the freeze-dried alternative is easy to use. The freeze-dried version of brine shrimp sticks together in bigger chunks. So they are better for adult fish.
5. Hikari Freeze Dried Brine Shrimp
Brine shrimp
6. Hikari Freeze Dried Bloodworm
Hikari also has a freeze-dried bloodworm product. Same as other bloodworm products, only feed the fish once or twice weekly as treats.
7. Omega One Shrimp Pellets
The shrimp pellets from Omega One has “whole” shrimp in it as the main ingredient. Shrimp is another natural food for many fish in the wild. High in protein, and great for color enhancement. These pellets are big. You need to either crush them into smaller pieces or use them for bottom feeders only.
8. Ocean Nutrition Dried Seaweeds
Ocean Nutrition makes Dried Seaweed. It is one of the better foods for the herbivore. Even carnivore fish can use some veggies in their diet to have more balanced nutrition. Seaweed is another natural color enhancement food for fish. This product contains just seaweed and a little garlic extract.
9. Hikari Algae Wafer
Hikari Algae Wafer does not have “whole” fish in their ingredient. However, the disc-shaped wafer is for the herbivore bottom feeders. My corydoras catfish go crazy over them. Even middle-level fish will sometimes nip at it.
Use the Hikari Algae Wafer only if you have bottom feeders in your fish tank. It makes a great staple food for them.
10. Garlic Guard
SeaChem Garlic Guard is a garlic extract for aquarium fish. Garlic is known to enhance the immune system in mammals. At the same time, they have anti-bacterial and anti-fungal property. While it has not been proven the same effects work on the aquarium fish, my years of using it for my fish make me believe it at least have contributed to the overall health of my fish. The anti-bacterial and anti-fungal property must have helped the entire aquarium system stay healthy.
I use Garlic Guard to pre-soak dried fish food before feeding them to the fish. Any flakes, pellets, freeze-dried bloodworm, brine shrimp, can all use some garlic flavor. ?
11. VitaChem
Vitachem is a multi-vitamin supplement made for aquarium fish. Like us, fish require many vitamins to stay healthy. VitaChem has almost every vitamin included.
You may use it to pre-soak any dried fish food before feeding to fish. You may also add a few drops in the aquarium water according to the instruction.
There might be other high-quality fish food on the market. New products come into existence all the time. Check the label for ingredients; you can tell the good fish food from not so good ones right away.
Provide your fish with the best fish food available will contribute to optimal health for them. Only then you can bring out the best out of your fish, including enhanced colors and their natural behaviors.
Provide fish more than just one food. Offer them a variety
To optimize fish health and colors, we highly recommend using at least one high-quality staple fish food for daily feeding. Any of the premium flakes and pellets make a great staple food.
Rotating multiple different brands of high-quality fish food can have the benefit of ensuring the fish get a more balanced diet.
High protein meaty food such as bloodworm should be used only as treats. The treats should be used in the place of staple food instead of using them together to avoid overfeeding. The supplements such as Garlic Guard and VItaChem can be used every day to soak all the dried foods.
While the fish food might last for a long time on the shelf, they will start to degrade once you have opened the seal. Keep them in the fridge is a good idea the process.
Frozen fish food is the best
If you have the budget, and extra room in the freezer, you might want to get the frozen food instead of the freeze-dried version. Frozen bloodworm, krill, shrimp, brine shrimp, etc. are all the best treats you can get for your fish. They are even better than the live version since the frozen food has no risk of parasites. It cost more to get them. They require staying in a freezer the whole time. However, it is ok to use the freeze-dried alternative. They are the next best thing.