You have many big named brands when it comes to finding algae wafers as food for your pet fish. There are also smaller companies, such as Aquatic Foods Inc., that has their own branded sinking food for bottom feeders.
You can check out Aquarium Blueprints’ review for the lessen known AFI Spirulina, Algae & Veggie Wafers to see if this fish food product is worth getting.
Size Options and Pricing
The Aquatic Foods Inc. Spirulina, Algae & Veggie Wafers can be bought in several sizes: 1/4-lb, 1/2-lb, 1-lb, 2-lb, 5-lb, 10-lb, 25-lb and 50-lb.
You can take a look at the price tags for all available size options on Amazon with this link. (#CommissionsEarned)
Ingredients
The Aquatic Foods Inc. Wafers are made out of a combination of Brewer’s Yeast, Double Stabilized Vitamin C, Fish Meal, Freeze Dried Krill, Freeze Dried Plankton, Rice Flour, Soy Flour, Soybean Meal, Wheat Bran Wheat Germ Meal Gluten Flour as well as other minerals and supplements. It also contains a mixture of the following plants and vegetables: Broccoli, Carrots, Celery, Powdered Seaweed, Squash, Spinach, Spirulina, Sweet Potato, Tomato, Vegetable Oils and Zucchini.
Approximate Analysis
You can find an approximate analysis of the food product below:
- Crude Protein: Min. 30.0%
- Crude Fat: Min. 7.5%
- Crude Fiber: Max. 4.0%
- Moisture: Max. 10.0%
What fish eats AFI Spirulina, Algae & Veggie Wafers?
The wafers are mainly advertised for plecostomus and cat fish. The two bottom feeders we currently keep, Albino Corydoras and Kuhli Loach, can’t get enough of the food. Our Kuhlil Loach will actually come out of hiding once they noticed the wafers. Furthermore, our other fish, Guppies and White Cloud Minnows, would also swim down to the substrate to peck at the algae discs.
Does API Wafers have an expiration date
As far as we can tell, there are no expiration, “best of” or “best by” date on the packaging. What we generally recommend in regards to fish food is to feed all the contents in the package over a 6 month period after breaking the shield. We also suggest that you avoid storing the food in direct sunlight as well as in a hot and humid environment. Last but not least, you should keep the bag completely sealed when not in use.
Pros
What we liked most about the AFI Wafers is that the food provides a convenient way to get vegetables into the diet of our fish. While you can try feeding Broccoli, Carrots, Celery, Sweet Potato, Tomato and Zucchini on their own, you first have to blanch them long enough to soften to be edible for your aquatic pets to eat.
We also appreciated that the wafers will sink right away once you drop them in your fish tank. This allow us to strategically place our food upfront where we can see out bottom feeding fish clearly while they are eating.
Last but not least, we find that you get tremendous value from this product as AFI packed a lot of wafers into each bag. According to company, they were able to add around 2,000 more wafers per pound when compared to competition. The wafers are around 3/8 to an 1/2 inch in diameter as well as approximately 1/8 inch thick.
Cons
The biggest issue with the Aquatic Foods Inc. Wafers is that the food can cloud your water if left uneaten. So make sure that you don’t overfeed your fish. If you do give more food than your aquatic pets can eat, then you might want to net out the uneaten portion to avoid getting any ammonia, nitrite and/or nitrate spikes.
There are also some reports that the wafers do not immediately sink. Some may just stay floating. We haven’t experience any of these scenarios so far, however.
Feeding Directions
There are no general feeding directions printed on the package of the Aquatic Foods Inc. Spirulina, Algae & Veggie Wafers. So you have to do a little experimentation to see what the is the right amount to feed to your fish.
What we like to do is drop a handful of wafers into our aquarium and then check back around 1 hour later. This is because it will take some time for the wafers to soften up enough for your fish to eat. If you see some leftovers, as well as disinterests from your fish to eat more of the food, then you should remove the uneaten food and feed less wafers in the next meal. If there are no leftovers, you can try adding an extra wafer in the next feeding time.
We only feed this food product once a day since we have Corydoras and Kuhli Loaches. Both species are scavengers by nature so they also act as a cleanup crew that will eat up the uneaten food we feed to our middle and top dwelling fish.
If you have omnivores, you should alternate the algae wafers with meaty foods (such as the Aqueon Shrimp Pellets).
Recap
We absolutely love the Aquatic Foods Inc. Spirulina, Algae & Veggie Wafers as the food provides a convenient way to add vegetables to the diet of our pet fish. It also offers a ton of value for its price as you get a lot of wafers stuffed into a bag.