To my mind feeding fish a less suitable diet ( ie richer in carbos and
poorer in protein) just to reduce the need for water changes to the
detriment of the longterm longevity of the specimens is not really to be
encouraged as an approach for aquarists to follow.
The morality of appropriateness of diet for aquaculture produced plate
specimens is another topic altogether. There are a few issues which include
the following. Is it a form of cruelty? Is it a form of deceit since the
nutritional value may not be what we would expect from a properly fed (e.g.
wild-caught) specimen? Do these over-fat fish have more beneficial fish
oils and are therefore better for us or are they loaded with less desirable
or even harmful forms of fats?
Bruce Hansen
ANGFA
email: bhansen at ozemail.com.au
Don't miss the ANGFA web pages at -
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~fisher/angfa.htm
----------
From: Christopher Philip Benes <beneschr at pilot.msu.edu>
To: rainbowfish at pcug.org.au
Subject: Re: [RML] daphnia
Date: Saturday, 15 February 1997 10:57
> At ANGFA(Q) last night we had Steve Pyecroft (our fish vet i.e. "the
> Fishician") talking on fish nutrition and fish foods in as basic a way as
> possible. It surprised me to learn that fish in general get most of their
> energy from proteins and fats (especially the 3-omega ones) whereas we
> humans get ours from carbohydrates and fats. Obviously if the fishfoods
> have too much carbohydrate then it will tend to be stored as fat or end
up
> in the substrate in whatever form (or name) you like to imagine :-)
>
> Bruce Hansen
> ANGFA
>
Actually my understanding from the aquaculture point of view is that fish
are
only fed such high protien-low carbohydrate diets is because that has been
the
'traditional' way of doing things. There is a lot of work going on right
now
to find an effective carbohydrate diet for fish, because if fish are not
metabolizing protiens so much you get less nitrogenous waste (ammonia), and
it
is easier to maintain water quality. However, like you said, if the diet
is
too high in carbohydrates, you do get fish that have a lot of fat in them.
Sometimes if you buy fish at the grocery store that is hatchery raised it
does
have an incredible amount of fat on it, because its been fed a carbohydrate
diet that wasn't quite right. Just my 2 cents worth.
Later...
If you didn't see it, you missed it.
Chris Benes
beneschr at pilot.msu.edu
http://www.msu.edu/user/beneschr/
Rainbowfish Study Group http://home.earthlink.net/~sbuckel/
Michigan Cichlid Association http://www.ole.net/mca/