How long does pellet food last after it's opened?
All our pelleted products, when kept in a cool place, free of direct sunlight, moisture, and high humdity or heat are good until the best before date on the package. You can find this in the lower left hand corner of the back side or bottom of the package. For optimum results it is best to use the package within 90 days of opening it.
What is the difference between pelleted and flake fish food?
Hikari® diets are developed specifically to meet the nutritional needs of the fish they are meant to feed. Pelleted food by design is more compact, providing more nutrition in the same amount of space, therefore care should be taken when comparing pricing on flake food versus pelleted food. In most cases, your best value is a pelleted food.
Additionally, pelleted foods are more visible. This allows the user to monitor the amount of food their fish are actually eating and to remove any food not consumed by the fish within a specific period of time. This helps eliminate over-feeding as well as the water quality and disease conditions associated with this common problem. It also tends to save food which translated to a lower feeding cost than flakes. The advantage of pelleted over flake food can be summed up as better nutrition, better value, and less water quality problems and maintenance, something all fish keepers are happy to experience.
What is the difference between a sinking diet and flake fish food?
If you use flake-type foods or floating pellets, the top/middle feeders usually eat most of the food. Our uniquely shaped diets that sink rapidly make the nutrition readily available for your bottom-feeding aquatic pets. Additionally, our pellets have been formulated to maintain their shape longer than competitive products because we know bottom-feeding fish prefer to graze.
Why are pelleted foods priced so high for small packages?
Pelleted food is more compacted, providing more nutrition in a smaller space than flakes. For example, the human equivalent would be a bag of potato chips versus a bundle of carrots. Both items take up the same space but the carrots are more dense and nutritious than the potato chips. A small amount of pelleted food may have the same amount of nutrition as a much larger amount of flake food. Also, pelleted foods float or sink slowly, allowing the user to monitor the amount fed, helping to eliminate overfeeding, water quality problems, and diseases. The food will also last longer, providing better overall value than flake foods.
When should I feed my fish frozen foods?
Hikari® Bio-Pure® Frozen foods can be fed as a supplement to most any regular diet to provide additional nutrition for your fish. Our Blood Worms are excellent for improving spawning for discus and angelfishes specifically, and are a great source of protein and nutrition for all other freshwater and some marine fish too.
Hikari® Bio-Pure® Daphnia is an excellent food for aquariums that have been recently medicated or are experiencing a bacterial problem of some sort. It clears the digestive tract of fish within five to seven days and helps improve digestion because it is a natural laxative for fish.
Hikari® Bio-Pure® Brine Shrimp is an excellent food for all tropical and marine fish, high in natural algae and packed with nutrition. If more algae is required for your fish check out the Hikari® Bio-Pure® Spirulina Brine Shrimp.
We also offer Omega infused Brine Shrimp for marine fish. Most marine fishes require diets rich in various algae, sponge, crustacean and other nutrition packed ingredients. Hikari® Bio-Pure® Mega-Marine™, Hikari® Bio-Pure® Mega-Marine Algae™ and Hikari® Bio-Pure® Mega-Marine Angel™ provide these ingredients allowing your tangs, angels and other marine fishes to flourish.
Other Hikari Bio-Pure frozen foods are specific foods to supplement dry food feeding and add variety to your feeding regiment. Ask your local aquatic specialty retailer which food is best for your specific situation. To find your nearest retail location that carries Hikari products, click here!
Does floating or pelleted food cause goldfish to float upside-down?
Care should be taken when using a floating food for goldfish. Floating food contains many air pockets which allow the food to float. At times these pockets don’t fill with water when put in an aquarium, causing actual air bubbles to form within the food. This can cause problems with some goldfish. To avoid the majority of these problems, we suggest you feed the appropriate pellet size for your fish (or one size smaller). Soaking the food for a few minutes prior to feeding can also help eliminate this problem should you continue to experience it.
Many times this problem is caused by an improperly formed swim bladder valve which doesn't allow the air to escape properly. It is not directly caused by the floating food. You can also try our Sinking Goldfish Excel® as a great option to help eliminate this issue or our Goldfish Wheat-Germ to help your goldfish recover.
How much food should I feed my koi?
Feed one (1) pellet of food per inch of fish two (2) times daily when the water temperature in your pond consistently stays above 68°F. Feed half of this amount when the water temperature is consistently below 68°F but above 60°F. Adjust feeding accordingly as the temperatures drop below 60°F as the metabolism of your fish will continue winding down and too much food can cause health issues. When temperatures are colder, above 82°F or variable, we strongly suggest using Hikari® Wheat-Germ and moving down one pellet size from your normal choice.
Which Hikari diet will improve the chances of breeding my koi?
A combination of Hikari® Wheat-Germ and Hikari® Spirulina will prepare your koi for reproduction. It’s important to note that when spawning occurs the oxygen level in your pond can be rapidly depleted by all the new fry taking their share. Also, adults will eat the fry as a natural response, as will predators who you may not know have been spending time around your pond. If you want to avoid all the fry being eaten, remove them from your pond until they reach 1″-3″ depending on the size of your koi and your filter system.
Which Hikari® diet will help the coloration of my koi?
Hikari® Gold® is a daily, color enhancing koi diet that aids in the development of brilliant red and orange coloration. Hikari® Excel®, rich in spirulina and wheat germ, provides enhanced coloration while readying your koi for reproduction. Hikari® Spirulina provides excellent coloration of the red and orange areas of your koi while creating a noticeable richness in the white areas as well. Our Saki-Hikari® Color Enhancing Diet is what breeders choose to bring out the championship color of their fish and is part of our professional lineup for koi.
Which Hikari® diet will help my koi build body mass?
Hikari® Hi-Growth™ will provide your koi with maximum growth without a buildup of fat deposits within the body cavity, which can cause health issues for your koi. Also try Silkworm Selects™ as a daily diet growth booster or Saki-Hikari® Growth, our professional formulation used by breeders around the world for rapid growth.
What is the difference between Cichlid Gold® and Cichlid Staple™?
Cichlid Gold® is a daily diet that also offers color enhancing benefits, whereas Cichlid Staple™ is primarily a maintenance diet providing above average growth (with added color enhancing benefit. It will help your fish develop their natural coloration but cannot enhance it).
Is freeze-dried krill good for arowana?
What do I feed a discus with a body the size of a nickel?
For all fry, including baby discus, we recommend First Bites.® Our Discus Bio-Gold® is also an option, if you soak it for about 5 minutes prior to feeding it will become soft and pancake-like allowing smaller sized discus to eat it without an issue.
Which products do you recommend for Saltwater Gobies?
Which diet should I use for my Flowerhorn Cichlids?
What size are the Massivore Delite® pellets?
Each Massivore Delite® pellet is approximately 3/8″ in diameter and 3/16″ thick and is equivalent to 1.8 average sized goldfish without all the hassle, bacteria or parasites they carry as hitchhikers.
Do I need to feed my algae eater (plecostomus) or will they get enough food from the algae growing in my aquarium?
Algae eaters (plecostomus) require ample amounts of vitamins and minerals in their diet in addition to algae and vegetable matter. Many of these vitamins and minerals are not present in algae grown in an aquarium. Hikari® Tropical Algae Wafers™ or Mini Algae Wafers™ provide a highly balanced diet for all plecostomus and other algae eating inhabitants of your aquarium. Best of all, they maintain their shape for an extended time allowing grazing fish to eat at their leisure.
My corydoras eat the Algae Wafers™ I feed to my plecostomus, why should I feed them Sinking Wafers®?
Catfish (corydoras), loaches and many other bottom feeders have small downward-facing mouths which keeps them from efficiently eating a product like Algae Wafers®. The unique shape of Hikari® Tropical Sinking Wafers® has been designed to allow these types of fishes to easily grab and ingest the small elliptical pellet. It provides them with ready access to a food with more protein derived from higher protein sources and has been developed specifically for their dietary needs.
What type of cichlid is Cichlid Excel® made for?
Hikari Cichlid Excel® and Sinking Cichlid Excel® were developed for the special dietary requirements of African Cichlids. They require a diet rich in vegetable matter. They contain spirulina and wheat germ, both of which are highly digestible. Expect brilliant, natural coloration when using these diets.
What is the difference between Cichlid Gold™ and Cichlid ®Bio-Gold+?
Hikari Cichlid Gold™ is a daily diet developed to assist the cichlids develop and maintain their natural coloration.
Hikari Cichlid ®Bio-Gold+ is produced utilizing bio-technology which allows your cichlids to develop coloration lost by lack of UV lighting. Cichlid ®Bio-Gold+ contains significantly more, higher-quality color enhancers which are more readily assimilated by your aquatic pet.
Is there a Hikari diet I can feed my shark?
Most sharks are carnivorous fish and require a diet high in protein. Hikari® Tropical Sinking Carnivore Pellets® will provide your aquatic pet with all the protein they need to live a long and healthy life without the potential parasite and bacteria problems of live foods.
What Hikari food can I feed my Oscar (Astronotus ocellatus)?
We suggest Food Sticks™, Cichlid Gold™, or Cichlid ®Bio-Gold+. Each of these diets are high in protein and provide a nutritional package to meet an oscar’s dietary requirements. The large pellets Cichlid Gold™ contains provides an economical diet for these large eaters, while Food Sticks™ and Cichlid ®Bio-Gold+ with it’s excellent nutrition, replaces a live goldfish diet and provides a food source for your aquatic pet that’s parasite-free and bacteria-free.
Is it safe for my betta to eat during treatment while Betta Revive™ is in the aquarium water?
Yes, make sure to continue to feed your pet while treating with Betta Revive™ to keep their immune system from being negatively impacted further than it is. Feed Betta Bio-Gold® to help your betta to recover faster!
How much Betta Bio-Gold® should I feed my betta?
For smaller bettas (under 1.5″ in length from the tip of their nose to the base of their tail, before the fins) we suggest using Micro Pellets® and feeding 6 pellets twice a day. For bettas 1.5” to 1.75” betta, feed three pellets of Betta Bio-Gold® up to three times daily. Add 1 pellet per 1/4 inch of growth, never feeding more than 5 pellets at one feeding.
Additional feedings can be made if they are at least three hours apart and at least that amount of time before all lights are out in the room. During feedings, feed one pellet at a time and make sure the betta completely consumes each pellet. Do not overfeed. Overfeeding can be detrimental to the betta and the water quality. Remove any uneaten food after the feeding period.
For more information on maintaining betta fish, download the Betta Care Sheet (PDF) from our website
Ultimate® says to avoid using with potassium permanganate, why?
The potassium permanganate will interfere with the effectiveness of Ultimate®. If you are using potassium permanganate we suggest waiting 24 hours after use using carbon or some other media to remove the potassium permanganate.
Is carbon or an ammonia removing filter material safe to use during treatment with PraziPro®?
We would suggest removing it. Additionally, you want to be sure all the other medications you have already used are out of the system before any treatment is started. We suggest a minimum of 24 hours with carbon in the system to remove any residual medications if you feel you may have some present.
Are there incompatible water conditioners that should not be used with PraziPro®?
The major issue is we do not know. Most labels do not state, what they have in them or how they remove chloramine, chlorine or ammonia. There are a number of products that are sulfur or sulfinite-based that can cause issues with efficiency and dissolved oxygen levels. For this reason we recommend using Ultimate® or ClorAm-X® and Stress-X™ because we know they are 100% compatible.
Is there a dosing schedule I can follow that would allow me to reintroduce carbon filtration in the hope of reducing the nitrates further while continuing to medicate my tank?
Not while treating the tank. To totally eliminate a fluke issue using PraziPro® you would have to treat the tank a minimum of 4 times for 7 days each in succession. You could run carbon for a day in between treatments as long as the water change is done before the next treatment is initiated. We suggest using ClorAm-X® or Ultimate® for the water conditioning during the treatment to avoid any incompatibility problems.
When should I expect to see results from PraziPro®?
Within 3 days, depending on the severity, you should see noticeable improvement.
Would I be better served to increase the PraziPro® dose to speed a cure?
Never increase the dose beyond what your actual volume of water is, this is never recommended. To calculate the actual amount of water in your tank by multiplying the length x width x height and dividing by 238 to get the true gallons. Please also deduct the amount of space consumed by substrate (gravel, sand, etc.) rock, decorations or other things which are displacing water.
Can I treat with more than one type of medication simultaneously, and if so what kind do you recommend?
Never use more than one medication at a time under any circumstances as you could eliminate the benefit of one or the other or both and cause issues with incompatibility, dissolved oxygen levels, more stress to already stressed fish or other issues. Also, never use any medication prior to using PraziPro® that has copper, including copper itself. Copper can render PraziPro® ineffective.
How long are the Gel items good for if kept in the fridge?
Our testing shows the gel items remain safe for about 30 days when used and kept as directed. While we have confirmed it still safe up to 60 days, we recommend using it within 30 days to avoid any bacteria issues caused by your utensils or gloved fingers touching the spout area.
LeopaGel™ gradually loses its fiavorful taste and texture with time. Please remember, all our Gel items, are free of preservatives that can harm your pet reptile over time. For this reason, refrigeration after opening and use within 30 days is very important!
I forgot to put Gel items in the refrigerator after opening, is it still OK to use??
Gel items contain no preservatives and the quality degrades rapidly without refrigeration, especially in warmer room temperatures. Therefore, always keep Gel items in the refrigerator once opened and discard if it has an unpleasant smell or the package starts to swell. Both are indications the quality has degraded and is not safe to feed your pet.
When using Gel items stored in the refrigerator, should I wait until the food reaches room temperature before use?
Feeding trials at the Hikari® Aquatic Lab found no digestive or growth problems when feeding Gel items immediately after removing it from the refrigerator. If you are not comfortable feeding a cold product, pick off the proper amount of food and wait until it gets to room temperature before feeding. Under no circumstances should you let the food warm for more than 15 minutes and never allow it to come in contact with any surface that could transfer bacteria to it during this time. Anything the food touches while warming will also be eaten by your pet.
I stored Gel items in a freezer after opening. Can I still use it?
While our testing at the Hikari® Aquatic Laboratory has found that freezing doesn’t reduce the nutritional content of the food and can help it last longer, we do not recommend freezing. Once frozen, Gel items won’t have its normal texture and cannot retain its shape as moisture is lost during thawing.
When I started feeding my gecko LeopaGel™, it got diarrhea. Should I stop feeding?
It is possible that some geckos can have watery feces when switching from one food to another. We have found this to be a temporary issue with no negative impact to the reptile unless it persists for more than a few days.
How many crickets is the nutritional value of LeopaGel™ equivalent to?
Approximately 1cm of LeopaGel™ offers the calories of about three 2cm crickets, but much better nutrition.
Do you ever have coupons for your food?
We offer special promotions from time to time for our social media followers and through our preferred consumer email newsletter, which you can register for on our site here.
Inside the package there is a small pouch labeled "DO NOT EAT", what is it for?
The packets contain oxygen absorbers that help eliminate oxygen inside the package prior to your opening it and help maintain the freshness required for optimum quality. They are not edible and should be left inside the package, to be discarded when the jar or bag is empty.
Can I buy directly from Hikari Sales USA?
Currently, we do not sell our products directly to consumers. To locate a retailer click here, if you are a retailer, please click here and provide your complete contact information and we will have our local representative contact you for further assistance.
If you are interested in becoming a distributor of Hikari®, Bio-Pure®, Aquarium Solutions®, Pond Solutions®, or Reptile Solutions® products, please click here and provide your complete contact information and our sales team will contact you directly.
What does the statement on the Bio-Pure® FD containers mean? ("For maximum success, the contents should be used within 90 days of purchase")
Any freeze dried (FD) item is hydroscopic and therefore tends to absorb water from the air. This process can cause the product to oxidize and in extreme conditions can cause it to be unusable for feeding. For this reason we include an oxygen absorber in each package and suggest using all the product within 90 days of opening to maximize freshness. Following these guidelines will provide the best overall product experience for you and your aquatic pet.
