Fish food recipes
 

Reading the thread about how to freeze homemade fish food made me think why haven't I tried this before? Does any of you out there want to share your secret recipes? A nice variety of recipes would be great info on here for all DIYers I would think. :smile:

I recently found a 2kg Seafood medley pack at Safeway that has raw octopus, clam, shrimp, and it seems a couple other things that I can't remember for $6. The octopus was big chunks of meat and the other stuff was whole from what I could tell. Stuffed it all in the food processor and chopped it up frozen. It thaws a bit to kind of a jelly, then I pour/scrap it into a zip lock, flatten it out and freeze. To feed I break a piece off and thaw.
Next time I'll spend a bit more time and probably add cyclopeze, garlic, chopped nori etc.

Awesome idea, I will check next time I'm at Safeway in the seafood section. Do you add Selcon or anything to enrich it with vitamins?

I usually add selcon to the water I thaw the food in 2-3 times a week and Garlic the other days, switching back and forth.

I get a medley pack and add selcon and spirulina...

I was snooping around the internet and found this rather complex recipe...

http://www.jackofsometrades.com/files/FishFood.pdf

An interesting mixture for sure! :biggrin:

food
 

the seafood melody has cooked clams and shrimp in it;which is why i never use it.i get all my shellfish from either the hanna supermarket in burnaby,the t&t in vancouver and any safeway(which usually has 2 for one sales on them)make sure that there is no additives in them.i use clams,green shell mussels,oysters,raw shrimp and prawns,dungeness crab,squid,and any leftover salmon trimming or other fish from dinner.i chop it coarse and fine with a knife as needed for a couple of days.my vegie mix i use 4-5 different norri and seaweed(dried not roasted and spiced)add in oyster eggs,selcon,spirenella,coral frenzy,roto rich,cyclop-eeze,a couple of different sheet algae,peas,carrot peelings,zuccini,etc. and purre it together.then put it into ziplock bags and freeze them flat

Hmm, cool link. That'd feed my tank for 2 years, lol. Good blend though, seems fairly comprehensive.

The one that I had grabbed stated everything was raw, that's why I took it. I'd read somewhere that you shouldn't use cooked as well, although I'm not sure why.
I noticed on that link the guy steams his shrimp etc.

I don't really share my recipes, but I'll give you some tips that I wish I'd known before I'd started.

1) If you get frozen product soak it in RO/DI water and rinse it a few times. This helps wash off some debris, cleans your product to some extent, and down the road helps put less particulate and unseen pollutants into your tank.

2) Get a separate blender/food processor. I bought a cheap food processor at Canadian tire almost 7 years ago for $20...its still making fish food to this day. If your prep containers are plastic over time that fishy smell is going to stick to something, for my first blender it was the lid. If the smell gets in...it doesn't come out.

3) Target your fish. If you have lots of tangs and grazers consider adding foods like nori. Nori soaked in the delicious oils of mysis and other meats can be extra appealing for some fish.

4) Label your bags clearly. For example if you've added micro foods to your frozen mix, you may not want to 'rinse' your newly minted cubes too well as you might wash all the good stuff away. Write the date, contents and prep instructions on the baggy. There are many stories about people adding or nearly adding frozen foods to their own meals!

5) Try not to add in any extra water until the very end of your process, and only if you have to. I only add in RO/DI water when I do, and I find this helps with avoiding adding particulates like I mentioned above.

6) Not sure if you know or not, but wash your hands double well when working with worms, bloodworms, dark worms?, etc. They seem to very easily cause skin and eye irritation, and "man area" rashes. Something on their skin or they secrete it...either way soap is good.

Melev's Reef has a page on making your own foods. A thumbs up for the addition of spirulina powder. Although I just get mine from the health food store bulk section.

My own is similar in complexity! Once you find a mixture you like you'll keep adding to it, tweaking it, and perfecting it. Although perfection is unattainable, and thus the process is unending. After a couple of years you get to be this complex. I use my frozen food as a vehicle to feed my clams, my corals, and it works, but it makes for some extensive combinations.