Kensfish.com

[JG]

Has anyone ever ordered from www.kensfish.com? Two fellow club members and I have ordered a few things from kensfish a few months ago and had a great experience. At the time, I didn't purchase any food for my dwarf cichlids but am thinking of now. Any recommendations from the food he has listed?

Thanks

J

 

[apistobob]

I have been ordering from him for a couple of years and have always had good success. My dwarfs will actively feed on his brine shrimp pellets, spirulina pellets, and small moist pellets (I don't know if this is the right name). I don't feed flake.

I have also ordered brine shrimp eggs and other items and always had accurate orders and prompt shipping.

Bob

 

[JG]

Hi Bob,

Thanks for the response. Are the pellets small enough for dwarfs? I noticed that you said you ordered three different brands, one of them being soft moist small pellets. Are these sinking or floating pellets? Any reason why you don't feed flake?

J 8)

 

[apistobob]

The pellets are too large for most dwarfs to eat whole but they will pick at them until they break into smaller pieces that they can eat. I only find this with the pellet food not the stick food. The sticks seem to break down into fine powder that clouds the water as the fish chew on them.

I use the sinking pellets only.

I do not use flake for several reasons. Almost all of my tanks have a layer of floating plants on the surface. This leads to any floating food getting trapped in the plants where it decays. Also, my fish are trained to find their food in the lower parts of the water column so they rarely if ever look to the surface to eat. I am sure they could be trained to look up for food but that is not how I choose to keep them.

I have never had good experiences feeding flake to dwarfs but also no serious negatives. I just have methods that work for me and don't see any reason to change.

I do use a little flake to feed my white worms. I don't do this much because of the high protien levels of the flake but I use vegy flakes as suplement at times.

What I really like to do with the White Worms is to mix spirulina in oatmeal to make a paste. When the worms eat this they actually become a green color from the food in their digestive tract. I figure this is a good way to put some vegys in diet <G>. However, I rarely feed the White worms except is special need situations.

Finally, my primary food is newly hatched brine shrimp. All of my fish get a large feeding once a day of shrimp, usually in the evening. They get a few pellets tossed in as time permits.

Bob

 

[tjudy]

There are pros and cons to all foods. I use flake, but I also 'dunk' my food so that it sinks. I like flake because the dwarf cichlids can get larger pieces in their mouths, and I can easily crush flake to the size that is needed. I have had good success with flakes. I use the same brand Kensfish sells. I feed mostly the vegetable and spirulina flakes with about 10% growth flake mixed in.

I started ordering for Kensfish a few months ago and have been very happy. My most recent purchase was decapsulated brine eggs. I love it! I suspend it in water and mix it with microworms, then use a syringe to inject the mixture/suspension into the groups of fry. A lot easier and faster than hatching. I use so little of the cycts that I think that they may even be cheaper in the long run.

 

[JG]

What growth flake were you referrring to? Do you buy the Pure Spirulina or the Ken's Premium Spirulina Flake?

Thanks for the info. on the decapsulated brine shrimp eggs.

J

 

[tjudy]

I use the pure spirulina... but none of my flakes came from Kensfish... I just know that my source is the same source.

 

[JG]

Oh I See. If you don't mind saying, where does he buy his food from?

J

 

[tjudy]

Lots of places... I am referring to a wholesale company called Ginger Products Inc.. They sell to retailers in large quantities only.

 

[greg kilgore]

I've been very happy with the HBH color growth flake that Ken's sells. I have dwarf south americans, apistos, tanganyikans, haps, peacocks and all seem to love it. I get very good growth and color from fry with it. It is very inexpensive for the quality. I love new life spectrum and use it but the HBH gives very similar results at less than half the cost. I've recently added big haps to my fish room and they eat a lot! When it was only apistos, food cost never crossed my mind.

My nearby fish buddy bought the big dolphin air pump about six months ago and loves it. I'm close to buying one myself.

If anyone has used the HBH cichlid flake, I'd like to know.

 

[JG]

I started ordering for Kensfish a few months ago and have been very happy. My most recent purchase was decapsulated brine eggs. I love it! I suspend it in water and mix it with microworms, then use a syringe to inject the mixture/suspension into the groups of fry. A lot easier and faster than hatching. I use so little of the cycts that I think that they may even be cheaper in the long run.

How old are the fry that you feed the decapsulated brine eggs to? I am considering trying this.

I've previously purchased Ken's Brine Shrimp Flake and Premium Cichlid Flake. In retrospect, I'd probably leave the Brine Shrimp Flake only because of the high fat content. The Cichlid Flake seems fine for everyone else.

 

[tjudy]

I start the cyst/microworm suspension as soon as the fry are free swimming. They grow very fast on it.

 

[JG]

Is the microworm live? If so, where do you buy it?

J

 

[tjudy]

You can get microworm cultures on aquabid cheaply.

 

[scott]

i always just hatch my brine shrimp. how exactly do you decapsulate the eggs. i have heard you don't use up as much or waste as much(80% hatch rate etc.) as hatching them.

 

[tjudy]

The process of decapsulating involves bleaching the cysts... a pound of decapsulated cysts costs less than a pound of hatchable cysts... so I just buy them.

 

[Greg PL]

additional questions. I tried to raise a couple of apistos on non-live food and those little devils were not too much interested in anything not moving.

is the brine shrimp egg such a tasty bite for them?
does it contamine the water as all other dry or frozen food?

cheers,
Greg