Originally in: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/WWMDigitalMagV1Ish1.htm, Related FAQs: Foods/Feeding/Nutrition, Foods/Feeding/Nutrition 2, Foods/Feeding/Nutrition 3,  Foods/Feeding/Nutrition 4, Foods/Feeding/Nutrition 5, Foods/Feeding/Nutrition 6, & FAQs on Foods/Feeding/Nutrition: Kinds, Amounts, Frequency, Feeding Methods/Techniques/Tools, Automated Feeding, Holiday/Vacation Feeding, Medicated/Augmented Foods/Feeding, Feeding/Food Problems, Products by Brand Names/Manufacturers... & Coral Feeding,  Brine Shrimp,  Algae as Food, Vitamins,  Frozen Foods, Coral Feeding, Growing Reef Corals,  Culturing Food Organisms,  Butterflyfish Foods/Feeding/Nutrition,  Related Articles: Foods, Feeding, Nutrition by Bob Fenner, Marine Nutrition, Probably the most overlooked component of proper fish keeping By Aaron Loboda, Feeding a Reef Tank: A Progressive Recipe by Adam Blundell, Making Vegetarian Gel Food for Fish: Five Minutes, Five Easy Steps by Nicole Putnam, Automatic Feeder Impressions By Steven Pro, Optimizing Growth, Culturing Food Organisms, Feeding Feeder Goldfish, Foods For Fry, Feeding Reef Invertebrates,  TetraMarine, A Gel Food for Marine Fishes

reviewed by James Gasta

Some of Tetra's new line

Product type: Gel food for saltwater fish

Manufacturer: Tetra; sold under the Instant Ocean brand in the US

Price: 24-hour Algae and Marine Mix Blocks £6.99 ($6.49) for 3 x 12 gram blocks; Krill, Algae and Krill/Brine Shrimp Mixes £8.99 ($7.79) for 20 x 4 gram sachets

Pros: Very convenient packaging; no freezing/refrigeration required; very clean; little waste; very nutritious

Cons: A small number of the sachets did not tear off easily from the others requiring scissors to remove (this production problem may have been corrected); costly compared to frozen foods
 

Wet-frozen foods have long been the choice for those species of marine fish that will not adapt to dry foods. Tetra's answer to this was to create a line of gel-based foods called TetraMarine that do not require refrigeration but still provides natural tastes and textures. All of the TetraMarine foods are enriched with protein, vitamins, minerals, essential omega-3 fatty acids, and other nutrients important for marine fish without the need for thawing and rinsing of waste water. 

Five products are offered, but only four were available for my review. They are:

 

TetraMarine Krill (krill in a nutrient-enriched gel)

TetraMarine Mix (krill and brine shrimp in a nutrient-enriched gel)

TetraMarine Algae (nori algae in a nutrient-enriched gel)

TetraMarine Mix (brine shrimp, krill and cyclops in nutrient-enriched gel block)

TetraMarine Algae (nori algae in a nutrient-enriched gel block)

 

The two TetraMarine blocks are advertised as 24-hour feeding blocks, each package containing three feeding blocks that are designed for species that prefer to graze. The sachets contain enough food to feed the average size, medium stocked tank for one day, although with my stocking level, one sachet proved to last two days. The food is a paste like texture mixed with gel, but the gel is not as abundant as in some of the gel based frozen cube foods I have used in the past, that is, it does not have a rubbery consistency to it. Now on to the results of my review. 

The inhabitants (all adults) the foods were tested on are: 

Tomini Tang

False Lemon Peel Angelfish

Coral Beauty Angelfish

Saddleback Clownfish

Two Yellow Tail Damsels 

The fish in question were on a sole diet of New Life Spectrum Pellets which proved to be a highly nutritious food. All of the above fish continually ate the New Life Spectrum greedily with no sign of boredom. The first food I tried was the TetraMarine Krill. At first the fish were a little reluctant to eat this food and may have been due to recognition. In a short time, all the fish with the exception of the Tomini Tang and Coral Beauty began to sample and eat. On the following feeding, all the fish ate the Krill. The next food tried was the TetraMarine Marine Mix which contains both krill and brine Shrimp. All fish ate this readily, and the same can be said of the algae mix. 

The last food tried was the algae block and this did not appeal to me too much. The reason being is not that the fish did not eat it, but because of the high water flow in the system, the block tends to drift into areas where the fish cannot get at it and can create a nutrient and/or waste problem. On the other hand, I found the TetraMarine Krill to be a very convenient form of food to feed to my Bubble Tip Anemone. I just squeezed the sachet directly into its tentacles and presto, feeding complete.