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New Life Spectrum AlgaeMax


waruna

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Hi All,

We will be launching a new NLS range early to mid October.

AlgaeMax_zps8e558c6c.jpg

Available sizes are:

125g, 250g jars and 2kg buckets in 1mm and 2mm sized pellets.

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Hi Waruna,

It has long been my opinion that for an aquatics to make an intelligent selection when choosing to purchase a commercially available dry food, it was as simple as reading the list of ingredients on the bottle.

It can be a little more difficult than that, as fish nutrition is far more complex than is indicated by “fish meal” (i.e. bits of fish = not vegetable matter) or cereals, which are largely indigestible by fish, in a food made for vegetarians. However, in the past, these can be the top of the ingredients lists of many commercial dry fish food manufacturers. Having “fish meal” as the first or one of the first in the ingredients list has always struck me as false advertising and counter intuitive to make a food that was targeting “vegetarians” and then to put meat as the main ingredient.

Herbivore’s do need meet as well, and apart from the Antarctic Krill, what are the other non-vegetables used in this food?

Could you please display the ingredients list as it appears on the container of this NLS food?

Craig

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the ingredients would more then likely be the same for the rest of their products.only a small portion varies from product to product with nls.unsure?go to your biggest nls retailer near you and check all the diff tubs.ull soon see not much diff at all

the most youll see is protein which only varies slightly along with ash and i think moisture is slightly very slightly diff as well

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As a former mod I am not a big one for starting or even fanning a fish food Holy war, especially now I am all but out of fish, but what I find interesting that people have been arguing and recommending nls for fish like tropheus and electric yellows for years stating that the protein level is fine for them but now there is vegge version of nls. Is this going to be the new nls recommendation? if so why now? what is wrong with current nls product? Will the current product ingredient list change? Will we know if it does change? I am not stating that this product is a bad product but like Craig alluded to why now?

Cheers

Rosco

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  • 3 weeks later...

As for the above 2 posts no offence intented, but have you ever kept and failed with Tropheus keeping/ requirements? I have! Many others have too and for a few simple reasons ( water parameters included, not just food ). People have fed Thera A to their Tropheus because it works for Tropheus. A couple of other brands have worked too but it has been all trial and error. Way back when people 1st started importing Tropheus ( to my knowledge) aquarists had many a drama with fulfilling their fishes dietary requirements. Leading to bloat and impending doom of their hard earned moolar$. My point is. Wouldn't you want to feed the best possible food suited to your specific fishes needs? Why would you settle for sub par foods? As humans don't we strive to improve all things in OUR day to day life? So therefore why wouldn't a company like NLS want to be the best and create and keep researching to try and supply better foods for our fish? That's why they are a successful brand. We all have our favourite fish right? All have different dietary requirements? Why not create foods that fit our fishes needs.

Rant done, no offence intented but really it's a no brainer why a new NLS product has been tested and created.

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So, I just re read Roscos message. Why now create something new for our beloved pets? Why not? Just re instating what I pointed out. Progression is a part of life. That's why brands come and go. If you don't try and re invent the wheel and improve your current business how do you move forward and be the best? Now days you can't be across the board, you have to supply specific products for specific needs. Full stop. It's hard to capture an exact market but if you are part of a reputable brand you need to have a budget allocated for research to improve and re create your brands range. Therefore creating new products.

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TNT thanks for your comments however I feel they still don't answer the questions - the questions are:

Is this going to be the new nls recommendation? if so why now? what is wrong with current nls product?

Will the current product ingredient list change?

Will we know if it does change?

All valid questions

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Found this info while searching the net.

Ingredients:

Algae; Chlorella, Ulva Seaweed, Red Seaweed, Kelp, Spirulina, Wakame Seaweed, Whole Antarctic Krill, Whole Fish, Eucheuma cottonii, Spinosum Seaweed, Chondrus crispus, Whole Wheat Flour, Omega-3 Fish Oil, Alfalfa, Astaxanthin, Capsanthin, Zeaxanthin, Vita

Crude Analysis:

Crude Protein (min) - 32%
Crude Fat (min) - 5%
Crude Fiber (max) - 10%
Moisture (max) - 10%
Ash (max) - 9%

Being that this food has been around in the US since Dec 2013 and because I cant find anything but Promo info on it I am guessing it hasn't been received as well as other NLS products.

I use NLS on my Tropheus and have for years, if they now turn around and promote this as the food for Tropheus I will be some what skeptical. My home made Tropheus is nearly 50% fish meat and prawns, as per the European shrimp mix, which is used for Tropheus all over the world. I have never had an issue using either food for Tropheus.

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TNT, I think you'll find the people here with the questions have been using and championing NLS feeds for years.
Including championing the NLS line that by using better grade ingredients they had basically removed the need to feed multiple foods, different foods for different species, etc.
When other brands released products targeted at herbivorous cichlids vs omnivorous and predatory cichlids - the NLS response has long been - "Don't be silly, there is no need. Look at these great results with one single diet."

So just like it is in people's nature to constantly try to improve things, it is also in people's nature to question, and get all the information available to make decisions.

My question would also be, WHY?
- Is this a reaction to marketing pressures from other brands (ie. new era green vs red diets)?
- Is it a reaction to so many aquarists being doubtful and hesitant about the 'one size fits all' mantra of NLS (and so delivering a secondary product to allow people to 'feel better' about a varied diet)?
- Is it actually a genuine belief shift at NLS-HQ where the belief that the 'complete' diet havign been marketed for years is not actually so great for the herbivores? (I really doubt this is the case, but I would like to hear if it was.)

It could be none of the above, or a combination, of course.

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I wasn’t suggesting or questioning anything in requesting to know the ingredients list of this new NLS food. It has been my long held belief that NLS is the best commercially available dry food on the market, and if so, I don’t see why there would be any problems or even a question raised if they brought out another NLS food with a different ingredients list. The best food can still be made better, and if the ingredients listing is different from this new NLS food to the NLS that has been available for years does not mean there is anything wrong with the NLS that has previously been available.

I have said for years, don’t believe the hype that surrounds various commercial fish foods as there is generally misinformation and hidden agendas behind most if not all you hear. So go do your own research, and a great place to start is the ingredients listing on the back of a container of food.

If NLS has brought out a new food, that is good business on their part and if the ingredients listings detailed above is correct, it looks like it will be another winner for our fish. I don’t see anything negative or contradictory if this listings is different from other NLS foods.

So, don’t listen to me or the guy next to you, just read the ingredients on the back of the container and compare brand to different brand.

Many here I guess won’t remember but before NLS bloat was a constant issue for Tropheus brought about by their dietary intake. It was standard practice to soak any commercially available dry food before feeding to Tropheus. Since NLS not only is pre-soaking to try and avoid bloat no longer required if feeding NLS – if feeding NLS as the staple dry food exclusively, you could keep Tropheus and any other Tanganyika or fish with the same water requirements that were behaviourally compatible regardless of if they were “vegetarian” or “carnivores”. For example keeping Tropheus and Calvus together without causing dietary issues became possible to do. Before NLS this was not possible.

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  • 4 weeks later...

As for the above 2 posts no offence intented, but have you ever kept and failed with Tropheus keeping/ requirements? I have! Many others have too and for a few simple reasons ( water parameters included, not just food ). People have fed Thera A to their Tropheus because it works for Tropheus. A couple of other brands have worked too but it has been all trial and error. Way back when people 1st started importing Tropheus ( to my knowledge) aquarists had many a drama with fulfilling their fishes dietary requirements. Leading to bloat and impending doom of their hard earned moolar$. My point is. Wouldn't you want to feed the best possible food suited to your specific fishes needs? Why would you settle for sub par foods? As humans don't we strive to improve all things in OUR day to day life? So therefore why wouldn't a company like NLS want to be the best and create and keep researching to try and supply better foods for our fish? That's why they are a successful brand. We all have our favourite fish right? All have different dietary requirements? Why not create foods that fit our fishes needs.

Rant done, no offence intented but really it's a no brainer why a new NLS product has been tested and created.

I had forgotten about this post. No offense had been taken I just wanted to know why now? Like duck and Josh have alluded too I used to feed various types and sizes of nls for years especially when was running 45 tanks and was reasonably happy with it. I am not (and never will be) a nls zealot but I had no concrete evidence that it was the "one food to rule them all".

Now to answer your questions; yes I have successfully kept, bred and killed tropheus for years, although I have been out of them for some time now. In saying that I have didn't ever lose a troph to bloat (usually aggression) mainly thanks to advice of various breeders (including craig) on this forum and in the NSWCS. I always tried to feed the best foods I had available at the time. Initially I used hbh vegge flake because it was and still is one of the best foods for trophs with very good breeders such as Jim using it exclusively. Then the next best thing was nls Thera a so I moved them over to that and since then it was the only product to use tropheus partially because of what Craig mentioned and I could but in bulk and save.

All I want to know now is why now and what is different. I am afraid I too am skeptical.

Cheers

Rosco

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Since the creation of NLS, there was a great demand for an algae food from New Life Spectrum. At the time, we were unable to locate a wide variety of algae to formulate a superior herbivore diet. Kelp, as an algae meal, is the major algae material available. Kelp, however, is essentially abalone feed-too much inclusion in the food can cause diarrhea in fish digestive systems. Note: Commercial feed does produce kelp pellets for abalone.

2 years ago, we finally obtained many varieties of algae to formulate a superior product geared for herbivores. The question is;

(A) Should we have improve our formula or stay the status quo?

(B) Should we have made an algae pellets based on market demand years ago without the proper ingredients?

The answer is “No”. integrity is everything to me, this would be unethical.

Some of you might not know that many herbivore diets on the market today use kelp as algae meal. Worse yet, some even use fish meal as main ingredients and added green dye to create a herbivore formula.

As of today, I not aware of any algae product in the world that has a very wide range of algae variety in their herbivore diet, except NLS AlgaeMax.

There is an American saying; “If ain’t broke, why fix it?” My philosophy is; If I can make it better, Why not?

In nut shell;

(1) Is AlgaeMax a better herbivore diet?

(2) Can I use other NLS formulas to feed herbivore?

(3) Can I use AlgaeMax to feed omnivore and carnivore?

The answer is ‘Yes

Innovation is the key to our success, while mediocrity would result to our demise.

Throughout the years, we have improved our formulas, We have eliminate soy, added more krill and reduced wheat flour in favor of algae as a binding agent.

For more answer & info., Please watch this youtube:

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi All,

To Craig and all the other posters.. Apologies for not replying to this post.. Pablo wanted to reply to this thread.

AlgaeMax Pelleted food and the Gel is available in AUS now.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Awesome video, Pablo! Good to see the old guy getting out on the forums once in a while. :)

Regarding tropheus and other bloat prone Rift Lake cichlids, I posted the following a couple of years back on an American forum.

For decades Tropheus keepers felt that due to the intestinal length & long digestive process in that species, it should only be fed low protein "green" food, and that any amount of animal based protein could cause bloat. Yet science has proven that in captive bred species of Tropheus the intestinal length can be half of what's found in wild specimens.

"Intestinal prolongation, although indicative of specialization on diets with low nutritional value, such as those of epilithic algae and detritus, has been shown to be highly plastic (Sturmbauer et al.1992). In Tropheus moorii the intestinal length of domestic fish measured only 50% of the length found in wild individuals (Sturmbauer et al. 1992)."

A more recent study that was published in 2009 demonstrates just how great intestinal plasticity can be in response to the diet quality of various species of fish found in Lake Tanganyika, including tropheus.
The above paper clearly demonstrates just how adaptive wild Rift Lake cichlids can be when it comes to their diet. As long as one feeds a quality food, diet will generally be a non issue, and will not cause any type of major gastrointestinal stress. These fish were born to adapt.
I no longer keep tropheus, but if I did at the very least I would incorporate some of the new AlgaeMax pellets into their daily diet (along with my regular NLS pellets), because quite frankly it looks like a very exciting new mix of algae based nutrition for pretty much any species of fish. I see the applications for products such as this as being endless.
I'm honestly quite surprised at some of the earlier comments in this discussion.
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