New Life Spectrum Food

[RD.]

As most of you probably already know, I'm a huge fan of NLS. My only issue with this food for the past couple of years has been whether it was a 'safe' food for herbivores, or not? Conventional wisdom would say not, as herbivores need a diet high in a variety of vegetable matter to thrive.

And of course with Africans, there's always the risk of the dreaded Malawi Bloat.

Although NLS does contain a large amount of vegetable matter, it's still a Krill/Herring based food.

After discussing this 'bloat' issue with regards to herbivores with a number of people, I am no longer concerned that when fed in moderation, and introduced slowly (as any new food should be), that NLS will cause bloat in any fish. (including herbivores)

There are people that feed NLS to their Tropheus, their herbivorous Mbuna, as well as to numerous species of herbivorous salt water fish, and they have no issues with bloat. These fish not only never have bloat issues, but they appear to thrive on this diet. Although NLS is based on Krill & Herring, it's also a very highly digestible protein, and is followed by IMO the best mix of Alage Meal that one can find. (Kelp, Seaweed, and Haematococcus pluvialis)

I think the key thing to remember when feeding NLS, is that this food is highly nutritious, highly digestible, and highly concentrated, and that a little goes a very long ways. If you feed too much at once, or too often, then yes, you may very well see some gastrointestinal issues in your fish. Often times people switch foods over too swiftly, or feed too often, or feed too much at each feeding. When their fish become ill they blame the food, when in fact it's really a case of operator error. The only herbivore I currently own is a juvie Metriaclima callainos, and he's had no issues whatsoever with eating NLS (exclusively), and his color & growth has been amazing.

This obviously doesn't prove much, and although I know Pablo feeds all of his herbivores NLS (including Tropheus), anything he states can obviously be considered a conflict of interest, so I went asking Tropheus breeders in the Tropheus folder on C-F.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=69149

Sarah sent me an e-mail about this thread, I'm the one who has been feeding my Tropheus moori and T. brichardi New Life for the last six months. It is the only food that I have been feeding them. I made this change after e-mailing Pablo and he assured me that he had been feeding his Tropheus this for years. I have 60+ tanks mostly Tanganyikans, some South American dwarfs, including dwarf pikes and West Africans and I feed them all NLS exclusively with great results. Back to the Tropheus, the main thing that I have noticed, is that my Tropheus no longer have that hollow belly look that seems to be seen in them. It's what has worked well for me for years and I have found the color, heath and breeding of my fish was improved since I stated using NLS. I hope this helps. Pablo, do you have a job for me  ?

Thanks,

Daniel

I asked the Tropheus keepers, as this is one of the most diet sensitive species of Africans where the mere mention of the word BLOAT sends waves of fear among breeders. Hopefully more NLS users will post their results in the thread above.

After reading Daniel's comment, and speaking to other breeders of herbivorous fish, I would personally have no hesitation in feeding NLS exclusively to any fresh water, or salt water herbivorous fish.

Pablo Tepoot (the owner of NLS) phoned me the other night & we spoke in great depth about his food, bloat, his fish farms, etc. Pablo has the 2 largest 'African Cichlid' fish farms in the world, and has been breeding & raising these fish for over 30 years. He only sells wholesale, and his minimum order for fish is 2000 US. Obviously you won't find his fish in the various Petco's & Petsmart's. What many people don't realize is that he also owns & maintains salt water fish, some of them very finicky species, which up until recent times were very difficult to keep & raise in an aquarium. Pablo has a 2000 gallon salt water tank, with over 300 fish, and every last one of them (including the strict herbivores) eat NLS exclusively. Pablo told me the competition will never reach or surpass the quality of food that he makes due to the high cost of his raw ingredients. He created this food due to customer demand, and even though the manufacturing costs have risen significantly over the past 6 1/2 years, he has refused to raise his prices.

In his words "money isn't everything". Pablo is a very down to earth guy, who at the age of 65 years, is quite comfortable in knowing he's made major achievements in the tropical fish industry.

Pablo shared with me many of the 'secret ingredients' that are in his food, which he told me that for obvious reasons he would never post online, or share via email or PM. He knows the competition is watching him closely, and has been analysing his food in various labs around the world. His food labels are accurate, but they certainly don't list each & every additive that he uses. Again, due to the high cost of many of these raw ingredients he feels the competition will never create a food that can match his, as they will look at the bottom dollar & realize the profit margin isn't worth the extra cost. Pablo disagrees, and is happy making a reasonable profit, while at the same time knowing he's created the best product on the market.

I've been on the fence for a long time with regards to feeding herbivores NLS exclusively, but not anymore.

As far as omnivores and/or carnivores, NLS will produce results you will never see in any other product on the market.

Still not convinced, feel free to check out the reviews posted about this food on C-F. http://www.cichlid-forum.com/reviews/view_...view.php?id=286

You can also read an article that I wrote that was recently published on New Life Spectrum food.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/new_life_spectrum.php

Edited March 8, 2005 by RD.

[punman]

I've been feeding my Blue Dolphins, C azureus, and Yellow labs NLS since spring (I know these are not herbivores). I like the results but believing even non herbivores need their greens I feed them OSI (Ocean Star Internatuional) Spirulina Pellet food. Major ingredients: Fish Meal, Wheat Flour, Spirulina, Shrimp Meal - 41% protein, 4% fat. I usually feed them that in the morning when they are hungriest. Mostly they are fed New Life Spectrum.

[RD.]

FYI - New Life Spectrum contains plenty of greens, in the form of Kelp, Seaweed, Haematococcus pluvialis, and spirulina.

One thing that was stressed to me is the importance of the amino acid profile in the food. It doesn't matter how high the protein content is (feather meal is quite high in protein, but not very digestible) if the amino acid requirements aren't fully met, the fish will not thrive. The protein must be in a form that the fish can fully digest & utilize, and all of the essential amino acids must be present.

I think some people get a bit too caught up in the amount of greens Mbuna eat, vs where their 'protein' source in the wild truly comes from. According to Ad Konings (whom I'm not about to argue with) he states that although algae dominates the stomach contents of the majority of Mbuna, and they are considered herbivores, the foods that really make them grow are micro-organisms, insect nymphs & larvae, crustaceans, mites, snails, and zoo plankton ..... not vegetable materials at all. This is why Mbuna in the wild constantly scrape the algae off the rocks, in order to get enough nutrition from the aufwuchs they have to pack a fair bit in on a daily basis.

[Vallisneria]

Thanks for posting that here Neil.

I have been feeding NLS to my africans(haps and omnivorous mbuna) for almsot 1 year now. I feed about a 50% NLS, 50% nutrifin max spirulina flake. Even though NLS may be ok to feed exclusively to herbivores(and i know my fish aren't herbivores) i dont' think i would ever do it. I personally like feeding different things. It adds some interest and even thought i know the fish dont' care, i think they like variety :smokey:

I know pablo never would, as he thinks its ok to feed his food to herbivores, but i would be interested in a NLS veggie pellet. HAs he said why he hasn't come up with a veggie version(even thought i know you can feed the regular NLS pellets to herbivores)

[RD.]

Val ------ if you read the last paragraph in my post previous to yours, it pretty much explains why he hasn't used any more veggies that what's already in his mix.

Pablo's knowledge of what makes a fish 'tick' is very impressive. He didn't just toss some money down & tell someone to create a food & some labels with his name on them, he designed this food himself, and hand picked each ingredient until he found what he felt was the perfect blend.

Recently I crossed swords with a poster on CF who was posting under the guise of a fellow 'hobbyist' when in fact he works for and/or represents a competitor of Pablo's. Once he was outed by me, he left & has not returned. One thing that he did post is worth repeating here:

Depending on the quality of harvest and the time of season, both spirulina ang krill are in the neighborhood of 60%, give or take a couple percentage points. Now, krill will just about always outperform spirulina in terms of growth. Even if it is slightly lower in protein than spirulina. For vertebrates, the amino acid profile of the krill is better in terms of assimilation than that of spirulina. Furthermore, spirulina contains up to 11-13% minerals by content. This high mineral content slows the metabolic processes in fish. Side by side trials by breeders reveal that the krill fed fish grow faster but with noticably less color. Spirulina fed fish are very colorfull but, because they convert energy into the manufacture of pigments, they as a result achieve smaller size. This is on top of being deprived the aforementioned 11-13% of amino acids. The moral of the story is that if you color the fish when they are young, you might not get the size you want.

Make sense? Now you know why Nutrafin Spirulina Flakes have fish meal as the #2 ingredient, even though the main ingredient is already in the 60% range. (for protein) Remove the fish meal, and you might have a decent protein % left in that food, but due to the reason stated in the quote above that protein would not provide the right balance of amino acids to provide proper growth/repair etc. Any fish (including herbivores) can only utilize so much spirulina, the rest simply goes to waste.

Also, keep in mind that percent protein says nothing about the quality of the protein, only the quantity of nitrogen. The value of protein is directly related to the amino acid content. The difference between herbivores/omnivores/carnivores, is the way the fish 'process' the food they take in. Most Malawi cichlids are opportunistic feeders, and will gorge themselves on *any* food type that is available.

Konings mentions this many times in his books.

A herbivores gut can be 3 times the length of its body, and a longer gut means greater passage time, and is associated with lower energy yielding foods. Much like a cow, they are grazers, but their main source of protein is still based on micro-organisms, insect nymphs & larvae, crustaceans, mites, snails, and zoo plankton. This is the same type of protein that you will find in krill & fish meal.

A carnivore may only find prey once every few days, but that single feed may sustain it for another 24-48 hours, as it's usually rich in nutrients. (most likely a smaller fish) A carnivores intestine is shorter than its body, but it has a rather large stomach. These fish are equipped to eating an entire fish in a single feeding. They will simply swim off & digest it later.

Many people tend to associate high protein diets with bloat, when in fact it's the source of the protien that can cause problems, not the overall percent of protein in the food. This is due to the way herbivores process their food. They simply aren't designed for eating the same types of protein, as say a N. venustus. (such as frozen krill, shrimp, salmon, etc) In much the same way some people can't handle greasy or spicy food, and when they do consume large quantities of this food, they end up with gastrointestinal problems.

Many commercial fish foods contain far more protein & fat than what these fish would ever receive on a daily basis in the wild. Tank raised fish don't have near the stress level as fish in the wild, who fight every day to make it to the next day, yet many people feed them food that IMO is designed more for "triathalon fish". This is exactly why you see tank raised yellow labs in the 6-7" range, and peacocks that are in the 7-9" range. In the wild these fish are much, much smaller, yet their color is just as good (or better) than any tank raised specimen.

Pablo has found that feeding 'all' types of fish a high quality krill/fish protein, gives them the best growth, color, and overall health. At the same time he understands the importance of 'greens', and has a large amount of algae meal, as well as spirulina in his formula. It already is a "veggie pellet", Pablo has simply chosen to use krill & fish as the main 'protein' source.

There are numerous types of 'fish' meal, and numerous grades of fish meal. Not all of it is handled, stored, or processed the same way, and this alone can make a MAJOR difference in the growth, color, and overall health of your fish.

Obviously these things aren't printed on labels, nor are they discussed by fish food manufacturers. These companies are in this for one reason, and one reason only, to make $$$$$$, and lots of it. I suspect that for the most part they answer to share holders, not fellow hobbyists. And that's just the main ingredient in these foods, imagine what happens when they start to look at adding various grades of grains etc. A low grade protein might be able to 'maintain' a healthy fish, but under stress from aggression, injury, breeding, etc, that same fish will certainly not thrive, and might not even survive.

Pablo is unique in that regards. The creation of NLS wasn't something he needed to do, or had to do, it was something he wanted to do. I imagine he makes a fist full of $$$ off the sales of his fish farms alone.

As far as fish liking variety, I seriously doubt fish have the capacity to understand the difference, most Africans will eat pretty much anything & everything you toss in their tank.

Sometimes it's difficult to not get caught up in the 'hype' of some of these fish food companies, but just remember there are numerous ways to manipulate an ingredients label, and the laws for ornamental fish foods are pretty lax.

Edited January 9, 2005 by RD.

[Vallisneria]

As far as fish liking variety, I seriously doubt fish have the capacity to understand the difference, most Africans will eat pretty much anything & everything you toss in their tank.

I know the fish dont' care I guess its more that i like to feed a variety.

if you read the last paragraph in my post previous to yours, it pretty much explains why he hasn't used any more veggies that what's already in his mix.

I read that paragraph and understand it(i've read about that before). I guess i'm just so used to seeing a regular formula and a veggie formula for every other fish food.

I love reading your articles and info about fish foods. I have learned more about foods this year then i did all the other years combined. I know realize that jsut because a fish food might look "good". It doesn't always mean the contents are as labeled

[RD.]

Thanks Val, at least I know someone is actually reading my spiels.

I understand what you're saying about having different formulas for different fish, most often this is done to appease the consumer, and not the fish. I still have my Nutrafin Spirulina flakes too, but as soon as I get my hands on some of the NLS Growth Formula, I'm going all the way & growing some juvies out from the start with NLS, right on through to adulthood. No more supplements, no more mixes of various foods. As it stands I already feed my fish 80% or more of NLS, so this won't be a drastic, or sudden change for them.

[RD.]

BTW Val, I was reading some various threads on CF & some other Tropheus sites on the web, and one of the most popular brands of 'flake' foods for tropheus appears to be OSI Spirulina Flakes.

I thought you might be interested in seeing what the main ingredient is in this brand of food.

http://www.oceanstarinternational.com/osi/...ke_foods_7.html

[Vallisneria]

and one of the most popular brands of 'flake' foods for tropheus appears to be OSI Spirulina Flakes.

I know, when i was looking for a good spirulina flake(or pellet) to feed my fish i checked out some tropheus sites and everyone seemed to be using OSI. I didn't really understnad this as their "spirulina" doesn't have much spirulina in it. I wouldnt' consider it a good choice for tropheus,especially since ther are better flakes out there.

My last batch of rustie fry was fed almost exclusively on NLS pellets. When they were smaller i fed them cyclops and crushed omega one flake but ocne they were large enough to eat the NLS, It was pretty much all i ever fed them.

My NLS growth formula should be here in a week or so. I"ll test it out on my next batch too and see how they do.

[RD.]

There's still a fair bit of spirulina in that formula, but as you can see the main protein source is still fish meal. Just goes to show that even a diet sensitive herbivore such as Tropheus can do fine on a fish meal based food.

[tc51]

Just wanted to say, once again , this is why I come back to this board again and again.

Great job and info Neil and Val. This is information that we all can use.

I just orderd some NLS, along with johnsmith, and will be using it for the first time so I sure can use the information you guys have put forward.

Thanks again for the info guys.

Tom.

P.S. Do I see a 33 gal tank in your future Neil.

[RD.]

Hey Tom, glad you found that info interesting, and I know that your fish will enjoy the quality of this food.

As far as winning a tank (or anything for that matter) I would say the chances are slim to none. I've never had any luck in the department. :P

Seriously, I have a passion for health issues with fish, especially on the nutrition side of things, and every time I do some research on the subject I learn something new myself, so it's always a win-win situation for me.

[African_Fever]

So is there anyone else out there as interested as myself in getting ahold of some NLS? Maybe a group order of some kind? Thanks again for the convincing argument Neil.

Kyle

[rahim101]

Africa_fever:

"punman" may still have some for sale. Maybe try and PM him

[RD.]

Dwayne (punman) has none left.