Having visited New Era's premises and sat down with the guys behind the foods, I like how every ingredient can be soundly justified. There's nothing superfluous and no bulking additives, says Nathan Hill.
Furthermore, the ingredients are of a high quality. I know this as I’ve been rummaging about in the bags of raw materials. I’ve even tasted some!
The new Tropical Grazer is very similar to the Marine Grazer I reviewed some time back and which I loved as much. The pieces have a unique smell, straight from the pot, something shrimpy but like algae at the same time — which is good as those are just some of the ingredients involved.
A 110g pot comes with around 30 rings of food, as well as a sucker and fastener to keep everything in place. There’s a larger size at 290g, which contains about 82 rings.
The instructions state these are for daytime feeding only, which I guess is precautionary as I suspect that plecs of many kinds will love a bit after lights out.
Unlike some foods of this nature, it doesn’t become powdery or excessively soft after a few minutes in the water and has just the right consistency for fish even as small as my White Cloud Mountain minnows.
You might suffer wastage, so take out what isn’t eaten, and in my own set-up of White Clouds and gobies that equates to a lot left over after a meal.
Protein is high, at more than 45%, but that doesn’t frighten me. It’s a dense, heavy food so I’d only be using rings in a well-stocked tank. This really isn’t light and airy dried, but thick, stodgy stuff that feels pretty satisfying. It tastes quite pungent too and if I was a cichlid I’d be all over it.
Verdict
This is another excellent food from a great manufacturer. Designed for the well-stocked community, this is a great interactive way to watch your fish feeding. Just remember to take out what’s not eaten.
Price: 110g £6.95, 290g £13.95.
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