Side by Side Comparison of: Zoo Med vs New Life Spectrum vs Seachem vs NewLife

Great fish food. My cichlids love this stuff. Im not sure what it is, but I saw they using it in the fish store in 5 gallon buckets and so I gave it a try. The fish go crazy for this stuff. I think it is dried out chum, basically dead fish guts. The fish just love it.

I bought this for a tank of feeder guppies that appear stressed and sick from the supplier. They readily accept it and are able to rip pieces of the flakes off. The flakes are quite large, but it's simple to smash them a little for small fish. It floats well with bubbles present and seems to be increasing the energy and colors of my fish. The canister I received was poorly sealed, and in the unlikely event that this product was nitrogen flushed, I doubt the gas would have been well contained like a more expensive brand.I bought this largely based on the ingredients, as they appear superior (to me) to the more expensive brands, but at a very palatable price point. I base my opinion of the ingredients on the spirulina being closer to the top of the list and filler materials (such as wheat) is further down the list compared to other brands that I looked at. The bottle was filled to the top with flakes and I have no complaints.

This is a must for all tropical fish, all types. Great size will last for months ad at a great price,too. Delivered quickly, and no damage done. Would highly recommend seller,product and services.

My fish love this food, the flakes are huge in comparison to other flakes in fish food, I also think it keeps the water cleaner for some reason. Large full container for the money.

More correctly, my fish love them. I have a ninety gallon tank and it holds a couple of fish over six inches long who like bigger flakes to go after. This product has large flakes, though they do break down as you reach in to take portions out.

The nutrition ratings on this flake are really good- my fish have definitely shown lots of growth and their colors have definitely popped since i switched to this from that horrible tetra flake. Some of the flakes in this are HUGE. Ive gone through half a can of this so far, and the ones in the middle are still fairly large. Of course, i expect all the smaller flakes to settle at the bottom, but i suppose the size overall will be heavily dependent on how the can was handled prior to purchase. I think i can safely say this will be my go-to flake of choice for my community tank. I have a 125g freshawater tank with mollies, tetras, guppies, blue/gold rams, a few pleccos, angels, and a few others- all of them will readily eat this flake, including my plecos. I have 4 peacock eels which tend to only like live blackworms, but after experimenting and getting a few larger flakes to the bottom, they seem to like this as well- only problem is, most of my fish tend to attack the flakes before they hit the bottom. Will defintely buy again.

I've been feeding this (along with New Spectrum pellets) to my cichlids for many years, and they love it. The problem is that half the time the jar arrives with all the flakes being crushed and tiny, instead of large flakes as advertised. This of course is due to the handling by Amazon and not ZooMed, but its a continuing problem. And even when there is a top layer of large flakes, by the time you get halfway through, the bottom of the jar is small flakes and powder. I end up dumping all these little bits into an empty jar and now I have at least two full jars of little bits...this is wasting a lot of food and money! (my cichlids are mostly large at this point!)I'd give it five stars if it consistently arrived with large flakes.I keep buying it because the fish do love it but I wish I could find a local store that carries it, which might avoid the poor handling and the tiny bits :(

My fish love this flake. However, everytime I buy this food the seal is loose/not on when I open it. SO it's hard to tell if its been opened by someone else, how fresh it is, etc. This is my third time buying Spirulina 20 from Amazon, each time I have the same issue. Flake food goes bad after a couple of months if opened, so you want to be sure it's properly sealed when you buy it.

I wish there were half stars because I would give this 4 and a half.I bought this because the ingredients seemed simple, transparent and fit my goldfish's needs without including a lot of stuff that I did not think was good for him/her. This is the first time I have tried the food and I have been using it for roughly 4 months or so. I am comparing it to brands that you can usually find in pet stores in the United States.Pros:The product is pretty much as advertised: large, very fine flakes that smell like a combination of salmon and spirulina, the two main ingredients. Salmon is actually the main ingredient with spirulina right behind.There is less filler (soy, supposedly better for fish tummies than wheat), no artificial colors, no nasty preservatives (ethoxyquin) like you find in other fish food.The nutrient statistics on the bottle seem to fit what a goldfish should be eating: not really high in either protein or fat, a little lowish on fiber though, so this has to be supplemented somehow with other food.My fancy goldfish loves them: he "vacuums" them up as soon as they hit the water.Cons:The flakes do seem to attract algae into the tank. I find myself having to scrub the walls of the tank twice a week whereas before I started feeding this food, I did not have this issue.It does not seem to contain whole salmon meal, which includes the flesh and innards. Salmon meal to me means the skin and bones basically, but perhaps I am wrong about that. If I am right, whole salmon meal would be far more nutritious.Knowing how to feed a fancy goldfish these flakes without giving it swim bladder problems.Neutral:I did not seen any changes in color in my fish as advertised. He is not brighter, duller, nor has he changed colors like some do while eating food that contains molecules like beta-carotene.With respect to the last point in the "cons" section, fancy goldfish are prone to swim bladder issues. Some reviewers have complained that the flakes get smashed up but this is actually a good thing in the case of these kinds of goldfish. I break these flakes up into a small cup of tank water first, making sure that the flakes sink before feeding them to the "little nipper". This keeps the fish from coming up to the surface of the water and gulping in air while eating the flakes. Would granules be better? Hard to say actually, because they have to be soaked until they expand fully before feeding them, otherwise they do their bloating inside the fish.I usually give these once a day to fishy. As part of a varied diet including home-made veggie gel food, freeze-dried foods like bloodworms, and seaweed, I think this flake food is great for fancy goldfish!I recommend and will be buying again.

My platy's and molly's seem to like it.

Spirulina is the main ingredient, but these flakes have a lot of other nutrients. They claim to improve fish color. My fish like them.One remarkable thing about them is the ones I got were in largish sheets. I have some big damsels, and I like being able to put big flakes in for them. A lot of flake foods are more fragile. I would buy this again.

The best Spirulina flake on the market. Made with Salmon meal! I feed it to my African Mbuna Cichlids. Mbuna are mostly vegetarians so their diet must consist of veggie based foods. Spirulina is one of the most nutritious algae's on the planet. Very high in protein and full of beneficial vitamins and minerals necessary for the aid in achieving premium coloration. The only caveat about it though, is it should not be used to feed daily. I was feeding my Cichlids this flake 2x daily for a couple of weeks. I then started noticing little black spots appearing on the fins of my Cichlids. After eliminating any water or parasite issues, I found something about "Spirulina spots" so i googled it. It appears feeding your Mbuna too much Spirulina will cause them to develop black spots. It doesnt affect their health, so dont worry if youve encountered it. They'll be fine. Stop feeding Spirulina flake for 2 weeks and they'll disappear. For Mbuna Cichlid owners, id recommend this product as a supplement to their existing diet. I'd recommend NLS Thera A or Dainichi Veggie FX as a solid Cichlid staple.

Bought this for a saltwater fish tank. Big flakes (some the size of a quarter), large quantity, and ingredients looks like they are good quality. Unfortunately my clownfish didn't like eating it! Fire shrimp and blenny ate it just fine.

My saltwater fish like this food but it sinks to the bottom faster than most other flake food.

My fish aren't as excited about this as the many reviews have indicated.

It has a great nutrition profile and ingredient list, but my fish don't really like it. I mix it in with other flakes and they will accept.

Good fish food unfortunately half the way through you get very small pieces.

I decided to try this flake food because it's easier on fish than pellets and faster than preparing veggies. The food came in a nice big bottle and has very large flakes so it might even last the whole way without becoming powder. My fish do seem to like it, but I have seen some completely ignore it.One concern is something labeled spirulina should have spirulina as the first ingredient. This is actually salmon meal with spirulina added so it has to go light to my more herbivorous fish. I decided this between the graze 8 veggies flakes, I feel I should have got the graze 8 but I haven't tried that food so I couldn't compare them fairly.

Ingredients looked good, and I like the amount that I got for the price. BUT! I have three Green Chromis that literally spit this stuff out. Even if I soak it in the Garlc Extreme stuff.

My Cichlids love this food. It doesn't cloud the water, and they eat it so fast that it doesn't get a chance to sink to the bottom.Fish have great color, have never had bloat, and prefer these flakes over any others that I've given them. As long as I have fish, this is what I will buy.2/20/17 I had to stop feeding this food, as it caused awful algae in my tanks. I didn't even realize it was this food, until I ran out of it and started feeding my fish Omega One. Changing foods was an instant end to a long running battle with algae.

Apparently I have picky fish because they will not touch this stuff.

Don't care for this food because each time I feed it to the fish, my tank has an algae bloom. I have stopped feeding this food and changed water, then tried the food again after all was balanced and the tank turned green within a day of feeding.

My tetras and mollies refuse to eat the flakes, so this was a waste of money :( The flakes just fall to the bottom of the tank, and cloud my aquarium.

Unfortunately my salt water fish show very little interest in this spirulina. My kole tang, clowns, neon goby, pajama cardinals all look at it and keep on moving.Pros: Huge container, good priceCons: Will be tossing it as it is not edible according to my fishes behavior.

Packaged arrived without complete expiration year on the product. Also the jar is not sealed. Shameful! I'm hoping this seller will make it right so I can amend review.

I purchased this fish food because I thought that it would be nutritionally superior to other foods; however, if any speck of this stuff makes it past your fish, it will turn into a jungle of fungi within about 4-6 hours leading me to think that it may have had fungal spores on it already. The cheap stuff I bought will not grow mold within 2 days (usually the fish get to it by then). Would not recommend this product.

My water gets an algae bloom and water is bright green. Am throwing out.

I don't believe these flakes are quality. I fed my cichlids this for a week even after darn near starving them. They only took it in to spit it out.

What else to say.... saltwater tangs, blenny, clowns, cardinal. None like it. Very odd as they are not known as fussy eaters.

This product has protein in it and I can't feed it to my Dubosi.