New Era soft pellets

Hi,

Not sure if anyone else has tried these? I mainly feed my 2 axies on earthworms with bloodworms or prawn as treats now and then but i have also been looking for some pellets to supplement them with occasionally and for the odd times when we go away for a few days leaving our pet sitter on duty (ie my mum!) who is squeamish about feeding worms for some reason!

I found some hard pellets on sale in the UK but my girls didnt seem overly keen on them so in a rash moment i emailed a sealife centre to ask what they use as i have often seen axies on display in such places (in fact its where i first saw them and got the urge to have my own!) anyway, they were very helpful and among other things the centre that i contacted uses New Era Cichlid pellets which come in 'African' and 'American' varieties. I found some for sale online and went for the American variety, they are very soft and can be molded into bigger bits (kind of like molding playdoh) if needed but my axies took to them straight away as they are, straight out of the tub. They sink straight to the bottom and my girls snap them up as they pass or hoover them up from the floor, either way, they seem to enjoy them!

Its not something i'd feed them on all the time but they will be very handy for when we're away of just for a change now and then. I've found it hard finding suitable soft sinking pellets in the UK and my girls didnt take to the hard varieties, has anyone else tried these or got any opinion on them?

I've kept lots of Cichlids (Astronotus ocellatus) but don't know what the dietary requirement differences might be. I do know I fed some of my Cichlids Pellets, some feeder fish, and some Earthworms. The ones fed with Earthworms were always healthier and grew larger so that became my diet staple. Well theirs anyway.. I really couldn't get paste the taste.
The fish fed with pellets and feeders seemed to develop "Hole in the Head" disease while none of my earthworm fed animals did.... though that could have been a husbandry problem I suppose as the Feeders and Pellets seem to increase the bio load faster and require more vigilance. I was traveling a lot for work at the time. Earth worms seem to be as close to an "all in one nutritionally complete" food as I could find.
So after this lengthy analysis I can honestly say that I don't know.

I am not familiar with the New Era and when I looked them up, they came up under Hikari. Hikari makes some great products. I would say to check the actual protein content as some I came across were aimed at herbivores. Not to say these should replace earthworms, but I use Rangen sinking salmon pellets (44% protein) for all my guys and am happy to say they are growing, eat voraciously, and are very active. These are used as a supplement as red wigglers and earthworms are the staples. As Mac mentions, pellets can be detrimental to your water chemistry if not removed promptly - they break down rather quickly.

@Mac - I doubt that it was the pellets causing the hole in the head issue but most likely the live feeders. Oscars are extremely prone to this disease (I used to keep them too!!) but it is admittedly fun to watch them chase the little feeders! You don't like earthworms? They're great fried, then dipped in ketchup!

Heh... that may have been it. I was eating them in a California roll like Sushi.