Best way to store (dry) fish food?

[anodyne99]

How do you all store your flakes/pellets/freeze dried food? I accidentally bought an extra canister of flakes recently and wondered how best to store them before and after opening. 

I know there is super specific guidance for dog and cat foods, but not sure about fish!

*bonus question: if you cut a mini block of brine shrimp in half to feed a nano tank, can you return the remaining half to the container? Should you put it in a separate plastic bag or wrap it with tinfoil or something? 

Edited January 25 by anodyne99
clarity

[Tlindsey]

On 1/24/2024 at 8:35 PM, anodyne99 said:

How do you all store your flakes/pellets/freeze dried food? I accidentally bought an extra canister of flakes recently and wondered how best to store them before and after opening. 

I know there is super specific guidance for dog and cat foods, but not sure about fish!

*bonus question: if you cut a mini block of brine shrimp in half to feed a nano tank, can you return the remaining half to the container? Should you put it in a separate plastic bag or wrap it with tinfoil or something? 

@anodyne99 I just store flake food in dry area of my home.  Yes if Brine Shrimp hasn't thawed out you could place it back into package container. If you like place cut piece of frozen brine in a freezer bag.

[Revaria]

Ideally storing fish food in a cool dry area away from moisture and light should be good enough. If you want to be super extra, reducing the exposure to oxygen will also help, so if you have large containers you can break them down to smaller containers and remove the air content via your method of choice. Some companies buy large amounts of feed and then sell them off in their own vacuum packaged containers after packing it themselves.

Generally as a rule of thumb once you open a package it would be ideal to use the food within 6 months and toss the rest as exposure to air and light can cause the food to go lower in quality, rancid or alter the flavor of the food so the fish may refuse to eat it, but its also just a rule of thumb. Many in the hobby akin the food to a bag of potato chips where its only good for a little while after opening. Pellets are also thought to last longer vs flakes as only the surface is exposed, but this really gets into the nitty gritty bits of the hobby.  

As for myself I am currently just using the cool dry area away from moisture and light bit, it would be nice to get a bunch of the super fancy oxygen removing containers one day though or a dedicated fridge/freezer. A man can dream!

[cmo1922]

Hello! I work in a field with very strict regulations on how animal feeds including fish feeds are stored. Most standard dog, cat, rodent, fish etc dry foods all have similar storage recommendations. Ideally you toss the food 6 months past mill date, but I'm unsure all fish food is going to have a mill date listed on the container. In absence of a mill date, toss within 6 months of opening the feed or by the expiration date, whichever comes first. Store in a sealed container in a cool non humid place. Doing all of this will help feed to not go rancid or grow mold, and will ensure adequate vitamin C levels (as some forms of vitamin c are not stable for very long).

I do what Tlindsey does for the frozen food.

[Robert K]

Flake food I keep in the cabinet under the tank. Pellets on the other hand I happened to buy more than I can spend within a year. So those I actually keep in the freezer. I have a smaller container which I refill from the freezer every month or so and which i also keep in the cabinet.

[AllFishNoBrakes]

I’ve heard of people keeping them in the freezer, but I never personally have. 
 

I buy the 20oz Xtreme Nano Pellet jar, and then I’ve saved some smaller jars. I’ll open the bigger jar, fill the smaller one, and then put the seal back on the big jar and tighten down the lid. Is it perfect or “best practice”? Probably not, but it has worked well for me over the last 4 years. 
 

The smaller jar gets used daily, and the big jar only gets opened to refill the small jar.