Flake food for veggie loving fish

[traco1]

It has been years since I have had fish who are more veggie based eaters. I have lots of frozen bloodworms, brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, homemade beefheart, all protein loaded for discus. So after feeding the discus a variety of the above and pellets, I was going around to my other tanks that house platies, swords and mollies. I need some good flake food to use for the livebearers.

I've read through the sticky here on recipes for fish food which is a great resource. Just wonder if someone could point me in the right direction for what suits these fish?

[thegrandpoohbah]

All my fish (including platys) get a blend of NLS community formula pellets, OSI spirulina pellets and HBH veggie flakes. I take everything and run it through a small food processor to break up the pellets. The platys also get an occaisional treat of cooked peas or Bottom Bites.

This feeding program has worked very well for me so far. A number of my platys and swordtails have wound up in Melody's tanks so I'm sure she'll vouch for the health of my fish.

[Melody]

Depends on the fish, but most Livebearers require veggies to one degree or another. I prefer fresh/dehydrated sources, but in flakes I like Omega One & Ken's Fish Vegie Flakes. HBH also makes a popular one, but Ken's reads slightly better so I went with that. You can get 'Emerald Entre' in the frozen foods, which is shrimp & spirulina - I use that a lot.

The trick is to read the label - just because it says they're vegie or spirulina flakes, doesn't mean that's the main ingredients. Omega One just has one kind that has more vegies than their other brands, for example, but its still mainly seafood.

When you factor in the processing, you're probably only giving them more fiber and a multi-vitamin anyway. That's why I prefer fresh, but I like the convenience of flake too. A varied diet is what is important in the big picture.