Cyclop-eeze

[TraceTrace]

Just checking out an online aquarium store and have come across this product - Cyclop-Eeze. I've had a look at their website but it all looks like gobbledigook to me

Does anyone have any experience using this product? How big are the crumbs (they look very small from the website pictures) and are they suitable for adult bettas, or is it more a fry food?

[chorrylan]

umm .. imagine something like

- growing brine shrimp to adult size

- freeze drying them

- and crushing them to a coarse powder

They do it with a specific marine critter rather than brine shrimp but you get the general idea.

I don't have baby or adult bettas but smaller babies of most of my fish (and adult guppies and Cyprochromis leptosoma) love this and grow well on it.

I largely use it as an additional/supplemental food for fry that are still happy to eat baby brine shrimp.

Unfortunately it's horridly expensive so I have been using "aqua-pics freeze dried brine shrimp cysts" as a (much cheaper and reasonably comparable as a foodstuff) alternative lately.

[killiguy]

I have also tried to find out what it is but that seems to be a trade secret.Its not cyclops.Its supposed to be a substitute for baby brine shrimp but I have not found it serves that purpose at all( using it for killis that prefer live food)Most fish that eat flake eat it but I have not found the growth rate any better and its expense has made me not get a further jar.Im sure Bettas would eat it as it floats nicely.One of my freinds uses it by soaking it in water and then squirting it into his marine invertebrates.It does seem to have a fairly high protien content(like krill)

[Callatya]

Any benefit with the colour? Does it look to be mainly animal matter rather than filler?

[killiguy]

It is light orange and looks like freeze dried something.The faeces of fish arent bright orange like when feeding tetra bits,I dont think it would add much.I must try it on my Leleupi which need colour feeding after lots of BBS to get the intense yellow or orange they are famous for

[Rod]

I feed it to fry and adult fish once a week...don't need much so it lasts a while

Haven't done any tests to prove it's worth....but I'm Happy using it as I do

I use the freeze dried variety....but you can buy a flake.

[chorrylan]

I have also tried to find out what it is but that seems to be a trade secret.

they don't try all that hard to keep their secret then:

In the northern lands of Canada, there exists a unique salt lake, and when the ice thaws on it's crisp-cool surface, intense rays of sunlight feed a lush supply of algae blooms. One of the few residents of this special lake is a tiny decapod, a ten-legged copepod that feeds on the pigment enriched algae. These small creatures have adapted to the

frigid climate of their canadian home by retaining the red pigments of the algae, protecting them from the sun’s strong ultraviolet light. Also, their bodies have exploited the algae’s vast supply of omega fatty acids, and their bellies are full of it.

A company of Canadian scientists, Argent Laboratories Group, selectively

breeds and cultivates these decapods. Argent annually harvests the adults, freezes, and then stores them in vacuum-sealed pouches, preserving their body's integrity, nutrient and pigment content. Argent names their center-stage product, Cyclop-eeze.

http://www.cyclop-eeze.com/product_info.php

http://www.jehmco.com/html/cyclop-eeze.html

http://www.jehmco.com/html/cyclop-eeze_table.html

My fry prefer to chase bbs but this stuff makes a great supplement because I don't always have enough bbs on hand, particularly for feeding things like baby L' catfish that consume quite a bit and are happy about not needing to chase it down.

[killiguy]

Thanks for that info.Do you soak the stuff before feeding it to your catfish??

[killimike]

My killi fry eat this stuff with a little coaxing, tho they prefer to chase something moving as laurie says. Which killis, killiguy? My annulatus adults eat it too, and bigger fish will have a go at it if you ball some up in your fingers, but I usually don't worry about it.

I'm finding a little goes a long way, but it is pricey.

[killiguy]

Some of my Nothos (Rachovii,Guentheri and Palmqvisti)ate it. Cant get Eggersi or Korthauase to eat it.Orthonotus laughed at it ( they grew to 6 cm in 5 weeks for those not familiar with the species)All the Aphyos and Fundulopanchax ate it but they eat everything.Thats a good effort getting Annulatus to eat prepared food mine always needed BBS may be its useful after all.Maybe some of the little wild bettas(Clarets etc ) might go for it??

[chorrylan]

Do you soak the stuff before feeding it to your catfish??

yes..... I usually follow a routine like:

1. turn off the air to the bbs

2. start some cyclop-eeze and freeze dried brine cysts soaking

3. feed all the ones that get dry food, frozen food etc

4. then feed out bbs,

5. make up a new bbs batch and finally....

5. feed out the cylop-eeze which should be saturated by now using a big syringe with a glass tube attached to the end of it so I can guide it to exactly where I want.

[killimike]

True Doug, the killies I have eating it are all 'i-eat-anything-at-all' types.

The annulatus definitely seem to be eating it, and the freeze dried BS cysts too, they may be getting some other food out of a tank full of java moss, but they come out for feedings. The stuff is sprinkled dry on the water surface. I guess it's just my hard case approach, 'There's nothing else, so suit yourself' . . . I just don't let them see how much it hurts me :-D