Golden Pearls Fry Food

[emartin]

I got to say I love Golden Pearls fry food... (I think Artemia International, LLC makes it). Ever since I started feeding the 500-800 micron size micro-pellets (or particles? Not sure how you would define them) which contains ZERO fillers, 60% protein, etc. Ever since I started feeding this to my omnivorous and carnivorous fry (haven't tried it on herbivorous fry yet) I have had zero casualties and no wasted food, and much better growth rates than I had with Frozen Cyclops-Eeze and Crushed Flakes.

Currently the three different Haplochromine species I am feeding it to are mostly blue fish and since this food is also a good color enhancer, though in my case for the wrong colors, I've been feeding this once a day and Jehmco's pure spirulina flakes (running very low...and Jehmco is out of stock!!!) once a day to give them a good source for blue color enhancing.

Anyway I just had to share this on what a wonderful fry food this was... The fry right after the egg sacs were fully absorbed were eating this stuff like crazy and already some of them at 1/2" up to 1.5" are recognizing me from across the room which I have never had fry do before.

I have about half the package left of this stuff and plan to buy it in bulk (this time from yourfishstuff)... Now if only the company behind this food would make something with spirulina algae for the strict herbivores :).

I am glad I tried this too, since I was very suspicious of HBH's fry micro pellet since it has Feather Meal in it...which turned me off, plus they had contaminated pet food a while ago with the contaminated ingredients from China. Currently I am still sold to San Francisco Bay Brand, Dainichi, Jehmco's Pure Spiruluna Flake, and now Artemia International for quality food for my fish...

For people who aren't familiar with Golden Pearls, here's some links I pulled off of Google a while back when I was trying to find out who makes it:
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/6/aafeature1 "Evaluation of Live Food Versus Artificial Food on the Growth of Juvenile Pocillopora damicornis Cultured from Planulae" <---Golden Pearl vs Rotifer feeding trial for Coral Larvae
http://www.artemia-international.com/default.asp?contentID=582 <--The company that apparently invented and sells the stuff
http://www.yourfishstuff.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=183&category_id=18&manufacturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1 <--Where you can buy it

~Ed

[Flareside]

Great review! I am considering this food as my next purchase. By the sounds of it it fits my criteria:
grow fry quickly
as little uneaten food/waste as possible
color enhancing

and a bonus as you stated- fry keying in on you as you come to the tank anticipating being fed!

[AlishanAS]

Ed - have you fed the pearls strictly to the fry of mouthbrooders?

I know you are a big Hap guy but have you raised any substrate spawners on the food?

[Longstocking]

I've used the stuff for years.

I mix decap baby brine and golden pearls into a container to feed my fry.

All fry should receive higher levels of protein. Even if they are herbivores....

[emartin]

Ed - have you fed the pearls strictly to the fry of mouthbrooders?

I know you are a big Hap guy but have you raised any substrate spawners on the food?
Not yet, for now just the mouthbrooder fry. I did have a breeding pair of Wild Yellow Calvus but I sold them to CJC back in november I think. I did get them to breed a couple times but was never able to raise those fry with frozen baby brine shrimp...

With feeding substrate fry though, Golden Pearls is available in even smaller particle sizes meant just for that. I'd ask yourfishstuff what size he'd recommend for just-hatched cichlid larvae fry. The size I feed the mouthbrooder fry is the largest size they have available which is about less than half to half the size of a regular 1mm pellet. The fry were able to eat it without any problems.

~Ed

[emartin]

Great review! I am considering this food as my next purchase. By the sounds of it it fits my criteria:
grow fry quickly
as little uneaten food/waste as possible
color enhancing

and a bonus as you stated- fry keying in on you as you come to the tank anticipating being fed!
I remember seeing this food last year when I was still breeding my F1 trio of Aulonocara jacobfreibergi Hongi but never ordered it. I especially love how all the food particles drift in the water current instead of settling on the bottom and getting wasted.

[fischfan13]

Haven't used it yet, but I just bought a bag at the ACA Convention.

Nice thread, Ed.

[fischfan13]

I started to feed the Golden Pearls to Yellow Lab fry...they have gone nuts over the food.

[msjinkzd]

kensfish sells it as well. I have been using it for quite awhile as well

[Richard B]

I have used Golden Pearls from Kens for years!
I guess I thought everybody did!
Richard

[Longstocking]

I have used Golden Pearls from Kens for years!
I guess I thought everybody did!
Richard


Me too ! I use decap brine as well... mix it 50/50.

[fischfan13]

I'm really impressed with the Golden Pearls.
I have also used it as a supplement for some of my smaller "non-Malawi's", ahem.
With my Blue Gularis I have even used it to coat the krill that I give them.

[yourfishstuff]

I've raised rainbowfish fry and syno. petricola fry successfully on a golden pearls diet. If you've never seen how small both of these fry are you would be amazed. Tiny.

For the fry of most cichlid mouthbrooders, the largest size (500-800 micron) is fine. Perhaps, the exception being cyprichromis. For those guys I would use the 300-500 micron size, which would also work for leleupi, julies, smaller substrate spawners, etc.

For the rainbowfish fry I mentioned I think I used 50-100 to start and then 100-200. For comparison, a newly hatched brine shrimp is about 400 microns.

[emartin]

I've noticed recently a couple of my cichlid fry were dying off when I was feeding this but when I switched back to flake I figured out what the problem was. The not-so-hardy fry that were a little more elongated than normal but otherwise healthy had a problem eating the 500-800 size and feeding once a day or every other day at that point wasn't enough for them compared to when I fed them three times a day when they were much much smaller. I went back to spirulina flakes mostly for now that I know what the problem was but I am thinking of ordering the 300-500 size for them now that I know that this particularly group of fry some of them had a hard time eating them (my guess is the bigger ones would eat the majority of the small 500micron golden pearls first before the littler fry got a chance at it and they would just end up struggling with a 800micron size piece).

Still didn't change my opinion on the food though, because the bigger hardier fry love the stuff and are taking off on it!

~Ed

[emartin]

yourfishstuff:
Out of curiosity do you know how the golden pearls food is binded/made? Just curious. Great stuff though...