# My fish are not impressed with NLS



## MeCasa (Apr 5, 2014)

I've heard so much about this stuff that I broke down and gave up some of my hard earned gold expecting my fish to be delirious with joy and their coloring to be so bright that I would need sunglasses just to look at my tank.

Didn't happen. They almost ignore the NLS but become like piranha when I add flake.

Dempsey
Terror
Convict
Jewel
Firemouth
Electric Yellow
Red Zebra
Cobalt Zebra


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

They are just used to the flake.


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## sumthinfishy (Jan 26, 2013)

they only glow when the lights are off


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## MeCasa (Apr 5, 2014)

DJRansome said:


> They are just used to the flake.


I hope that's it. I feel like a god when I drop flake in and hear the water splashing yet when I drop NLS in they ignore it and stare at me like I'm a traitor. I've tried explaining to them that this food is more expensive but all I get is that accusatory stare.

I bought the 1mm because that's all I could find, could that make a difference? My fish are right at 4" average



sumthinfishy said:


> they only glow when the lights are off


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

1mm is perfect.


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## workharddieproud (Nov 7, 2013)

I and ALL my fish hate NLS. Tried various ones of flakes and pellets, spent all small fortune on that stuff. Wasted :x


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## fmueller (Jan 11, 2004)

Pellets are a much denser food than flakes - doesn't matter what brand. If you have some good kitchen scales, weigh out half a cup of pellets, and then see how much flake food you need to get to the same weight. You will be surprised! So the first thing to realize when switching from flakes to pellets is that you need a lot less food by volume!

Another thing is that flakes float about in the water column, and give the fish a chance to chase them about. That is a huge advantage of flakes, because it keeps the fish active and entertained, and can help to entice finicky eaters.

I used to feed exclusively sinking pellets (NLS 3mm) to my 240G tanganyika setup with frontosa and rockdwellers, because the tank had a wicket surface current that would draw any non-sinking food into the filters faster than the fish could get to it. All of the fish quickly learned to eat from the bottom when that was the only food they got. I used to feed exclusively spirulina flakes (Ken's or HBH) to my 125G tanganyika setup with tropheus, because the tank did not have the surface current problem, and the tropheus loved chasing the flakes.

In summary, its horses for courses


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## Hapguy63 (Feb 8, 2014)

Funny because my fish eat exclusively NLS and I recently tried to give them a sample of a flake food I picked up and they would not touch it. Try soaking the pellets before you feed them. This is how I convert my fish from flakes to pellets


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## Chester B (Dec 28, 2012)

I've experience the same thing when switching fish from flakes to pellets. It does take some time to get them accustomed to it. However I will say that out of all the pelleted food I find fish are most reluctant to take NLS. For that reason alone I don't use it. Believe it or not _there are_ other foods as good or better than NLS. :wink:


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## scott whitney (Oct 29, 2014)

Guess I'm lucky. I have a tank of mixed Cichlids (yellow labs, peacocks, frontosa, clown loaches) 
Whatever I throw in the tank they devour. The wife jokes saying to keep my hands out of the water or else I might loose a finger.

But, the idea of soaking the pellets to soften them is a great idea.

Don't freak out it it takes a little time. When I got my clown loaches they didn't eat for nearly a week. The Frontosas spent 2 days hiding and another 3 days watching the other fish before they started eating. Within a week or two they became about the biggest pigs in the tank. I have 2 OB Peacocks that started eating the first day. Patience and persistence.


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