whats the difference between freshwater vs. marine flake food

[scirdan]

I was at my LFS the other day, and I was reading the flake food cans, the "tropical fish" (freshwater) food and "marine" flake food have the exact same ingredients, and all of the same EXACT percentages (the only difference I saw in the ingredient lists was the marine flake food contains "egg flour" or something), way at the bottom of the list, where the small amounts are). Of course the marine flakes cost 3 dollars more than the tropical flakes, is there really any difference?? (I dont recall the exact brand I was looking at, I just compared two bottles by the same manufacturer, same size, everything)... I assume there are marine flakes that are different, but lets say some typical brand.. any comments?

 

[sagxman]

I'm not a scientist so I could be completely wrong, but I would guess that two average flakes for marine and tropical would be similar enough. I have put tropical flakes in my tank in a pinch. The fish seemed to like it.

 

[reverai]

Fresh water fish has more phosphates and often has copper in as copper isn't quite as bad in a freshwater tank as it would be in a saltwater tank, In any case, both are bad for a reef tank and algae loves phosphates. This is why generally one doesn't feed much freshwater fish food to saltwater fish!
Steve

 

[lionfish28]

A BIG diferance!One is for fresh and one is for salt.

 

[wayway]

I have had my tank up for about 6 months and I have always fed my fish tropical fish food and it does'nt really change any thing. So i save about 3 dollars for a jar of fish food.

And my fish seem to love it.

 

[bang guy]

HUFA content is vastly different.

 

[scirdan]

As I said, I held the two cans up, and read the ingredients one by one, EXACT match on both cans, one had egg flour at the end of the list, all percentages were identical, I dont think there is any difference... next time I go to the pet store I will take a picture of each ingredient list, they are exactly the same, no differentces (except for a miniscule egg flour, whatever that is )

 

[bang guy]

You're not buying Tetra or Wardley products are you??

 

[scirdan]

nope, I know it wasnt either of them, I dont recall the brand, though, I will check..

 

[reverai]

Yes, one can feed dog food to a cat for a long time before the cat goes blind and the kidney's fail. I know it may seem fine but freshwater fish food and saltwater fish food aren't the same. Yes, for the most part, they may use for the most part many of the same general ingredients but when it comes to micro ingredients, they are as differnt as cat food and dog food. The difference in cost at the low end is pennies between the two. Oh well, I guess everyones mileage may vary when it comes to do this!
Steve

 

[pufferman]

i think saltwater flakes were specially treated in a way that they're less likely to release all the nutrients upon contacting with water......so that they cause less deterioration of water quality........this also makes sense because ammonia is 3 times more toxic in saltwater than in freshwater........just my random speculation....could be completely wrong.....you should contact Tetra or other companies.....