We understand some of our labelling has not been correct in the eyes of Trading Standards & we have taken advice in how to cross the 'T's' & dot the 'eyes'. Importing animal feed from abroad & re-packaging in the UK is a real legal minefield but hopefully with the help of our local Trading Standards office we are now fully legal & above board. We are registered with Trading Standards to re-pack bulk animal feed stuffs & distribute within the EU. We are registered under Article 18 (3) of the EC Feed Hygiene Regulation (183/2005). Our reference No. GB 144 0440.
It would seem the 'big' flake manufacturers have noticed us 'little people' & want to cancel us out. Watch out guys - the 'little people' are growing.
New weighing equipment & labeling have cost us a lot. We are bringing our packaging up to a higher degree & putting more foods into rigid containers. These will make some loose granulated foods a little more expensive but bulk breeder packs will still be available in re-sealable bags. In our experience these bulk users keep our U/V black containers & put foods into these for better shelf life. Another use for these containers is a light proof egg incubation container for light sensitive embryo's such as Killifish.
These containers are expensive but many other packers (including the 'big boys') use cheap containers. Hold these tubs up to the light & then hold ours up. You will get the idea. Look at the nice clear packaging on the shelves at your local retailer. Open to vitamin destroying U/V rays. We are amazed at all these manufacturers with clear packaging sat on retailers shelves.

We attend many shows & auctions up & down the country & we are well known for doing this where no other trade stand goes. We regularly pick up fish from auctions to 'have a go' at something different. We are fish breeders still & know loads of breeders & conservationists up & down the country. We don't make a big thing with big glossy adverts all over the place. We built the food business up over many years of trying new things out on our own fish. Trouble is some of these foods need minimum orders of half to one ton orders. This makes them way outside of many hobbyists pocket. We developed some old contacts with importers & commercial breeders so we can 'shift' bulk quantities to keep new imports coming in & get fresh product.

Brine Shrimp egg sales over the past few months have been going crazy & it's no wonder as our pouches from Siberia are now 82% hatch rate. Personally I don't go by these percentage rates & I've always considered them better than what they quote. Things which affect hatch rates on good eggs are temperature, salinity & light. Our pouches are 10 times better than cans. Open a can & you let in oxygen which is a big killer of Artemia cysts. The pouches can be collapsed each use & taped up. Put in the fridge & you will get good hatches 12 months after opening the pouch.

We are now sponsoring the Malawi Forum www.malawiforum.co.uk We are still fish breeders ourselves & it's nice to take part in forums. We sell loads of foods to Rift Lake breeders from our Spirulina flake to Astax granule to the Spectrum range of Cichlid & Thera A formulae. We literally sell bucket loads of these.

Regarding breeding we are maintaining rarer Anabantoids now & having some success in breeding some species. They are a fascinating form of fish to breed ranging from nest builders to mouth brooders to cave spawners. Colours are stunning & I can't believe more people don't keep them.
Do a web search for images of Betta channoides to see what I mean. We are breeding these rare fish now & as I write this we have males brooding eggs. What do we feed these fish? - Red Astax crumb....
We are doing more Killifish & currently breeding many varieties including some only caught & described recently. I have been involved in Killie breeding since 1969 & still new species keep coming to challenge you.
Livebearers are always in the fish house & new collections are being introduced. We are freinds with some UK collectors & try many new fish out. It's always good to try newly imported species out on our foods. I don't think any other online fish feed site goes as far as we do in bringing new fish in to try our range of foods.

GP feeds are a new line on the site. Actually we have been trying them out in our fish house. The small 5-50 micron size is truely a great food for small fish including egglayers. This is now a standard feed in our breeding operations. I fed some Killies a larger grade recently which had not spawned. Next day I had eggs. It's difficult to say why they started spawning but it certainly was a coincidence they spawned the day after getting this feed.

The auction season is well under way & we have been out with the stand. It's amazing have many rare fish we have in the UK & how easy it is to join a specialist association & go & buy some. The Midland Charity Auction is held in June & December. All proceeds go to charity. Fantastic opportunity to get rare fish for a few quid. Virtually all fish on sale were bred by those entering fish (hobbyist/breeders) but we do get wild fish & even some species which are newly described & sold for the first time anywhere in the hobby at these auctions. We are right in the middle of the country. See the webpage link in the top left corner of the homepage. It's in a yellow box.

We are looking at manufacturing our own sponge filters. We have been using these for some time & now we are looking into obtaining the various components so hobbyists can see how fantastic they are. Always expensive doing something like this & finances have had to go into keeping up with stocking the products listed on the site.
We have a really good sponge manufacturer working with us & as an offshoot will also be manufacturing sponges to fit some of those filters you can't find spares for.
Also looking at a service to manufacture sponges you are looking for.

Fish breeding is in our blood so to speak & this is what we are about. It's an interesting time at the moment for breeders. UK breeders have had to sit back & see cheap Czech imports dominate the kind of fish UK breeders could have been supplying. Things will change as their economy gets inline with the rest of the EU. Prices will rise & some will fold.
In the UK we are facing rising energy costs in heating fish houses & many are packing up.
It's a great time now to start breeding fish & keep the fish houses going.
Retailers really should get behind UK fish breeders & support them by buying home bred fish. Wouldn't it be something if we could organise breeding in this country! I did this some years ago for a big importer & was amazed at what was out there. With our carrier system in place it could be something to look at. Perhaps breeders could send me lists of fish available in decent quantities & we could start something off.

Postage prices have recently been increased & we have had to increase & re-organise our postal rates. We didn't increase our rates the last time they were increased. Heavy orders will be despatched by carrier for next day delivery. It used to be that parcel rate was an economic way to send heavy items but in many cases it is the same price as first class.