Northfin or NLS? The better veggie food

In this video I look at Northfin and New Life Spectrum fish foods, and see which company has the superior formulation in the vegetarian department. Please understand that both companies make really good food, with successful fish-keepers being fanatical about both brands. I made this video to expose a major problem that I think NorthFin has with their veggie formulation.

Thanks for watching, and keep it civil, intelligent, and rational in the comments please.

[nolanacheson]

Good points!!! I agree!!!
Beauti Saulosi tank!!
That's what I'll be getting soon in my 75!

[Lysergi]

Both brands offer quality products. I feed both. One thing I have noticed though is that tons of fish don't care for the NLS when they are regularly being fed both. They go crazy for Northfin but NLS they don't vigorously pursue and sometimes spit out. I tend to prefer Northfin for that purpose, since they both contain quality ingredients but any fish I have fed likes Northfin more. I still buy both because I've used NLS for 15 years.

[mylesr]

I think they are both quality foods. I use Northfin community in my tank. Unfortunately NLS is twice the price of Northfin in Canada.

[DJ_LittlePea]

I used the northfin veggie for my African cichlids and they loved it ...

[EriksWorld]

I completely agree with the points you have made. I have done a ton of research and believe NLS has really done a significant amount of research and development in regards to their products. The only other food that I believe to be an actual decent product are Repashy Gel Foods. North Fin lacks desirable macro-nutrient ratios and ingredients which in the end should be the most important aspects when selecting food to feed our fish.

[WilliamSmith-dgre]

I feed the algemax to my giant gourami every morning and they love it. Afternoon is fresh fruits and veggies. And jumbo brine shrimp once or twice a week

[aquariumhacksbymarcus]

I always liked NLS better myself had nothing but good results.I like Northfin to but I don't believe all the hype Both are great foods.The choice is up to you. Your fish will thrive off of both trust me I tried them both exclusively.

[PrayMojo]

The best fish food is the one your fish eat. None of my fish will touch nls, not even my goldfish.
I see your point on having diverse ingredients, but is content of those ingredients vitally important? Or are they just filler ingredients?

[chrisgill]

I use allll Northfin I have for years. I had a older jar of nls fed and first couple days I noticed difference..almost all fish went into breeding dress I always thought Northfin was better. I'll still stand by northfin as Canadian but couldn't belive the difference in short time..

[frankramirez]

Northfin is much better balanced food, the information below is from NLS themselves. I currently feed both & since the addition of northfin my fish have slightly improved in color & produce a lot less waste but more importantly have grown elegant fins if you will.

Health>Nutrition Article

The Facts About Fish Nutrition (Cont.)

ARE MOST FISH OMNIVOROUS?

To the marine aquarium enthusiast, Atlantic Blue Tangs (Acanturus coeruleus) are considered herbivorous — and they are indeed grazers, with lips and dentition designed for snipping off the tips and branches of algae.

However, the study “Captive Nutritional Management of Herbivorous Reef Fish” from the University of Florida (by Dr. Ruth Francis-Floyd and Chris Tilghman) has confirmed they need more than just algae in captivity. The feed trial used Atlantic Blue Tang, divided into three groups, as test subjects. The first group was fed washed seaweed (ulva spp.). The second was fed commercial food designed for herbivores. The third group was fed another all-purpose commercial diet (i.e. marine protein was in the formula). The first and second group suffered high mortality rates of about 80% — with the surviving fish showing clinical signs of malnourishment like emaciation. The third group had only an approximately 30% mortality rate and showed a 400% weight gain!

Information on this study was made available in a lecture on November 29, 2001, at the Marine Ornamentals International Conference held in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Yet outside that conference room, the results were never made public, due to pressure to avoid controversy within the aquarium feed industry.

Most fish have specialized feeding methods and ingest a certain type of food matter more than others. However, in the wild almost all are opportunistic feeders. Even the most specialized, like Atlantic Blue Tangs, ingest a certain amount of nutrients from other sources.

Herbivores have been observed eating invertebrates. They also receive protein via organisms within the plant matter they ingest. Carnivorous fish get plant-based nutrients from the contents of their prey’s digestive tract (which is gut-loaded with various organics, including phytoplankton and zooplankton).

Beyond fish, other common aquarium dwellers like crustaceans are scavengers, and thus opportunistic omnivores. Filter-feeders likewise consume both phytoplankton and animal zooplankton.

For freshwater examples, we need look no further than the fish in the African lakes of Malawi and Tanganyika. These are some of the most specialized feeders found on the planet — yet they too are opportunistic feeders. Algae does dominate the stomach contents of certain species of African cichlids classified as herbivores. However, protein-rich organisms in significant quantities are also present. Breeders know that the foods that make these fish grow are insect nymphs and larvae, crustaceans, snails, mites, micro-organisms, and zooplankton — not vegetable matter.

Feeding and the Omnivorous Aquarium: The reality that most tropical fish are omnivorous — with herbivorous or carnivorous specialization — has some clear implications when feeding your companions. First, any commercial herbivore diet should include sources of protein, and any diet aimed at carnivorous fish should contain aquatic plant matter.

Wild herbivores must graze at least 12 hours daily to ingest enough nutrients. During grazing, they discharge waste almost constantly. In the artificial conditions of an aquarium, these fish don’t have unlimited food to graze upon. Even if you could feed them every hour, you couldn’t maintain the needed water quality due to fish waste. An aquarium isn’t even a fraction of a drop compared to the water volume of the ocean or a large lake. In order for nominally herbivorous fish to thrive in an aquarium, a higher nutrient density solution is required.

It’s helpful to think of an aquarium as an environment for your fish that is like a space station habitat would be for humans. In such a ‘contained’ environment with limited space and resources, the food you consume should be as little in mass, and as nutrient-dense as possible to reduce waste products in a closed environment and get the most benefit out of each one of your limited daily meals. Accordingly, meals prepared for astronauts are usually focused on packing as much nutrition into each morsel as possible.

Hobbyists may believe feeding Surgeonfish a diet of algae (or commercial foods that are purely plant based) is more ‘natural’ than a pellet or flake food. That couldn’t be further from the truth. First hand experience with attempts at wholly plant based diets have failed miserably — and the results from the study performed at the University of Florida bear these conclusions out.

Carnivorous fish likewise have a much different life in the aquarium than in the wild. Outside captivity, their prey is part of the natural food chain, and is gut-loaded with nutrients derived from their environment — but which the carnivores don’t eat directly. In particular, plant matter. Frozen silversides found in your local pet shop don’t provide the same, needed nutrients as wild prey. The reality is carnivores don’t just eat meat, any more than herbivores just eat algae.

[michaellou]

I love both dude. I think they both smell really good for fish😆😆😆

[wyzemann]

Good comparison, I've never purchased veggie pellets from any brand; so now, I'm better informed thanks to you.

[frankramirez]

@ Aquatic Logic
You have to keep in mind that NLS while it uses a variety of algae the use of the semicolon indicates that all of these different algae are worth ONE ingredient & also you have to consider that they're listed in their wet weights, once dried that first algae ingredient will lose up to 80% of it's original weight & may no longer be the primary ingredient. Also seaweed (kelp) is known to be more nutritional than algae, one reason NorthFin uses it as a primary ingredient in their herbivore formula. NLS contains no more plant matter than NF & as I said above being that NLS has their algae listed raw on their list NF more than likely contains more "veggie".

[sebacl]

For something there is a single brand in the world that guarantees its results at 30 days, and that is New Life Spectrum. Great demo video.

[cadd]

When I put northfin veggie and NLS algae in the tank at the same time my fish will eat the Northfin first. They actually like Hikari food over any other brand. Northfin is expensive but I do give it to my fish. I stopped buying NLS. I think the extra garlic in the NLS is overkill and my fish hate it.

[vikinghasselo]

Where does it say that the order in which the ingredients are the order of amount? It just tells you "its in there" unless its specified in weight or volume % of content.

[aidanarmas]

Nice comparison! I personally think northfin is way overrated by many on YouTube. It's also dramatically overpriced, and although other brands like nls, hikari, and sera are on the more expensive side I don't see any reason that warrants me to spend an extra 10-15 dollars on northfin when other foods like those have pretty much the same effects.

[redjack]

I'm just now trying NorthFin, however I have always been an NLS person and see no real reason to stop now. I'll be using a variety of foods from here on out.

[tamarapurplesweetgrassmacg]

Hi I live in Windsor Ontario Canada and I got the NF community food, it was too big for the tetra`s and so I used a morter and tesel and then I bought a bag of fry wich is the same as crushing it, I use to buy the flakes but I love the ingredience.I WISH i could find the veggie, I`D BUY IT on the spot!!!!i saw an other fish store a block away so I hope I can find it there.My fish are health wise better, I wish they sold the NL in Canada, even Amazon won`t ship it to Canada as well as the Easy Life.I have been taking care of fish for 41 years since my 10th Birthday May 17th and have had all kinds of different fish.I know have Platy`s, and neon tetra`s and just started Corey cats wich I Ojibway Indian and my clan is sturgen wich means I can`t eat or marry any fish or turtle.I have 6 cory`s and 5 tetra`s and thought I had 3 platy`s since my teenager get killwd by a young boy!I thought it was a girl but a red tail platy started to hide from the 2 black tails, I thought the 1 was a gay fish but I noticed it was a male and a new group of fry 10 day`s ago..I`s love to get another male so the teen could have a role model, He died though.I thought we had 2 females so I got another male and the next day he tchange while he dissapeared.I kope I can get the NF but I`d love the veggie!If he dissapears maybe I`ll get whats right!Ihope everything woeks ok!!!!Windsor Ontario Canada!

[elitesick]

That NLS is really expensive in Canada tho