How it all Started - A Niskai Story

Hi folks,
Thanks for taking the time to visit our ingredients page. This section of the website has been a labor of love, created as part of our commitment to transparency and education about what goes into our products. We’ve taken great care to explain why we’ve chosen each ingredient, how we process and treat them, and how they contribute to our Aqua Nutrition range. I hope you find these pages helpful, and I encourage you to reach out through our contact form, email, or social media if you have any questions or feedback.

Now, where was I? Oh yes—the beginning.

At first, creating (or sourcing) my own quality fish food was purely a cost-cutting measure for the breeding side of the business. But as I delved deeper into the process, I started to seriously question the logic behind some of the choices made by fish food developers worldwide.
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As of the day of writing this, I’ve been a professional chef for almost five years. Understanding the requirements and special dietary needs of my customers (or in this case, my fish) is a cornerstone of what I do every day. Menu tastings, recipe design, plate-ups, and functions all require thoughtful consideration of dietary needs. If I were catering a function for a local vegetarian or vegan society, for example, beef wouldn’t even be on the table. Different groups and individuals have unique nutritional requirements—and this is no different for fish.

So why does “tropical fish food” claim to be a one-size-fits-all solution? Tropical fish encompass a huge range of species, from the tiniest Micro-rasbora to the largest Oscar. Yet the assumption seems to be that they all have the same nutritional needs.
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Let me be clear: they absolutely do not.
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Micro-rasboras feed on infusoria and microorganisms. Oscars, on the other hand, primarily consume fish and insects, supplemented seasonally with fruits and nuts, and require a Vitamin C boost in aquariums to make up for the latter. Other tropical fish are insectivores, and some are even herbivores.

I understand that no single food can meet all these needs, nor should it. That’s why I decided to break things down differently—into omnivores, insectivores, herbivores, and carnivores. I started with an omnivorous fish flake, which was the most requested variant based on feedback. But as it turns out, gluten plays a key role in making flakes thin and manageable. Without it, my attempts resulted in something far too thick to qualify as flake. Embarrassed but determined, I decided to dehydrate the dough and blend it into a powdered food for shrimp. To my surprise, the resulting granules were not only water-stable but also effective. And just like that, Omni-Chunx were born! All I had to do was sieve the granules into appropriate sizes for different fish species.

Since then, I’ve been working to expand the Aqua Nutrition line to include additional dietary categories and specialized fry foods like Baby Booster. These products require extensive research and development, so they may take time, but stay tuned! Exciting things are on the horizon, including the eco-friendly Bio-Boost range.
Thank you for reading. I hope this gives you a little more insight into our love for the hobby and our commitment to creating better, more thoughtful solutions for fishkeepers everywhere.

Gratefully yours,
Greg Walker
Founder and COO, Niskai Aquatics
07/01/2025