Repashy food is JUNK!

[leisure_man]

I have used it for close to 4 years, so I know what a pain it is. The Meat pie is the worst, most fish wouldn't even eat it. Community Plus is better received by all fish but the protein content is so low, I would use 2.5 times the powder amount than in the label. Obviously, it increase the food cost by that amount just to get a decent protein level for the fish. After mixing, the product is only good in the refrigerator for about 2-3 weeks or so after which it would go bad (yes, you will know is bad by the smell). So mixing a big batch is out of the question. My main problem is it basically dissolved into the water column fouling the water and resulting a water change after each feeding with Repashy. Even though the Repashy uses good ingredients in the food, since a lot of it ended up in the water column, it further reduced the nutrients that the fish actually get from the food. I ended up threw away my Repashy products.

Oh, some idiot vendors also promoting using food dehydrator to process and dehydrate Repashy gel food after mixing and come up with this dry jerky food. This is worst idea yet. The powder already is more expensive than other premium fish food, you then have to mix it with water yourself. Also the source of the water can be a problem as the gel food would 'locked' in harmful chemicals in the water so people ( I do too) uses RO water for the mixing as there were reported fish fatality due to poor water source. Lastly, to get to the dry jerky food, it would take a few good hours of running the dehydrator and make the house or kitchen smelling awful, not to mention the electricity this process required. All in all, the WORST product ever!

 

[Brengun]

First complain't I've ever seen. Usually fish keepers love it as do their fish.

 

[leisure_man]

I tried to love it as I was one of the first to use the product. My initial issue is the Protein content being very low, so I 2.5x the amount of powder to get it on par with other fish food's protein content. The poor water quality in the tank due to daily feeding Repashy is what did it for me. Not worth the extra water change, extra work with increase cost to feed my fish with Repashy.

 

[CodOnMyRod]

Like Brenda, this is the first time I have heard a bad review of Repashy products, apart from people being lazy and not wanting to spend 10 minutes preparing the food. I've been using their products since 1996 when they introduced the crested gecko diet and was looking forward to trying out their fish diets when they were announced. In my experience this is one of the best fish foods in the market especially for bottom dwellers. I have not experienced the issues that you seem to have with the food breaking up and going into the water column. On the contrary I find that the food holds up very well and allows the fish to feed at their leisure without fouling the water. I think your problems arise from using so much more powder than recommended. I have been using the soilent green and super green since they were introduced, for my ancistrus groups and have had no issues and an amazing feeding response and growth rate from my fry. As far as more protein, there are newer formulas for carnivorous plecos that contain more protein which my fish and their fry love. If your fish did not like the meat pie one of these formulas might work. Did you really have that many issues with the food? I know if I had the type of issues you mentioned using a food, I would not use it for 4 years. It would not last a week in my fishroom. Try some of their new formulas and mix it as recommended on the package, I think you will be pleasantly surprised and your fish will thank you for it.

 

[leisure_man]

I understand Repashy is a great product for reptiles but it is just NOT formulated for aquatic environment. I used the food on and off with different formulation for 4 years. My latest one is the Morning Wood. I can see Ancistrus type pleco would like the food as they are not a picky eater. Unfortunately, I keep mostly Hypancistrus which require mostly protein diet. Therefore I increase the powder amount to make up for the protein deficient in Repashy. I finally gave up on the Meat Pie and threw the rest of the 64oz package away (which was still at least half full). I was raising my WC L134 group on the Repashy for 2+ years and during that time I lost at least 5 of them to bacterial infection due to water quality. As soon as I stopped feeding Repashy to them, they stopped dying. Bare in mind, my fishrooms are on automatic water change so nothing was changed in term of how they were maintained. I still got a 3 yr old 64 oz package of Spawn and Grow in the freezer which is on it way out to the garbage bin as well. Even my CW009 rarely touched the food, and I have literally 500+ of them in my fishrooms and I just got another spawn today.

I found a perfect food for my plecos and it doesnt foul the water like Repashy even when I overfeed. Xtreme Aquatic Food is the brand.

 

[macamus33]

I have been using Repashy soilent green and super green for years. I have never had it foul my water as is descibed. I have also spawned many different species during this time ( ie Tanganyika Cichlids, South American Cichlids, Plecos ) and the growth rate from fry is amazing when fed this food. Some species (ie Guianacara sphenazona) I have had to stop feeding because fry grow to fast before I have tanks to move them too. I can only surmise you either got a bad batch or maybe past expiration date. Also I have never deviated from the directions for mixing. There maybe something in your water that causes this problem (ie medication/additives). Also it is very easy to make small portions of the food. I do not know about the protien values as I deal with algae/aufwuks eaters mostly. I have never used the carnivorous/omnivore recipes.

 

[dwaink]

while i am not as down on repashy yet as leisureman, i haven't had much luck getting my L260's to eat it(4 of which came from leisureman(thx)). i have found they will eat on very small pieces of the insectivor and green, if i put a large piece in they don't touch it. 2 of my wild caughts came from discusorigins and he swears by meatpie(which i haven't tried yet). but i think my issue has been that i had 30 years worth of fishkeeping rocks that once were in 750 gals of different tanks and the plecos have been stripping that plus all the driftwood too. i have been feeding meatavor tabs every other day(2-3) and feeding my school of tetras flakes fruit flies, daphinia, brine shrimp and dried shrimp in rotation, my hope was that some of that was getting to my plecos after lights out because i rarely see them out otherwise.

 

[Bigjohnnofish]

i tried grub pie after a mate dropped me some in to try... and only really 333's consumed some of it.... 046's , 174's , 260's , 264's , 066's , 007's wouldnt touch it... and actually had 3 royal whiptail deaths during this.... after 3 attempts i gave it back to my mate and said it was crap!!!
i do see some of the morning wood and super green being more suited to non - carnivores... but i do keep mostly hypans so im not a fan of repashy...
plenty of people say they have no problem with it and their fish eat it... but i have been successfully getting 046 fry up to 3-4cm in 3 mths which is on par or better than others feeding repashy so i dont feel i need to use it....
i can see why people with bad water quality from mains could have issues too...
the thing that i dont like is when you buy fry from someone who has been feeding nothing but repashy the fry wont eat anything else... like kids once they eat maccas lol

 

[Mooo]

My plecs love the stuff, took me a long time to be convinced to get some and I am glad I did, they gobble it up, I don't feed as a staple, my fish get something different each night Variety is the spice of life

 

[dwaink]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCZFquCZ6tA

 

[Leopardfrog]

I love repashy so do my L-numbers

I know this post is old but I just wanted to ask why you decided repashy food was junk after using it for 4 years??? I usually can tell if something is junk after a few feeds... But 4 years hmmmmm lmfao.... Just my 2 cents...

 

[Bigjohnnofish]

obviously liked the concept of the gel food and tried to make it work - even trying to add ingredients to improve the food to a point where it was adequate to serve the needs of his carnivorous fish.... i agree with him - if you have carnivores there are better food options available which much better levels of protein....
im not a fan of repashy but some people like to rave about it... it prob isnt a bad food for herbivores and omnivores... but again variety of food is important to me....

 

[Leopardfrog]

Repashy

Fair enough, but in my experience using repashy I have found it to be a great product and depending on the different product you can cater to carnivores just as easily as omnivores or vegetarians and the wood eaters. Bottom Scratcher is 45% protein and that's equal to Hikari Carnivore 46%, my lizard whiptails love the stuff... what I like about the product is that you can mix powders and add extra things whether that's Bloodworms, Cyclops, Brine shrimp, Garlic sup is awesome to add to it aswell.. So I guess each to his own but theres alot I like about their products..

 

[Bigjohnnofish]

i prefer to feed more natural foods that suit the species you're trying to breed...
when you really break down the ingredients of repashy and do some research on them then you can make a more educated decision whether to use it or not...
i choose not to....

 

[Bestinshowaquatics]

I have to agree with OP. In my experience Repashy is a Nightmare and quickly degrades water quality. It’s a filthy food which leaves to more filter maintenance and more frequent water changes.