Alternate food items
 

So, in addition to feeding banana and dehydrated broccoli, does anyone have other suggestions for alternate foods??

Does banana works cool

I use a mix of shrimp, fish, squid and whatever other seafood I find on sale mixed with Nori and vitamin supplements. Throw it all in the food processor and put into zip lock bags, flatten and freeze. This way I can just break off a piece at feeding time. It seems to work pretty well as the larger paricles feed the fish and the smaller ones feed corals and pods.

Can I ask why you make your own food. Quality? Cost? Other? I wouldn't think it would be cheaper to buy actual seafood once all is said and done. A big tub of Formula One goes a long way for the price. THat is why I am thinking it must be fore the quality of the food. Am I right?

Banana, :eek: , never heard of that one.

I once made my own. But I used some manufactured foods. I use to blend several kinds of flake food, frozen brine, mysis, bloodworms, several kinds of algae from my tank, water, selcon and/or vita chem. Mix to a mush and freeze in thin sheets.

It ended up being to fine when introduced to the tank, but was a great filter feeder food and good coral food. It also worked well for new fish that are hard to get feeding.

oH YA
dOUG WHERE ARE YOU FROM AGAIN IT DOESNT SAY UNDER YOUR NAME. :lol: :lol: :lol:

Mike, looks like you're CAPS LOCK key is stuck on. :rolleyes:

seriac,
I find the price difference to be nominal as $10 worth of sea food will last me with 4 tanks up and running up to 6 months. You just need to be careful where where and what you buy. For instance you can get the 1kg block of squid tentacles for about $2(I can't believe people eat this) and some places have Atlantic shrimp with shells on for 2 or 3 dollars. I look for what's on sale and buy it and throw it all together. I like this type of food because it feeds everything in the tank with all particle sizes and I beleive it is very healthy with low phosphates and things like that. Although some filter feeding molusks can contain high amounts of heavy metals which should not be considered.

Seeing as your in Calgary. Where do you usually go to get these cheap items? Thanks. I would like to start making my own food.

I buy my seafood for my homemade food at Superstore. They have nice fresh seafood, shellfish etc and a large variety of frozen stuff.

I bought some cheap frozen seafood at an Asian market once and it was crap.

I personally find that squid will not blend into the food and leaves big strings, so I don't use it anymore. Maybe my blender is getting dull or something. :confused:

It was suggested to me that, if using fresh seafood, it's a good idea to soak the food in water and baking soda (or powder, I can't remember). According to a reputable source, there's a phosphate heavy preservative used on the fresh seafood items in between catch and retail. When I get a minute I'll try find some more definitive information.

Safeway has had sales lately of mixed frozen seafood for 3.99. It consits of squid,mussels,octopus,cuttlefish and prawns. I just finely chop up something different everyday. My fish love it. When I eat salmon, which is about once a week, I slice off some of the grey part from the sides. Chop it fine and watch all my fish go nuts. By far their favorite.

Hi Old Guy,


Your fish food sounds delicious. I'd go crazy over the salmon also. Now my question.

Do you slice off the grey part for your little buddies before you cook the salmon or do they get the cooked seasoned good stuff?

Regards

Eric Borneman, of course, has an awesome looking recipe in his book, and this is an interesting thread developing about it, including what I thought to be a somewhat different type of ingredient..

Echinacea

I get my food where ever it is on sale mostly at the Superstore and TT market in the northeast. In the mall where TT is there are also stores that have dried shrimp which I feed my freshwater fish.

Troy,
I have not heard of this additive please keep us informed.

has anyone ever tried feeding mushy dog food? this is what i give my turtle, i wonder if it would be good for fish?

Wayne, I feed everything raw. I was told the grey part is very high in amino acids which is a" good thing" :mrgreen:

Sorry for digging up an old post, but Troy, did you ever confirm this phosphate preservative in packaged "fresh" seafood? I just got back from the grocery store with some salmon and smelt that I want to blend into a fish/coral food.

Hey Mason ... smelt is fairly fatty and leaves a oily slick on the water ... just FYI

Cheers

Well I don't have a great alternate food but I do have kind of a fancy trick that some may not know or have thought of.

I take a small glass jar and put my Mysis and brineshrimp and other goodies in. add a little bit of saltwater and then fill the rest with Seachem Vitamin's. It's always soaking in the fridge and I just feed from it and put it back in the fridge.

Just keep adding food and vitamin's to it.

Crap....thanks for the info. I guess I'll have to make a new batch :mad:

Yeah, I'd leave the salmon out too.....sorry....

Very oily. :mrgreen:

LOL....Don't be sorry. This is my first crack at conjuring up my own food so I could use all the suggestions I can get :smile:

I think I'm down to clams, oysters, Formula1, Hikari Marine, and nori. Should i leave any of these things out too? I'm probably gonna go look for shrimp and fish roe tomorrow as well.

That sounds yummy...... :lol: :razz: