Challenging the "facts"

[atoll]

I have always been somebody who likes to think outside the box and have similar views in this wonderful hobby to Paul Baldassano in many ways. Those that don't know Paul he has a book out called "The Advantguard Aquarists" When i first chatted to Paul via another forum it became clear we had a number of reefkeeping thoughts on the hobby plus he's a funny guy with it. Paul has kept the same reef tank for some 45 years though I suspect it's a bit like Trigger's old broom. ( Paul, if you are reading this I will have to explain that one lol. I have only been keeping marines for around 35 years so have a long way to catch up to Paul.

Anyway, it got me thinking about those things we were and to some extent are told are musts and facts in this hobby that might not be just so. Many facts over the years have been... shall we say amended and even disproved. I can think of lots over the years with a "thou shall not" behind them. Take the simple thing of feeding our fish as an example. It was considered foolhardy, reckless and even down right stupid to using anything than commercially available frozen fish food that was gamma radiated. You fish would most likely contact all manner of disease and ailments if we fed anything but. I have been buying and feeding many different ocean creatures from my local fish market for more years than I care to remember, (OK about 30 years or so) process it myself and never had an issue doing so or feeding it.

I buy fresh squid, live cockle, mussel, scallops, shrimp and prawn all are fed to my fish. My fish live long disease free lives and spawn regular. There are many other such instances of what was taken as gospel in this hobby that turned out to be less than accurate. Even today what was not so long ago said as fact can be shown to be not quite what we are told. I could name a few and even but even though I am no stranger to controversy I will leave them from here ...for now. Of course advances in the hobby will change things but not always for the better IMO and not always what we are told is what the reality is. One of my philosophies in this hobby is, you can't improve on nature and I try as much as it REASONABLY possible copy many of mother natures ways. However I make compromises all the time for sure.

When it comes to trying different things and challenging the norm I am no stranger but at the same time I try not to challenger my animals when doing so. I have always done a lot of DIY for my aquarium and have in the past built reactors, skimmers and filters which worked well for me. Some will know I have bought a new ATS that challengers the "must have" idea on how a waterfall algae turf scrubber must have and perform but I am not foolish enough to bin my old DIY ATS just yet.

New discoveries are made all the time and new equipment and methods are never far away in this hobby along with the the new "must have" in order for your reef tank to succeed or progress. I wonder how many of them will be dispelled and at what cost to the reefkeeping hobbyist.

Link to Trigger's old broom.

I have always been somebody who likes to think outside the box and have similar views in this wonderful hobby to Paul Baldassano in many ways. Those that don't know Paul he has a book out called "The Advantguard Aquarists" When i first chatted to Paul via another forum it became clear we had a number of reefkeeping thoughts on the hobby plus he's a funny guy with it. Paul has kept the same reef tank for some 45 years though I suspect it's a bit like Triggers old brush. ( Paul if you are reading this I will have to explain that one lol. I have only been keeping marines for around 35 years so have a long way to catch up to Paul.

Anyway, it got me thinking about those things we were and to some extent are told are musts and facts in this hobby that might not be just so. Many facts over the years have been... shall we say amended and even disproved. I can think of lots over the years with a "thou shall not" behind them. Take the simple thing of feeding our fish as an example. It was considered foolhardy, reckless and even down right stupid to using anything than commercially available frozen fish food that was gamma radiated. You fish would most likely contact all manner of disease and ailments if we fed anything but. I have been buying and feeding many different ocean creatures from my local fish market for more years than I care to remember, (OK about 30 years or so) process it myself and never had an issue doing so or feeding it.

I buy fresh squid, live cockle, mussel, scallops, shrimp and prawn all are fed to my fish. My fish live long disease free lives and spawn regular. There are many other such instances of what was taken as gospel in this hobby that turned out to be less than accurate. Even today what was not so long ago said as fact can be shown to be not quite what we are told. I could name a few and even but even though I am no stranger to controversy I will leave them from here ...for now. Of course advances in the hobby will change things but not always for the better IMO and not always what we are told is what the reality is. One of my philosophies in this hobby is, you can't improve on nature and I try as much as it REASONABLY possible copy many of mother natures ways. However I make compromises all the time for sure.

When it comes to trying different things and challenging the norm I am no stranger but at the same time I try not to challenger my animals when doing so. I have always done a lot of DIY for my aquarium and have in the past built reactors, skimmers and filters which worked well for me. Some will know I have bought a new ATS that challengers the "must have" idea on how a waterfall algae turf scrubber must have and perform but I am not foolish enough to bin my old DIY ATS just yet.

New discoveries are made all the time and new equipment and methods are never far away in this hobby along with the the new "must have" in order for your reef tank to succeed or progress. I wonder how many of them will be dispelled and at what cost to the reefkeeping hobbyist.

Link to Trigger's old broom.

 

[Zero Nitrates]

Beautiful reef!
What's your fish food recipe?

 

[atoll]

Beautiful reef!
What's your fish food recipe?

Not so much really just the above but include fish oil in the process.
Here is a short post I did some time ago.

Some background first I think is in order.

I have been making my own cheap marine fish and coral foods for more years than I care to mention and certainly I was making them back in the 80s.
At the time I was warned that I was playing some sort of Russian roulette with my fish and corals and that I run the very real risk of introducing disease and death
to my precious life forms.

Well after all these years I can tell you I have never experienced any such issues with the way I process my foods. After all public aquariums and the like have been feeding fresh marine foods for years.

We have been told that the only safe foods for our aquariums were gamma irradiated foods if the foods originated from the oceans.
I am not going to go into detail here but much evidence on what I am about to tell is available on the net. However what the manufacturers of frozen foods for the hobby failed to inform the purchasers of their gamma irradiated foods is that the process of gamma irradiation knocks out/kills or nullifies (call it what you will) beneficial vitamins in the food they have irradiated.
Reports of fish going blind after prolonged feeding of only gamma irradiated foods have been recorded in the past.

OK let’s cut to the chase and get to the what and how’s as I have all ready given you the what for’s above. First the what, the foods I prepare myself. Mussel, cockle, scallops, shrimp of all kinds, squid, sardines and white bait. All must be fresh or frozen but uncooked.

Now the equipment etc I use.
A sharp (very sharp) small knife, a food processor, (I bought a small cheap one from ASDA UKs Wall Mart for £9 approx $12)
it might be best in the interest of domestic harmony to buy your own rather than use processor from she who must be obeyed, a small spoon and some empty and cleaned yogurt pots or similar and some vitamins such as fish oil and I have even used Abidec liquid Children’s Multivitamins the choice is yours. Fish oil capsules can be bought cheaply from various stores.With white bait and Sardines simply cut them into whatever size you wish, these are good for feeding anemones and larger fish that like to eat chunky fish.If you buy your fish frozen then defrost it first by immersing it in fresh water until defrosted which should not take long at all. Put the peices of fish in a small container like a yogurt tub add a small ampunt of tank water and the contents of a fish oil capsule or a few drops of Abidec and allow to soak for 20mins before
feeding.

At this point I will say if you are making food to feed the likes of Lion fish and other gross feeders then the white bait needs no more processing and can be frozen or fed to the fish either whole of or cut into chunks or simply refrozen to be used later.

For smaller fish and corals then the chosen food as in shellfish is simply and quickly defrost as above, if frozen or if fresh de shell the shellfish and shrimp and put in some clean fresh water for 5mins. They are now ready to go into the processor and are mashed checking every now and again on the size of the small pieces you wish to make be, careful not to completely liquidise all the food. I add no vitamins at this point to the food before freezing it.

I process each food in turn and when finished add the foods to the yogurt pots by scooping it out with the small spoon ready for freezing. I then cover the pots with cling film and pop them in the freezer. When I come to use each I simply pop the food out of the pot and either cut a chunk off or grate the food and let it defrost for a little while. Of course you might like to put the processed foods into ice cube makers or other to freeze the choice is yours.

Before feeding I add a few drops of the liquid vitamins or fish oils and let soak for a 20 minutes. All very simple and easy to do and not time consuming at all.

 

[Paul B]

Hello there Atoll. I just saw this. Beautiful tank. Like (and believe) what you said about most commercial food. Many people won't get it but it is what it is and eventually all of this will be known.
Thank you

 

[atoll]

Hello there Atoll. I just saw this. Beautiful tank. Like (and believe) what you said about most commercial food. Many people won't get it but it is what it is and eventually all of this will be known.
Thank you

Thanks Paul, As you will know there are many benefits from making your own foods not least of which is they come cheap but even better I firmly believe they are simply better for our fish. I always say if you try to mimic nature as much as is reasonably possible then you won't go far wrong after all, mother nature has had millions of years to perfect her system and ways, who are we to argue.

 

[Paul B]

I agree. For some reason most people feel they have to feed something that has a nice looking fish on the box

 

[atoll]

I agree. For some reason most people feel they have to feed something that has a nice looking fish on the box

Well perhaps their foods are best fed to a fish on a box and as we know put a nice fish on a box and it automatically makes the contents expensive and better that all the other dry foods out there. ;)

 

[swensos]

Every time I plan on feeding fresh seafood to my aquarium, I end up cooking and eating it all.

So I feed LRS fish frenzy instead, because, even though my fish love them, I don't want to eat black worms (even though the first ingredient is scallops. Yum).

 

[atoll]

Look at feeding your fish this way. Your fish may love your flake, pellets or other dry foods and eat them with gusto. Many humans love buggers and other such foods, love them and eat them with gusto. However, ask yourself are these foods healthy and good for them giving them the vitamins, amino acids etc they require to live a long disease free life? Liking something you eat does not equate to healthy food as we all know. Feeding as close a food as you can reasonably can to your fish as they would in nature must be the as near as ideal as to provide as much as possible for their needs. This is what I do my best to do but now and again I do feed "convenience foods"

 

[swensos]

I soak my LRS Fish Frenzy in Selcon too. The ingredients for LRS are wonderful and probably better than what I can find at my local seafood store: Fresh Wild Caught Scallop; Fresh Wild Caught, Hand Peeled Shrimp; Fresh Wild Caught Ocean Perch and Whitefish; Premium Piscine Energetics Mysis Shrimp; Squid; Euphausia pacifica krill; Fresh Shucked Clams and Oysters; "Live" California Blackworms added just before freezing; Locally Harvested Marine Fish Eggs; Highly Unsaturated Fatty Acids; Buffered Ascorbic Acid; D. salina algae (Beta carotene for color and immunity boost); and LRS Probiotics.

 

[Paul B]

I am not exactly looking for "quality foods". I am looking for quality foods with live bacteria in it. That's what I use to keep my fish immune and the only place to get that is with fresh or live seafoods or worms which is what I use as well as LRS foods

 

[swensos]

I am not exactly looking for "quality foods". I am looking for quality foods with live bacteria in it. That's what I use to keep my fish immune and the only place to get that is with fresh or live seafoods or worms which is what I use as well as LRS foods

Right. And it's the same reason I need to eat a yogurt every once in a while. We need diverse bacteria in order to break down foods, prevent diseases and have healthy BMs. When you schuck a clam, mussel or oyster, do you just toss it in the tank?

 

[AquamanE]

Rogger's Reef food uses similar recipe and techniques.

 

[Paul B]

Right. And it's the same reason I need to eat a yogurt every once in a while. We need diverse bacteria in order to break down foods, prevent diseases and have healthy BMs. When you schuck a clam, mussel or oyster, do you just toss it in the tank?

Yes I do.