"~ janj" wrote in message
...
wrote in message
the problem with corn based foods is the same problem found with that
dog
food that was killing dogs earlier this year... contamination with
fungus that
causes toxins. food for trout and catfish is formulated to first be as
cheap as possible
and then put weight on the fish as fast as possible so they can be
harvested as
fast as possible. this food is not formulated for the long term health
of pet
fish. corn is implicated in liver disease in fish, perhaps rancidity
and fungal toxins
are the underlying cause. a good rule of thumb is feed what the
breeders feed.
Ingrid
==============
Any food can *go rancid* if it's not kept cool and dry, not just catfish
and
trout chow. My koi and goldfish have been on these feeds at least 7 years
and breed like crazy. All are healthy and active with excellent color.
No
$8 to $10 a lb food fed or needed.
=======================
That's true, rancidity, and that's great, if those foods work for you and
you're happy with them. If I had as many fish as say Roy or Carol feeds,
I'd be looking at Rangen, a koi food that is still fairly reasonable
priced, jmo.

I need something affordable. And considering they went through as much $8+
lb food as they do the cheaper foods, I'll stick to the cheaper foods.

As tis, many of us, similar to Altuma, have fewer fish, so we don't need
to
buy in bulk, and it would/could be hazardous to our fishes health if we
did
(rancidity).

When I only had a few koi and GF I also bought the expensive foods in 5 lbs
bags. Personally I can't see any difference in their health, breeding or
color on the cheaper chows (including puppy and kitty chow mixed in). I
keep all their food indoors in the coolest driest place in my A/C home. The
garage or outbuilding are the last places I would keep fish food. Not only
would it quickly get rancid buy insects would infest it.

Ingrid did mention something about keep foods frozen, and that's one of
the
reasons I like ShoKoi, it is freezable.

Some people have too many fish to freeze their foods.

Some brands mention not to freeze,
it was explained to me something about the oils separating??? I'm not
quite
sure, so read the label. And just an aside, if you go to a backyard fish
store and they try to sell you X-koi food in an old ice cream container,
take a pass on it. ;o) ~ jan

I've been buying most of mine at TFC, in bags - it's always been fresh, bug
free and the fish love it. If there's anything left in the fall it gets
mixed into the compost pile.
--
Koi-Lo.... frugal ponding since 1995...
Aquariums since 1952
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
rec.pond's FAQ are at: http://www.geocities.com/justinm090/faq.html
~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o