AquanourriPlus Food

[Melody]

With the contest over and the prizes going out, I thought we could get a thread started and review the AquanourriPlus (http://www.aquanourriplus.com/) food. I'll respectfully ask our sponsors (or the manufacturers/distributors of any product reviewed) to remember that although they are welcome to answer questions, they must allow us to openly discuss the food, good or bad, without interference. By the same token, those who comment must be prepared to make a fact/experience-based statement. Comments like 'this food sux' without a reasonable explanation, will be deleted. Thanks!

AquanourriPlus has an exceptional selection of foods, including some oddities like Liver Flakes. They also carry a very comprehensive line of freeze-dried foods, frozen foods, live foods and more. This food is produced by an outside source and then repackaged. The packaging was a sealed, labelled bag. The prices are very reasonable, even with shipping considered.

I ordered the Golden Pearls (decapsulated Brine Shrimp eggs) and Garlic flakes. I've received the Golden Pearls and the flakes will arrive later. It just so happened that tonight while doing a waterchange, I found this...

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/MM-EndlerFry.jpg


They weren't there this morning so they're brand new Endler's fry. Livebearers are born reasonably large by comparison to 'eggers' as a rule, but Endlers are amongst the smallest. I figured they'd be the perfect first candidate for the Golden Pearls.

Golden Pearls are Brine Shrimp eggs with the outer shell removed (decapsulated). Once the eggs are decapsulated, they will no longer hatch. This dry food is rehydrated for feeding. They are promoted as being more nutritious since the hatched Brine Shrimp begin to use the egg nutrition upon hatching, depleting the enzymes, lipids, amino acids, etc. Brine Shrimp alone isn't terribly nutritions, its the egg sac that makes BBS so valuable to growing fry. Since they are not heat processed, it makes sense to me that these would indeed be more nutritious, and they sure are a whole lot easier than BBS.

The fry ate them quickly and appeared to have no trouble doing so. Since I had the food out anyway, I sprinked some into the Shrimp tank which also has older fry and a few young adults. All of the fish and the Shrimp seemed thrilled with the stuff.

The flakes I ordered are the Garlic variety and I'll post about those when I get them. I'll look forward to hearing everyone else's reviews of the food as they receive it. They generously sent several varieties so it should be a good overall review when we're done. If anyone has tried it already, by all means post your thoughts.

[_BaDgUy_]

Actually, Golden Pearls are not decapsulated brine shrimps :;):

Here is an ingredient list to what is in there : Artemia, squid, shrimp and fish proteins, purified fish oils, phospholipids, astaxanthin, vitamins and protected minerals, antioxidants, immuno-modulators

And a short description of the product :
Golden Pearl is a revolutionary new larval diet that has successfully replaced live Artemia nauplii in marine fish hatcheries in Europe. A patented processing technique (agglomeration of micro-encapsulated particles) results in feed particles or "clusters" that resemble raspberries under the microscope. Golden Pearls have tiny air pockets that keep the feed particles in the water column, not on the bottom of the tank. Golden Pearls mimic live brine shrimp nauplii.


Hope this helps!

We also have the actual decapsulated brine shrimp eggs on our site :smile:

[Melody]

LOL Well you can tell how long ago it was since I ordered them. Other people call their decap's Golden Pearls, hence the confusion. Glad we're straight on it now, and a little lesson on decap's as a bonus. Sounds like a good food regardless. Thanks for clearing that up!

[ChrissyFishy]

I can't wait to try mine and I'll post about it :yes:

[ChrissyFishy]

They like the cichlid food and the liver food. :thumbup: I think they like the liver food best. I mixed some of the liver food with vegetable flakes so they don't get to much meat. :Dinner: I looked at the website and I think I will order more food someday.::D:

[Melody]

Glad to hear that they're enjoying it. I mix flakes all the time too. :smile:

[Slipstream]

I got goldfish flakes, which i mix with my tropical flakes, just so i can use it up, and my bala shark loves it. :) I also add a few small pellets in with the flakes. So they get three different kinda food stuffs, and seem to love it, so they are happy, and im happy :)

[Katalyst]

Can't wait to try it!

[Katalyst]

Can't wait to try it!
I recieved mine today, a big thank you to Aquanourris Plus as well as Melody. Who also sent me some Endlers from Ed and calcium tabs.

Off to make stinky fish food!

Many thanks!

[Melody]

My pleasure! Especially since I got me some snailbies from you. :smile: Let us know how the cookies turned out & how your fishies like the food.

[Katalyst]

My pleasure! Especially since I got me some snailbies from you. :smile: Let us know how the cookies turned out & how your fishies like the food.
The house smells like death and the cories went ballistic for it. They never go ballistic for anything so I'm assuming it was a success. Now if it just took a little less time and didn't make my kitchen such a disaster!

[Melody]

The things we do for them :rolleyes: . I don't put nearly as much effort into human meals...lol. Where's the feeding frenzy pic's?::D:

[Katalyst]

The things we do for them :rolleyes: . I don't put nearly as much effort into human meals...lol. Where's the feeding frenzy pic's?::D:
They need to be resized....My 90's a used tank and is a bit scratched up so it doesn't always photograph well. And they ALWAYS seem to shove the food into the corner that I can't see lol. I'll post some in a bit.

[Melody]

Has it been a bit yet? :DevilGrin: I love feeding frenzy pic's. There's so many fish and they're all wearing their best colours due to the excitement.:yes:

[blainep]

I decided to give it a try out, ordered about 5 pounds of assorted foods.

[Melody]

That should keep you going for awhile, even in a fishroom the size of yours. It will be great to hear about the reaction to more varieties.

I had to get another airtight container and if I keep this up, I'll have to get another freezer too :laugh: . Now I have a container for regular fish food, one for freeze-dried & other misc. food (like the Turtle & Crustacean food I feed to the snails) and another one for fry/baby food & 'powders' (such as Naturose & the human-grade seaweed powders I get from health food stores). Combine that with all of the seafood mixes & frozen vegies for homemade food and the fish pretty much own my freezer.:rolleyes:

[traco1]

So, all food is stored in the freezer, bringing out for supper time?

[Melody]

I keep some in the fridge in smaller containers. Pellets I keep in an airtight container at room temp as the cold seems to make them harder for the fish to eat. I just refill the containers every week or so from the freezer supply.

[ChrissyFishy]

These flakes are more bendy than my other flakes. I can't tell if they are thinner or what. They feel soft or something. Where do you get those containers?

[Melody]

Walmart or Zellers. They should say that they are airtight as its a selling feature. They're not too expensive but usually a bit more than your cheapest containers. If you have money to burn, Tupperware makes exceptional airtight containers.

Gentlemen, a word to the wise, do not use your wife's Tupperware for fish food.:wideeyed:

[Katalyst]

So, all food is stored in the freezer, bringing out for supper time?
Just be careful with the freezer if you choose to go that route and make sure you get good containers like Melody suggested. Food that gets freezer burns looses vitamins A, D, C & K. Learned the hard way myself last year with about $65.00 worth of Goldfish Connection food & needless to say I was not impressed with myself.

[PPulcher]

What about those screw-top type containers similar to what NLS comes in? I also have a jar of earthworm flake from Doug White that is in an opaque white screw-top container.

I think places like Solutions (home organization company) have stuff like this. Transparent would be better for seeing what is inside though.

[Katalyst]

What about those screw-top type containers similar to what NLS comes in? I also have a jar of earthworm flake from Doug White that is in an opaque white screw-top container.

I think places like Solutions (home organization company) have stuff like this. Transparent would be better for seeing what is inside though.

I had no idea there was such a thing as earthworm flakes. Thanks!

[CACAdmin]

Just be careful with the freezer if you choose to go that route and make sure you get good containers like Melody suggested. Food that gets freezer burns looses vitamins A, D, C & K. Learned the hard way myself last year with about $65.00 worth of Goldfish Connection food & needless to say I was not impressed with myself.
Good containers and sealed and make sure they are full, if not freezer burn can still happen.

[traco1]

I would think ziploc bags with all the air squeezed out would work also? And less room in the freezer and fridge.

[Katalyst]

I would think ziploc bags with all the air squeezed out would work also? And less room in the freezer and fridge.
I keep it all in the fridge, I have no room in the freezer. :wink:

[Melody]

What about those screw-top type containers similar to what NLS comes in? I also have a jar of earthworm flake from Doug White that is in an opaque white screw-top container.

I think places like Solutions (home organization company) have stuff like this. Transparent would be better for seeing what is inside though.


Screw tops wouldn't be air tight, unfortunately, or I don't know of any that are anyway. The best kind of containers allow you to press the lid down in the middle, squeezing air out and creating a vacuum seal of sorts along with the tight lid.

Just be careful with the freezer if you choose to go that route and make sure you get good containers like Melody suggested. Food that gets freezer burns looses vitamins A, D, C & K. Learned the hard way myself last year with about $65.00 worth of Goldfish Connection food & needless to say I was not impressed with myself.

Good point! It won't be very tastey either.:nah:

[blainep]

A big box 'o' fish food arrived yesterday.

http://tlfs.org/ntanks/me/mini-DSCN2351.JPG

Crappy picture, but alot of food !

Should keep the fishes happy for a while.

[Slipstream]

Id love to get my hands on that much food.. LOL

[blainep]

Id love to get my hands on that much food.. LOL

It was a fairly hefty outlay for fish food, but it's alot of fish food and compared to retail, quite cheap.

Buying that much of a 'name brand' food would have cost probably 3 times what I paid.
I bought the large amount to even out the shipping charges.

The fish seem to like it. Fed them the premium tropical flakes tonite and they gobbled it up.

[Melody]

Nice to have more options in Canada. :smile:

[blainep]

Well overall the AquaNourriPlus food seems to be a success ! :thumbup:

I've been using it for a couple of weeks now, different species seem to prefer different flavors/blends of food, but they eat it all !

The fish like the food and it looks like it has a good ingredients list.

So far, I'd give AquaNourriPlus food a thumbs up !

[Katalyst]

The shrimp flakes & golden pearls are a hit here, and even my floaty fish seem to be okay with the flakes...Which is a huge help, so far only Julian Sprung's sea veggies & the shrimp flakes don't make them flip.

[Melody]

My fish like the Golden Pearls too, both fry and the smaller species. The processing concept is reasonable on those as well. I'll be trying them on any egger fry that I'm blessed with, along with the decap Brine Shrimp eggs that I got in.

Blaine, the smaller wild-types that you sent me go nuts for the Golden Pearls. I find some of them to be a bit picky... maybe they're used to live food?

[blainep]

I imagine the Golden Pearls would mimic their natural foods. Maybe I'll have to place another order after New Years.

[DaFishMan]

The golden pearl food and decap brine shrimp eggs sounds good if I get cichlid fry to feed down the road. No room here for a brine shrimp hatchery so it works for me :)

[Melody]

I'm a lazy breeder - never seem to get around to hatching BBS. I buy it frozen if that counts. You can also get little bottles of it now but its pricey. Microworms aren't what I'd call an alternative nutrition-wise, but you can gutload them so they aren't too bad and they're small. The decap eggs need to be rehydrated but otherwise they're supposedly even more nutritious than BBS.

[ChrissyFishy]

The brine shrmp eggs are better? I can feed the eggs instead of hatching them if I soak them first? :Think:

[KnaveTO]

I am curious as to the ingredient list on the flakes. I am a bit of a stickler when it comes to feeding my fish and the words Fish Meal turn me off of the food. To me the better foods must have the top 4 or 5 ingredients as actual fish or crustaceans. And in Canada ingredient listings must be in order of volume so they are the highest volume in the the food.

[Melody]

The brine shrmp eggs are better? I can feed the eggs instead of hatching them if I soak them first? :Think:

They have to be decapsulated Brine Shrimp eggs. The eggs you buy for hatching aren't the same. There are processes for decapsulating them yourself, but its a pain. Once decapsulated, they can no longer be hatched.:smile:

[Melody]

I am curious as to the ingredient list on the flakes. I am a bit of a stickler when it comes to feeding my fish and the words Fish Meal turn me off of the food. To me the better foods must have the top 4 or 5 ingredients as actual fish or crustaceans. And in Canada ingredient listings must be in order of volume so they are the highest volume in the the food.

There's good fishmeal and bad fishmeal, but I prefer to see what is going into the meal too.

There's a catch to the ingredient list though. Most has to be first, but its according to weight. So if Krill weighs more, it will before Spirulina, but there isn't necessarily more Krill than Spirulina.

I won't bore people with my rant on over-processing again... this week anyway...lol...but the fact remains that if you really want evaluate the nutritional content, reading the ingredients doesn't help a whole lot. The heat processed foods are good for their vitamin supplements, minerals and fiber. If you want to know what your fish are getting from natural sources, the freeze/spray-dried/frozen/fresh route is the way to go. Aquanourriplus also carries a good selection of those. Kensfish.com has the same foods in the US, and he lists the ingredients.

On the fiber side, that's probably why you're having success with the Brine flake & the Goldies Kat. Brine flake includes a lot of shell and crushed shell is fiber, for all intents and purposes.