DIY Reef Food

[jcom]

I'm certainly not an innovator here...just trying to combine several different fish/coral recipes I've read, while adding my own touch. Also, it's a good opportnity to clean out all the packages of frozen food I have in the freezer and combine it into one, frozen superfood similar to some well known commercial blends out there like Rod's Food.

(I feel a little guilty in using some of the ingredients in this recipe. Kinda makes me sick to think I'm contributing to the capturing and killing of critters like octopus and cuttlefish. One trip to the Super China market reminded me how threatened and over-exploited our fisheries and reefs are....but that's another topic for another time.)

Basically just thawed the frozen items and double rinsed them in RO Water, blended everything, put it in ziplocs, and froze it.

1 lb. Seafood Mix (squid, octopus, cuttlefish, mussels, scallops). No additives or preservatives.
1/4 lb. baby octopus
1/4 lb oysters
1 pack SF Bay Reef Plankton
1 pack SF Bay Emerald Entree
2 packs SF Bay Mysis Shrimp
1 pack SF Bay Krill
1 Pack SF Bay Multi-Pack (Marine Cuisine, Emerald Entree, Omega 3 Brine, Squid)
1 Pack H20 Life Spirulina Mysis/Brine
1 Pack H20 Life Cyclops
1 Pack H20 Life Rotifers
12.5 Grams Japanese Nori Roasted Seaweed
Handful of Ocean Nutrition Formula 2 Flakes
1/4 Cup Ocean Nutrition Formula 2 Pellets

And a dash of each of the following:

Seachem Garlic Guard
Julian Sprung's Marine Snow
Seachem Reef Plus
AquaVitro Fuel

Here are some pics:

 

[swannyson7]

One thing to try if you have room in your freezer...
When I DIY food, I put a piece of Eggcrate on a cookie sheet and smear the mixture over it. As it falls into the squares, you wind up with little cubes. Once it freezes, you can stack them in a tupperware with wax paper separating the layers. I found that it was a PITA to break the big blocks when they started to get small and you couldn't really hold on to it well.

 

[jcom]

One thing to try if you have room in your freezer...
When I DIY food, I put a piece of Eggcrate on a cookie sheet and smear the mixture over it. As it falls into the squares, you wind up with little cubes. Once it freezes, you can stack them in a tupperware with wax paper separating the layers. I found that it was a PITA to break the big blocks when they started to get small and you couldn't really hold on to it well.

Dang it! Now you tell me :wink:

....and I have some eggcrate laying around too. Luckily I have a gnarly Japanese Santoku knife with which I was able to cut my first batch into some nice little cubes. 1st feeding went well, fish went nuts and corals got stringy on me. I really like the eggcrate idea though....

 

[kingfisherfleshy]

Egg crate is a cool idea...I will have to make it slowly though...one eggcrate sheet at a time.

Might be worth it though.

 

[kingfisherfleshy]

Does anyone find some foods to be less favorable than others?

It amazes me that everyone has such good sucess feeding all these different things. If its not NLS or raw shrimp my fish tend to turn their noses up at it.