AF Algae Feed M is the pellet food offered by Aquaforest for herbivores fish.
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Even if we say that every time we talk about a pellet food, it is worth to repeat how it’s made. In fact pellet food is produced at low temperatures and that is the reason why it is one of the best kind of food. It is less polluting compared to frozen food as it doesn’t have any maintaining liquid. It doesn’t have any cold-chain interruption problem. Basically pellet food keeps all its nutritive properties that are lost in high-temperature treatments. (more details here). Of course the difference between one feed and another, between two pellet feed, strongly depends on the starting paste.
Aquaforest AF Algae Feed M is part of this class, ranked in a high-end premium range.
AF Algae Feed M is especially rich in omega fats, excellent for every living creature’s health, even if in this event we cannot say that it lowers cholesterol! But above all, it is made out of seven different kinds of seaweeds. The feed is added with fish flour, minerals, oils and fats. We notice that, although Aquaforest publicized that 7 different algae have been used to produce this feed, it is not reported what kind of algae they are.
Aquaforest AF Algae Feed M is available in two sizes: S and M. M size is suitable for medium-large sized animals. The pellets are about 2,5 mm large and they sink very quickly, even if used in a food-ring and the pumps turned off.
Palatability value is good. Unfortunately the size, for the M version, and the sinking speed don’t make it a food suitable for all fishes, and we must take this into account. As we saw for AF Marine Mix (article), this pellets remains moist once opened.
Strangely a spoon is not provided for dosing it. This is the first time it happens to me, with the exception of his brother AF Marine Mix. Moreover the feed is not contained in a vacuum-sealed bag, but it is stored in a plastic jar. The only protection from the outside world is the plastic seal, to break before the first opening.
On the package you can’t find an expiry date, but the packaging date. For more, the expiry date is fixed 24 months after the packaging date. I think it is an optimal way to point out this thing. But at a first sight, for how we are used to, we can think that it is expired while it’s perfect.
Aquaforest AF Algae Feed M Composition
The feed is composed by the following declared ingredients:
- Algae;
- Fish flour;
- Minerals;
- Oils and fats.
The packaging includes the jar, with an easy dispenser top, and the feed.
A very interesting nutritional analysis confirms our first impression that we are in front of a highly lowfat food:
- Crude protein 19,1%;
- Oils and crude fats 4,66%;
- Crude fibre 1,1%;
- Crude ashes 29,1%;
- Phospor 0,4%
- Calcium 2,2%
- Moisture 32%
- Other 12%
We can see the same analysis in the following pie-chart.
As we can see in the chart, the food is mainly composed by proteins, even if the percentage is very low, about 19%, and it is low also compared to the other feed we analyzed so far. Generally it is never under 30%. AF Algae Feed M is considered lowfat, with only 4,66% of fats, the lowest content we have seen so far. For this, it is considered a good base food that should not fatigue fishes liver. Unfortunately the amount of ashes, moisture and others is about 70%, higher than the average of the other algae feed that is about 65%.
For this Aquaforest AF Algae Feed M is considered a lowfat food, very good as a supplement for algae-eater fishes, but not suitable to be used as a single food, for its low protein content. 19% of proteins is lower than the average value of 33% of all the other feed we analyzed so far, and the percentage of fats, 4,66%, versus an average value of 6%. The moisture is high, as we said, about 32%, but the entry other is 12% versus 28% of the average. Of course we are talking about only the feed we analyzed so far which have an algal predominance, it would be a nonsense to compare it with a generalist pellet food that usually have a protein content excessively high compared to this. But they are different feed suitable for different fishes.
Available vitamins
Let’ see the analytic composition of vitamins, trace elements and additives:
- vitamin A: 15.000 IU/kg.;
- vitamin D3: 3.000 IU/kg.;
- vitamin C: 1.000 mg/kg.;
- vitamin E: 1.000 IU/kg.;
As always, a high content of Vitamin A promotes a healthy growth, strengthen the vision, protects the skin and has a positive action on fertility. But it is lower compared to similar feed (~20.000). Slightly higher the Vitamin E content compared to the average, while vitamin C and D3 are slightly below.
It’s funny to note that the vitamins are the same declared for the pellet food AF Algae Feed M.
Above we can see the pellets’ constitution in a macro picture. The pellets look like small potatoes. The color is dark brown.
AF Algae Feed M is available only in the 120 grams package.
Costs of the feed
The 120 grams package costs 14,91 euros (about 12,4 cents per gram), instead the size S costs 15,50 euros.
For comparison Equo Menu Spirulina 40 grams jar costs about 27 cents per gram, while Hikari Seaweed Extreme M 9,9 cents per gram or 12,8 in the S size.
In Italy AF Marine Mix pellet food by Aquaforest is imported and distributed by Aquariatech.
For a detailed study about fish feed, we give you also the following article that is always topical, although it is a few years old: the fish feeding.
