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Who makes their own food? (1 Viewer)

benihana

benihana

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I am contimplating making my own food for my fish & corals, but am wondering if there is anyone here that does/has done it and if you think/thought it was worth it or not? What recipe you used, what, if anything, you would change, add, delete. How your stored it? ETC....


TIA
 
thinking about it....just starting to weigh the costs/benefits of making my own versus buying pre-packaged
 
Following along! I'm having second thoughts about the phosphates of flake and pellet that are in my rotation...
 
There are quite a few good recipes out there but unless you get a cheap source for your ingredients it will be costly or at least the same cost as buying it ready.
You might have to get your own blender also! If you are going to use the one you have in your kitchen you might end up with a relationship crisis...:gay1:
 
Oh, I am stealing that term for my "divorce" jokes. "Relationship crisis" is way cooler and universal!
 
REEFSTOCK said:
Oh, I am stealing that term for my "divorce" jokes. "Relationship crisis" is way cooler and universal!
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That was just a word by word translation from my Flemish into English. I can get you more of those expressions if you need more...:gay1:

btw. Thanks for those beautiful black Clowns I got from you yesterday. They are doing great.
 
I've made Pappone several times. It cost me like $30 in seafood, and a good hour of my time. IMHO, there is no food that is going to be as good for your fish/corals as those that have raw ingredients in them. While I like Rod's food, it's still cooked so you are cheating on nutrition.

Now what that $30 gets you is a lot of food. It's much more food than what comes in 5 of the frozen food with the cube trays in them. So it cheaper and more nutritious. For the 'flat' type frozen food, it's pretty close, never weigh them though...
 
MAXreefer said:
What do you think of this method? I saw it in the Zeovit forum and it is illustrated with pictures:
LINK
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It's pretty similar to pappone without the sugar. I do like the way of storing it. RogersCG, Chris, and I were talking about more meaningful ways to store it.

4 x raw clams
4 x raw shrimp
4 x raw mussels
4 x ???? forgetting something

200ml of rodi, and some nori. in a blender for 5 minutes, rest for 2 minutes (cool down - don't want to cook the ingredients), blend for 5 minutes then freeze. (for pappone, you add 1 tbsp of sugar).
 
Does making a food like that dirty up your tank from feedings? It seems like there'd be lots of 'juice' that wouldn't get eaten. With mysis, flake, pellet and the like you have mostly just solid pieces that get eaten. Just wondering.
 
Though some call for Gelatin to firm it up, I've read that the gelatin isn't the best for the tank. Some fish apparently don't like it much. I took a look at some recipes online and at Rod's food and here's what I put in mine:

Fish
Squid
(both blended together until "minced" - not 5 minutes for sure though)
Clams
Nori
Garlic
Broccoli
Carrots
Oyster eggs
PE mysis
Masago (flying fish roe)
baby Brine Shrimp
a little cycclopeeze or quality flake food to help with coloration

Everything is fresh - not cooked. I blend everything but the last 5 ingredients together until it's a mushy, chunky paste. Then I add in the last ingredients and hand mix together. Next time I make it I've been thinking about adding in some rotifers for coral food. Buy as much of the fishy stuff from an asian food store as it seems to be a little cheaper there. My fish seem to love this, and depending on your fish (more tangs or veggie guys) you can add more vegi matter. Just make sure you have SOME veggie matter as even fish need roughage to keep regular :)
 
I made some a while back, I used some fresh seafood from the grocery store, blended that up added some garlic extreme and some dry pellet food. threw some brine shrimp and mysis in to along with some phto feast. it was thick like applesauce so i thinned it with RO water and sucked it up with a turkey baster and froze it in some party ice cube trays. the fish love it.
 
NandKBlock said:
Does making a food like that dirty up your tank from feedings? It seems like there'd be lots of 'juice' that wouldn't get eaten. With mysis, flake, pellet and the like you have mostly just solid pieces that get eaten. Just wondering.
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Nope. I wouldn't use gelatin either, no need to. The size of particles ranges, so like Rod's Food advertises, you feeding the fish and inverts, etc. Define dirty up... does it add a lot of nutrients to the system? Yes, but I have good export as well. It's something you have to consider, but most of it gets cleaned up by the fish...
 
curlyq said:
Though some call for Gelatin to firm it up, I've read that the gelatin isn't the best for the tank. Some fish apparently don't like it much. I took a look at some recipes online and at Rod's food and here's what I put in mine:

Fish
Squid
(both blended together until "minced" - not 5 minutes for sure though)
Clams
Nori
Garlic
Broccoli
Carrots
Oyster eggs
PE mysis
Masago (flying fish roe)
baby Brine Shrimp
a little cycclopeeze or quality flake food to help with coloration

Everything is fresh - not cooked. I blend everything but the last 5 ingredients together until it's a mushy, chunky paste. Then I add in the last ingredients and hand mix together. Next time I make it I've been thinking about adding in some rotifers for coral food. Buy as much of the fishy stuff from an asian food store as it seems to be a little cheaper there. My fish seem to love this, and depending on your fish (more tangs or veggie guys) you can add more vegi matter. Just make sure you have SOME veggie matter as even fish need roughage to keep regular :)
Click to expand...


Why do you add broccoli and carrots?

what do you mean by this, coloration of the food or the animals? "a little cycclopeeze or quality flake food to help with coloration".

"Masago (flying fish roe)" where did you find this? Interesting.... are there preservatives, fillers and such in it?
 
I add broccoli and Carrots for my tangs. If you look at a package of Rod's food he's got them in there. From what I hear he's closing down his fish rearing to concentrate on food production so he's doing something right! Besides, after it's all mixed and frozen then thawed it all stinks like fish so everyone will eat it. Roughage is good, and so is the added vitamins and minerals that the veggies provide.

Cyclopeeze contains Astaxanthene - a chemical known for helping pigments in fish. Clownfish breeders down here swear by the stuff and helps their fish color up better and faster.

Masago is another little trick some local breeders use. It's basically little fish eggs. It's the little orange eggs on the outside of "california rolls". VERY nutritious as it has lots of protein and other vitamins and minerals. It's an egg! just like eggs are good for us! There's no preservatives, fillers or anything. Sometimes I just feed this plain to the tank - the fish can't get enough!
 
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