Our fish loved this new frozen food from CE Fish Essentials.
“Fish food made with love” says the packaging, and if you ever meet the man behind the brand, you’ll realise that’s not hyperbole, says Nathan Hill.
Chris Englezou is passionate about the aquatic world, and it shows in his products. This latest, Naturekind, comes as the result of over five years of ongoing research and trial.
Naturekind is a veg-heavy, broad range frozen food diet designed to cater for most omnivorous fish.
Chris has done his homework — compare the plant and algae matter to meat ratio of a typical ‘wild’ diet to what he’s made, and the two are very close. The main ingredients are (wild) fruits, vegetables and algae. There’s egg in there, along with fish and fish derivatives, molluscs, crustaceans, aquatic inverts and even insects.
I should add that Chris has sought out fruits that match those found in gut analyses of wild caught fish. That gives us a green, squishy frozen food with a 45% protein content — I’ve long worried (and expressed my views) about protein levels over 50% leading to non-assimilation (and subsequent mess) in fish, so I’m happy feeding this knowing that I’m not going to get an undue ammonia burden.
Handling it is so simple. I dislike traditional frozen food blister packages, so I’m glad that Naturekind doesn’t come in one. Opening some blister packs is as unpredictable as popping champagne corks, as the food suddenly pops out of its moorings, flies across the room and under the fridge, never to be seen again. With Naturekind, the food is a slab, but more like a big chocolate bar with 28 chunks. Chunks snap off easily, and then you simply reseal the Ziploc pouch that it comes back in and slip the remainder back into the freezer. Next up, leave the portion to be fed to one side to warm through until it becomes soft and malleable.
You can toss it in frozen, and let fish nibble on it, but I prefer to copy Chris’s example and flatten the portion out with the edge of a knife, scrape it off as a thin sheet, and then slice it, first one way and then the other, so that you’re left with dozens of tiny ‘pellets’. Then in they go, and sit back to enjoy watching your fish feast.
You can also squish it straight on to the glass and let your fish nibble it from there, if you prefer. Or just let big chunks sink down so your catfish can gorge on it.
Verdict
Fish love it. Every fishkeeper I know who tries it loves it, and I kinda love it too.
Price: 100g packs retail for around £5.99.
More info: www.cefishessentials.com