Fish food -- how do they know what fish find palatable?

[Mmathis]

Was feeding the other day and had another random thought......

When they manufacture fish food ( or any animal food, for that matter ), how do they know what will taste good to a fish?

 

[sissy]

I think they only go by what is good for them and what is the standard in foods .Seems like it is the same with all pet foods .I know my dogs do not digest soy foods very well

 

[Dave 54]

Was feeding the other day and had another random thought......

When they manufacture fish food ( or any animal food, for that matter ), how do they know what will taste good to a fish?

Took this line from our Alternate foods thread Maggie, its over siplified to be understood laymans terms :-
We remembered that koi in the old days in Japan used to get left over's fed to them, so we though why not experiment and compile a list of alternate foodstuffs that our koi can "feel, taste, smell and enjoy".
Its the last few words of the sentance that are the important ones and it is what we believe the feed companies work around when making these feeds "missing here are the ingrediants that go into our koi's feeds yes but they will have been taken into consideration by them and all vitamins etc added duiring the pellets making".
To get thus far would show a working knowledge of our koi's anatomy in that they can
1) Feel using their mouths, barbells and specialist sensors around the body connected to the brain
2) Taste by use of their mouths sending signals to their brain as to if it may taste edible thats why they tend to grub about tasting gravel, rocks etc " basically anything they can fit in their mouths"................
3) Smell by use of their nose sending messages to their brain
4) Enjoy by using all of the above senses

Hope this helps

Dave

 

[Dave 54]

I missed out sight for a reason in the form of questions "Like what can koi see , do they see colours , do they have a preferance for any particular colour ;ie if your pellet Mix consist of differing colours". ?
These are all questions we cant answer..... why ?, quite simply because we arent koi , we can however observe then in doing so now cant we?
One thing I do know because weve observerd , in a friends totally blind koi..., is that they are still perfectly capable of finding and catching their food living a long and happy life without sight, as they are with sight, because like a blind person they have their other senses to fall back on and to enable them to use it to their advantage ,
" The friends Koi is now in its 30's "
There are other disabilities I've know koi to live with too , in my friend Dave B's pond up their in sunny Kent there is a koi who's mouth cartilage is damaged leaving him with lips akin to a kissing Gourami. Both Dave and I thought it a death sentence but Dave is the same as me in that he'll give things a try in letting natutre take its course with his koi, to our complete amasement and astoundment this koi went from strenght to strenght in re-teaching ielf to eat , amdmittedly had this been in the wild it would have most probably died
Weve been friends now for over 17 years and Quaosimodo has been with us the whole time


Dave

 

[Mmathis]

I recall a post a few weeks ago -- poster had gotten a new food and the fish really seemed crazy about it. So, do fish even have a preference for foods, or are they just eating machines? How sensitive is their palate?

And do they [manufacturers] "test" the food to see what the fish prefer? And if so, what criteria do they use? [I have this image of fish tanks lined up.....the fish have been trained to punch a green button if they like the food, and a red button if they don't like the food, LOL! ]

We know that dogs & cats have foods that they love and foods that they won't touch......or at least it's so with our cats. And my cockatiel has preferences.

 

[sissy]

did anyone see the show on how they make fish food on how do they make that show .There secret, they will not tell there ingredients

 

[Mmathis]

did anyone see the show on how they make fish food on how do they make that show .There secret, they will not tell there ingredients

Did they show how they test it to see if the fish like it? Or was it only on how it was made?

 

[sissy]

they said the test all the combinations of ingredients to decide what is best for the fish ,they did not say if it was good for the fish .They showed both flaked food and pond sticks