We're delighted to share today something of a personal review provided to us by cichlid enthusiast and avid-Vitalis user, Olivier Pelland. Accepting no substitute, Olivier goes to great lengths to ensure he can get his hands on Vitalis Cichlid Pellets and Flakes for his home aquarium in Dubai.
He kindly passed on the below review of our cichlid diets and we couldn't help but share it here! Thank you very much Olivier, we're so pleased your fish are reaping the benefits of the Vitalis diet!
"My fish and I love Vitalis food. As the pellets are cylindrical, they move left and right while falling instead of just sinking straight to the bottom, this seem to stimulate the hunter instinct of my fish as they will jump on it. With the standard spherical shape of other brands, they would normally let it sink to the bottom before eating it. I believe it’s because it does not stimulate their hunting instinct.
With Vitalis the water stays fairly clean. As you might know, Cichlids are messy eaters that chew and spit out the food as they go so they make a mess, but it does not come from the food itself that can stay at the bottom and keep its shape until it’s eaten. In the past while I was new [to Vitalis] and was over feeding my fish, the food would still stay at the bottom for a long period without crumbling into pieces.
For the flakes, they absolutely love it, even my most carnivorous fish eat the green flakes from my fingers as soon as I lower the flakes in the aquarium. As recommended by Vitalis, I always turn off my filters while feeding flakes to prevent any being sucked into my filtration.
Sadly, when I started my new cichlid tank, there was no Vitalis food available from the distributor in my country so I had to feed them with a different brand of food. I can sincerely say that since I obtained more Vitalis food, my fish colouration and size has greatly improved. Some of my fish were not really growing fast for as long as I can remember but now every week I can clearly see them gaining size and weight. They are all really active and healthy and as specified above, they hunger for Vitalis. No need to mix in some food stimulant like garlic, the fish won’t leave any left over. Even my khuli loach that are normally extremely shy rush out of their hideout to eat as soon as some food reach the bottom. Even I appreciate the smell of it, especially the herbivore flakes which is the exact same smell from algae as what I use to smell every day while walking to my ship while I was serving in the military.
Overall, from all the different foods I have experimented with, I can say that Vitalis is by far the best. I have raised fry with Vitalis and my 3-4 month old juvenile where already way bigger and colour up than the one you usually see at the shop that are more than 6 months old. This is what you get when you have premium ingredients in the food.
I strongly believe that the two most important factors for healthy fish are a great filtration system and the best food. Vitalis absolutely take care of the latter."
Olivier