Product Review- Golden Pearls

Discussion in 'Fish Food' started by Dingo, Dec 5, 2010.

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  1. Dingo

    Dingo Giant Squid

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    Hello all, I have been a member here for well over a year and in the hobby almost 3. During this time I have had the opportunity to make good friends with many people, learn from some great reef gurus, and develop a great knowledge base in the hobby. In return, I would like to share a very nicely kept secret with anyone who cares to listen.

    About 4 months ago I was having a casual conversation with one of my friends who is big-time into the hobby. We started chatting about the flasher wrasse that he gave me about a year prior. I explained how the wrasse lost its male "flasher" coloration. He quickly directed me to feeding being the primary reason why they loose coloration in the hobby, contrary to the common belief of no females to display to. (Although I wouldn't rule out no females completely as it is most likely some kind of combination of both!) So we talked about what I fed and I gave the normal line up: cyclopeeze, shrimp, ocean nutrition, new life spectrum, etc. He quickly took the opportunity to introduce me to a product he has been using for years called Golden Pearls.

    Golden Pearls come in many different sizes (anywhere from just a few microns all the way up to "big fish" sized). According to the product box, they are a sinking food, however they are entrained with air so they don't actually sink... More like float in the water column forever. Since they have this air trapped in them, when they float across the water column they appear to move similar to that of a live food, thus enticing these hard to feed fish (such as anthias, gobies, etc.) Their nutritional content is very high! Higher than almost any other product I have ever used. Lastly, if you can even get any GP to be left uneaten by your fish, you don't have to worry about it breaking down fast like flakes! If you happen to have some settle, it will be consumed by your CUC almost immediately.

    Now on to my observations with the product :)
    You know how when you add some really high quality food like Rod's Food or a homemade mixture you get this awesome feeding response... Well that happens every time I use Golden Pearls! I can say that when I feed my tank there is not a SINGLE granule that is ever wasted! My fish and corals are all over this stuff ;)
    I have used GP to get even the most pickiest fish off of frozen and onto prepared. For example, I have used it with countless wrasses and have never had a time when they refused it; probably THE most effective prepared food for wrasses. I have gotten immediate responses from other fish that would typically refuse prepared: yellow clown gobies, hawkfish, the occasional tang, clownfish, pipefish. In fact, I used a mix of GP and cyclopeeze to get an African Bluestripe pipefish off of only copepods. It turns out that the pipefish would go after the Golden Pearls BEFORE it would go after the cyclopeeze. As far as color is concerned, I am highly satisfied! I do feed a verrry varied diet so I cannot say that the GP are directly responsible for the great colors I observe, however I can see brighter oranges and yellows in a few wrasses/clowns after I started using the GP so I suspect that it has something to do with that ;)

    Given that this product is priced the same as other fish foods and, in my eyes, works better than any other food... I would recommend it to anyone who asks. It is hard to find, but if you ever get a chance to pick some up, do yourself a favor and take advantage of this great product!


    Guaranteed Analysis: curde protein: 60% min, lipids: 8% min, ash: 15%, moisture: 8%, vitamin C: 200ppm, Vitamin E: 400ppm, astaxanthin: 500ppm

    perfect sized for almost all fish 500-800micron size:
    [​IMG]
    very small for corals and filter feeders 5-50micron size:
    [​IMG]

    Thank you all for the opportunity to share my experience with you all and I hope that everyone will benefit from it :)
    -Trent
     
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  3. steve wright

    steve wright Super Moderator

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    Very interesting Dingo

    any ideas what it is exactly?
    I mean what are the main ingredients?

    is it very different from something like Mark Weiss reef bugs?

    Steve
     
  4. Dingo

    Dingo Giant Squid

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    As I have used Reef Bugs and do like them very much. I can say it is similar but not the same thing. Golden Pearls are made from these ingredients: brine shrimp, squid, shrimp and fish proteins, animal protein, purified fish oils, phospholipids, astxanthin, vitamins and protected minerals, antioxidants, and immunostimulants.

    all around a great product :)
     
  5. steve wright

    steve wright Super Moderator

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    Thanks Dingo


    some images of the packaging would be appreciated
    so I know what I am looking for on the off chance it does make it this far East
    (always on the look out for food based supplements)

    Steve
     
  6. kcbrad

    kcbrad Giant Squid

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    Great review Trent. I hope I can find this food somewhere to try it out!
     
  7. Dingo

    Dingo Giant Squid

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    honestly I have not been able to find this stuff in a store anywhere. There are only two outfits online that I know of where it is sold.

    It has no professional packaging... it is just vacuum packed into a bag with a sticker saying Golden Pearls __#of__ microns and then a very brief description of the product.

    I usually purchase from Kens Fish Home of Quality Fish Food, And Supplies At Excellent Prices. as they are priced the best there... and IMO, its worth every single cent!!!
    Steve, it might be a hassle to get them across seas but if you know of a way, I recommend it!
     
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  9. pink4miss

    pink4miss Panda Puffer

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    i ordered some, will give it a try, i noticed its not full of fillers. i hope the fish like it my fish dont normally like any of the pellet type foods i have tried.
     
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  10. Aaron.Herk

    Aaron.Herk Sea Dragon

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    You think you could ween a mandarin off of copepods with this stuff. I will have to try this stuff out.
     
  11. inwall75

    inwall75 Giant Squid

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    Great writeup Trent!!

    I've used Golden Pearls for years in various sizes for fish and for corals. The thing you need to be wary of is a little goes a loooooong way. It packs some serious nutrition but it's also very high in phosphorus. (This isn't a problem unless you aren't balancing imports and exports. I use phosphate removers and skimmers so it's not an issue for me).

    BTW, any product that is high in Astaxanthin like Golden Pearls, Cyclopeeze, etc will color up your fish.

    Footnote: for those reading this who want to know how to test for phosphates in foods, here's how you do it.

    Mix up batch of saltwater with RO/DI
    Rinse 2 GLASS test tubes with RO/DI water
    Do a phosphate test to get your baseline phosphorus reading
    Put some food in a small GLASS beaker and let the food sit in that for several hours
    Using a pipette (preferably glass) get enough water from the container to fill up your test tube doing your best to not take any food with it.
    Run the phosphate test again

    (If your store has a spectrophotometer, take the water sample to them. You can use a titration type phosphorus test kit at home and it will give you a reading. However, using a spectrophotomer, you'll get your REAL phosphorus reading)
     
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  12. Dingo

    Dingo Giant Squid

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    well getting onto prepared foods is based off of two things; how willing the fish is to take prepared and how you present the food.

    Considering how I got a bluestripe pipefish onto this stuff, I would say that you have a good chance as mandarins are generally not "that" hard to get onto prepared. Also try cyclopeeze as that is a great frozen for mandarins ;)
     
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