Melody
Jul 19th 2008, 05:29 PM
Since I'm a big feeder of frozen food, I am always pumped to see new varieties and improvements. It tells me the demand is justifying study and that can only mean good things for what is available for my aquatic creatures.
I occasionally hear people refer to the moisture content in frozen food. I don't get that. Of course there's more moisture content in frozen than dry - frozen isn't processed into dust and heated into oblivion. There's more moisture in live foods than dry too. They have to add some water to frozen foods so it can be formed into uniform blocks. The food in those blocks is very dense - it's not like I get a cube of 80% water and a few bits of food. It's just enough for me to be able to drain off the 'juice' that can pollute my tank. It's like the fact that humans are around 70% 'water', it doesn't make us any less solid :laugh: .
I guess people try to assess the guaranteed analysis the same as they would for dry food, but it's comparing apples to oranges. Compare naturally-sourced nutrition content, supplementation with fresh ingredients like Spirulina, the lack of fillers and other garbage.... processed dry food isn't even in the same league, it's way way way below it in another league entirely.
My fave brand has to be San Francisco Bay Brand (http://www.sfbb.com) frozen foods. The selection, ingredients/mixes, supplementation and sizes (of both the food and the packaging) makes it very easy for me to choose their product 90% of the time.
SFBB tells me that they have launched three new frozen foods for us to choose from, which aren't even on their website yet.
SFBB Frozen Freshwater Frenzy was developed to accommodate freshwater community fish species feeding at all levels. It provides the essential nutrients to maintain high levels and vigor in your fish.
Ingredients: Brine Shrimp, Mini Bloodworms, Cyclops, Daphnia, Watercress. Fortified with garlic and Vitamin C.
They are replacing the Cichlid formula in their Freshwater Multipack with Frozen Freshwater Frenzy.
SFBB Frozen Rotifers (Brachionus plicatilis typicus) is designed for freshwater & saltwater fish as well as inverts.
SFBB Mini Blood Worms are a wonderful option for those who want to feed Bloodworms to their smaller fish. SFBB uses a special 'X-treme clean' process for their bloodworms to ensure that we don't expose our fish to any nasties.
In other frozen food news, Omega One now has a full line of frozen products but I've yet to see that in stores. You can have a look at what they offer here (http://www.omegasea.net/products6.html).
I'm anxious to try the new products as well as other products that they carry. SFBB even has a wonderful frozen turtle food. Most stores don't carry all of the varieties and I wish they would start to... or at least bring them in and see how they sell. Maybe if we keep requesting them we'll see more of it. We should at least see the new Freshwater Frenzy, I would think.
Here are some other brands of frozen foods that you can read about at your leisure so you don't have to read box after box in a store. It will also give you a list to start nagging your LFS about .
Ocean Nutrition (http://www.oceannutrition.com/product_fresh.php?file=fresh_frozen1.php&head=) - Features a Discus formula (http://www.oceannutrition.com/product_fresh.php?lang=en&file=fresh_frozen2.php&head=) originally created by Jack Wattley.
Hikari (http://www.hikariusa.com/products/bio-pure/) - I like their frozen BBS & Mega Marine Algae but I can't find the latter these days.
DT's (http://www.dtplankton.com/index.html) - Phytoplankton & Oyster Eggs for Marine Invert's. The utilization of oyster eggs as a coral food was first discussed in 2003 with a biologist in Vancouver, BC who had developed methodology to extract the eggs in quantity. Later that summer, oyster eggs were tested as an aquarium coral food.
Argent (http://www.argent-labs.com/)
Piscene (http://www.mysis.com/)
Nutramar Ova (http://www.qualitymarineusa.com/products.asp?cls=3&scls=8&cat=303&scat=49&id=0732090)
Rod's Food (http://www.rodsfood.com/index.html) - Includes Broccoli & Carrots.
By all means add any I've forgotten & I'd like to hear about your fave frozen foods as well. :yes: If you know what brands are carried in what stores, all the better! I usually find the SFBB at Pacific Aquatics and Petsmart.
I occasionally hear people refer to the moisture content in frozen food. I don't get that. Of course there's more moisture content in frozen than dry - frozen isn't processed into dust and heated into oblivion. There's more moisture in live foods than dry too. They have to add some water to frozen foods so it can be formed into uniform blocks. The food in those blocks is very dense - it's not like I get a cube of 80% water and a few bits of food. It's just enough for me to be able to drain off the 'juice' that can pollute my tank. It's like the fact that humans are around 70% 'water', it doesn't make us any less solid :laugh: .
I guess people try to assess the guaranteed analysis the same as they would for dry food, but it's comparing apples to oranges. Compare naturally-sourced nutrition content, supplementation with fresh ingredients like Spirulina, the lack of fillers and other garbage.... processed dry food isn't even in the same league, it's way way way below it in another league entirely.
My fave brand has to be San Francisco Bay Brand (http://www.sfbb.com) frozen foods. The selection, ingredients/mixes, supplementation and sizes (of both the food and the packaging) makes it very easy for me to choose their product 90% of the time.
SFBB tells me that they have launched three new frozen foods for us to choose from, which aren't even on their website yet.
SFBB Frozen Freshwater Frenzy was developed to accommodate freshwater community fish species feeding at all levels. It provides the essential nutrients to maintain high levels and vigor in your fish.
Ingredients: Brine Shrimp, Mini Bloodworms, Cyclops, Daphnia, Watercress. Fortified with garlic and Vitamin C.
They are replacing the Cichlid formula in their Freshwater Multipack with Frozen Freshwater Frenzy.
SFBB Frozen Rotifers (Brachionus plicatilis typicus) is designed for freshwater & saltwater fish as well as inverts.
SFBB Mini Blood Worms are a wonderful option for those who want to feed Bloodworms to their smaller fish. SFBB uses a special 'X-treme clean' process for their bloodworms to ensure that we don't expose our fish to any nasties.
In other frozen food news, Omega One now has a full line of frozen products but I've yet to see that in stores. You can have a look at what they offer here (http://www.omegasea.net/products6.html).
I'm anxious to try the new products as well as other products that they carry. SFBB even has a wonderful frozen turtle food. Most stores don't carry all of the varieties and I wish they would start to... or at least bring them in and see how they sell. Maybe if we keep requesting them we'll see more of it. We should at least see the new Freshwater Frenzy, I would think.
Here are some other brands of frozen foods that you can read about at your leisure so you don't have to read box after box in a store. It will also give you a list to start nagging your LFS about .
Ocean Nutrition (http://www.oceannutrition.com/product_fresh.php?file=fresh_frozen1.php&head=) - Features a Discus formula (http://www.oceannutrition.com/product_fresh.php?lang=en&file=fresh_frozen2.php&head=) originally created by Jack Wattley.
Hikari (http://www.hikariusa.com/products/bio-pure/) - I like their frozen BBS & Mega Marine Algae but I can't find the latter these days.
DT's (http://www.dtplankton.com/index.html) - Phytoplankton & Oyster Eggs for Marine Invert's. The utilization of oyster eggs as a coral food was first discussed in 2003 with a biologist in Vancouver, BC who had developed methodology to extract the eggs in quantity. Later that summer, oyster eggs were tested as an aquarium coral food.
Argent (http://www.argent-labs.com/)
Piscene (http://www.mysis.com/)
Nutramar Ova (http://www.qualitymarineusa.com/products.asp?cls=3&scls=8&cat=303&scat=49&id=0732090)
Rod's Food (http://www.rodsfood.com/index.html) - Includes Broccoli & Carrots.
By all means add any I've forgotten & I'd like to hear about your fave frozen foods as well. :yes: If you know what brands are carried in what stores, all the better! I usually find the SFBB at Pacific Aquatics and Petsmart.