One reminder, the most important factor is not what you feed your fish, but you have to learn how to notice the development of your TVR. Spend a lot of time really looking at your fish. Remember the different nuances of the fish that makes it different than any other fish. When you have learned to look at your fish properly, then you will also be able to notice changes in your fish. It is like watching a baby grow, only faster. The suggestion that a Japanese keepers will have will be most effective if you can learn how to factor in all the different factors of raising TVR. The art of keeping TVR requires you to be a good manager, to have a good overview of the situation, correct, remedy and fixed flaws and daily problems and health concerns while having a good idea what the big picture is like, and finally a way to properly evaluate your overall performance by a proper expert (aka a competition with Japanese Judges).

I know many people who use live feed only, and many more who use pellet feed only and they both do very well in competition. Why do you think that is? I think it's because they have successfully mastered their routines which fit their fish in their respective systems very well. Where you live, there could be different crucial factors that have to be tackled different than where I live. We do not have winter in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, or Singapore, while it may snow regularly every year where you live. Our fish in the hot weather never hybernate, while those in Japan do every year. The quality and temperature of the water that we each use at our respective home to raise our TVRs will be different. It will have different properties and contents that we have to treat differently. May be you have well water where you are. There will always be factors that are out of your control, but how you learn to cope with them is the true test of your mastery in TVR.

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Loyalty above all else, except honor.