Sustainability in feed production
More topical than ever before
Aquarists in particular are often very environmentally conscious. The sometimes sensitive aquarium ecosystem shows us what effects even a small amount of water pollution can have, and we hear terrible news about environmental destruction from the countries of origin of our fish (e.g. Brazil).
In the meantime, many fish species are ONLY to be found in aquariums - they are, unfortunately, already extinct in the wild. Aquaristics is therefore the protection of species in practice. So it is not a huge leap to think about sustainability when it comes to packaging as well.
So that you always have fresh food, purchase a smaller portion for small aquariums. JBL has eliminated the small "nano tins" and replaced them with freshness pouches, which only require a fraction of the raw material used in a nano food tin!
Owners of many types of fish will be able to buy an environmentally friendly refill pack made of very thin plastic that can be inserted into the empty litre tin.
Sustainability actually starts much earlier: JBL only uses fish that comes from European waters. This means that the transport routes are short and thus environmentally friendly. By using fillet edges from fish fillet production for humans, not a single fish has to be caught for JBL food. And these outer fillet parts are very high quality and much better than using cheap fish meal made from fish remains.
The new PRONOVO tins have been made of an optimised PP plastic, which is thinner and yet protects the food better against air and light. The sealing foil and the labels are also made of PP. This means that the entire tin is made of ONE material and can be recycled without the need for extensive material separation! And 80 % of the electricity used for the manufacturing process at the JBL factory in Neuhofen comes from the company's own photovoltaic system on the roofs of the 5,000 m² JBL factory buildings. And JBL won’t stop thinking how to be environmentally friendly in the future too… you have our word!
Observations in the native tropical biotopes
If you observe sucking catfish in the wild, you will notice that many species not only scrape the algae growth off the wood, but also eat the wood itself. In the course of evolution, their digestive system has adapted to this diet and it is essential that they also consume wood fibres with their food.
However, not all aquarium keepers have wood in their aquariums and some perhaps have wood species that do not offer the right wood fibres (as do the African savannah woods Opuwa and Mopani). JBL has therefore incorporated wood fibres directly into the food chips ( JBL PRONOVO PLECO WAFER M ) so that the sucking catfish are fed in a species-appropriate way and remain healthy. Catfish specialists can tell which feeding type a sucking catfish is by its teeth.
Underwater observations of shrimps have also led to new findings: Many shrimp species, such as bee shrimps, actively go on the move in search of food. If you scatter food granulate in the aquarium and it does not land directly in front of the shrimp, it will still find it quickly using its sense of smell.
Other shrimp species, such as some Sulawesi species, behave quite differently. They sit in their shelter and crawl a few centimetres forward to then graze the algal turf there. When there is danger, they crawl these few centimetres backwards again. They do not actively roam around looking for food. Here, you need to make sure you feed at the right place.
Our JBL research team observed how cardinal tetras in the blackwater of the Amazonian lowland rainforest "pick" miniplankton out of the water or how altum angelfish briefly shoot out from the cover of branches that have fallen into the water to eat micro-organisms or careless small fish. This has led to completely new thoughts on the subject of food shapes and sizes.
In Lake Malawi, the team was somewhat surprised to find that the growth eaters (mbunas) did not graze the green algal turf in the uppermost water layer (0-50 cm), but only ate the growth below 50 cm down to a depth of about 8 m, where it consisted mainly of diatoms.
In the cenotes of Mexico we made an interesting observation about livebearers: sailfin mollies were grazing in the abundant filamentous algae beds that were present in some (but not all) cenotes. When we looked very closely, we could see that they did not always pluck algae, they also picked out small plankton animals from among the filamentous algae. So they were eating algae AND plankton!
There is no substitute for underwater observations! Here’s an amusing example of this. For many years, scientists believed that the long teeth of a cichlid from Lake Tanganyika were used for hunting. It was only many years later that snorkellers observed that the fish (Tanganicodus) use the long teeth like a rake to fish plankton animals out of algae. That's how wrong you can be!
with our research team! JBL advertises the expeditions on the JBL homepage openly for all nature enthusiasts. All you need to do is be fit and enthusiastic about tropical nature 24 hours a day. The expeditions are research, experience and adventure with like-minded people all in one. You can find information about the next JBL expedition on the JBL homepage at Expedice .