Fish feasts from scratch: Have you ever made DIY fish food?

[sfin52]

Great. Obviously it's possible - since food companies make it. The question I raised is/was can the average hobbyist make the correct nutrition for his/her tank (i.e. balance)

Take a look at my list. It's doable

 

[MnFish1]

Take a look at my list. It's doable

There is no evidence from your list - that its a balanced diet for every fish. Now - I will also admit, the food companies also do not provide evidence. I'm not sure why so many people are up in arms - it was a poll. I gave my opinion - which was 'I have made food, but no longer do so, and I gave the rationale. It wasn't like I was making a commandment - anyone can do what they want

 

[tmo65]

I have started making my own food. So much less expensive. i partially freeze shrimp, squid, clams, oysters and salmon and then pulse In a food processor. Add vitamins, garlic, beta glucan and then add a bunch of freeze dried mysis, nori and sometimes add pellet food. Then I spoon it into small square ice cube trays in a dedicated sealed container. Makes a lot extra, so I keep the excess in freezer bags. fish love it and it disperses in the water column well since the food processor will grind it up unevenly, so I stopped doing reef roids and dedicated coral feedings as a result. Phosphates and nitrates haven’t budged. costs me about 60 bucks for enough to last three months Easily. Much cheaper than frozen but more expensive than pellets only.

 

[sfin52]

Ive taken most of my ingredients from the lrs and rods. Everything in the tank does well they are in good condition.

There is no evidence from your list - that its a balanced diet for every fish. Now - I will also admit, the food companies also do not provide evidence. I'm not sure why so many people are up in arms - it was a poll. I gave my opinion - which was 'I have made food, but no longer do so, and I gave the rationale. It wasn't like I was making a commandment - anyone can do what they want

From the

 

[cjtabares]

yes I will try - I know I posted it a long time ago (a couple years)

I will look through your posts when I get some time. Thank you. I was thinking of making my own again when I get my tank running again. Wanted to make sure it was worth it.

 

[Steve2020]

Are you reading the posts and the concept? I never said Rods or LRS do not provide nutrition. I was talking about home-made food. I doubt the average hobbyist can match them - that was the point. The title of the thread is have you made home made fish food?

Yes I read the post and understand the concept. You are the one that decided to make the comment about articles and scientific studies about homemade food nutrition deficiencies which is not the content of this thread and you never in your first post mention the term "average hobbyist". My point about LRS and Rod's is they use pretty much the same seafood caught or farm raised that a lot of us use and actually in my case they use much less. They may add a probiotic, and I say may but I am not sure that is part of the natural food source fish eat in the ocean.
The reason I make my own food is because I know what actually is going in it and IMO it is much more nutritious than any mass produced fish food.

 

[LA4lyfe]

This is something I have read that others do. Although have not tried as of yet.

 

[MnFish1]

Yes I read the post and understand the concept. You are the one that decided to make the comment about articles and scientific studies about homemade food nutrition deficiencies which is not the content of this thread and you never in your first post mention the term "average hobbyist". My point about LRS and Rod's is they use pretty much the same seafood caught or farm raised that a lot of us use and actually in my case they use much less. They may add a probiotic, and I say may but I am not sure that is part of the natural food source fish eat in the ocean.
The reason I make my own food is because I know what actually is going in it and IMO it is much more nutritious than any mass produced fish food.

Great - best of luck- and the question in the OP was have you ever made home-made fish food. My answer yes. For a variety of reasons I stopped

 

[MnFish1]

I will look through your posts when I get some time. Thank you. I was thinking of making my own again when I get my tank running again. Wanted to make sure it was worth it.

I would say - from a cost perspective it's going to be much cheaper. From a nutritional perspective - IDK

 

[MnFish1]

Yes I read the post and understand the concept. You are the one that decided to make the comment about articles and scientific studies about homemade food nutrition deficiencies which is not the content of this thread and you never in your first post mention the term "average hobbyist". My point about LRS and Rod's is they use pretty much the same seafood caught or farm raised that a lot of us use and actually in my case they use much less. They may add a probiotic, and I say may but I am not sure that is part of the natural food source fish eat in the ocean.
The reason I make my own food is because I know what actually is going in it and IMO it is much more nutritious than any mass produced fish food.

I never commented on LRS or Rods. That is my issue with what you said - they are not 'home-made'. Your opinion is not science (no offense) - and your opinion may not be what's best for your for your fish - but - as I said - best wishes.

 

[Patx]

I go simple, raw shrimp /scallops/selcon/vitachem... 3-4x time /week.
And auto feeder with pellet.

 

[BR260354]

I made my own using the BRS method - https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/content/post/diy-fish-food-101-askbrstv-live
Made around 10 sandwich bags worth and placed in a deep freezer. I break it up in small cube like bits and place in my feeding cup - using Top Lids cover cup. Thaws in there. The tank comes alive when I throw that in there.
With a RS Reefer 200xl, I made enough for a couple of years. Hopefully the deep freezer will preserve it pretty long!

 

[mosreef]

My German shepherd had allergies as a puppy and she had 2 different canine nutritionists working on her. I learned to read ingredients - anything "meal" was low quality according to both nutritionists, and shouldn't be fed.

Also any food pushed through an extrusion machine at high heat was off limits for her. To turn food into little brown crunchy shelf stable kibbles is not possible without making it very high carb.

Also most of the nutrients and flavor are cooked out of the kibble by the high heat processing, so they have to spray synthetic vitamins and minerals and artificial flavor onto the outside.

All that to say - makes me wonder about pellet and flake foods.

I feed tdo chroma boost, first three ingredients are krill meal, fish meal, squid meal. Then add in wheat flour & potato starch. Not so great.

The principle the canine nutritionists communicated to me is that even 20% of Fresh Foods added to kibble will make a big difference in their health.

So for my fish I blend up Fresh seafoods (scallops, shrimp, salmon etc), along with selcon, vitachem, fauna marin food Energizer in the food processor for my fish, freeze it in mini cubes and feed that to supplement the frozen food and the highly processed flake/pellet foods.

I don't feed the dogs any kibble, they are completely raw fed but that's because I have the instructions on how to make a nutritionally balanced and complete raw meal for a dog.

But we don't have that data available to us for fish - or do we? Anybody hear of a fish nutritionist making a raw feeding recipe available like canine nutritionists do?

 

[Flyingreef]

I live in New England. so fresh fish is very available to me. I make my own food full of whatever is on sale that week. I would just like to add that you should always soak whatever seafood you get in warm water for 15 minutes. This will Remove the phosphate preservatives which is legally required for fresh seafood if it's meant for human consumption.

 

[pacificnewt]

I’ve had great luck with DIY fish food. I live along the California coast so I went down to my local wharf and got a bunch of fresh wild caught seafood. Squid, sardines, shrimp, and scallops. Cut up most of the meaty portions and diced it into small, pea sized chunks. Mixed in some reef chili and selcon and frozen the mixture is a bunch of flat bags. Super popular with my clowns and inverts. Made it for my sun corals but all my critters like it. It’s not the staple of their diet but I give it to my tank every other day. It was a super fun project! I think it’s worth it to try

 

[Reef By Steele]

I have made my own foods for a while now. I have to get a variety of seafood for my predators so I take the same mixture and and a food processor and add some spirulina. Been feeding this way for I think at least a year. I get all of the seafood now from an oriental market 2 1/2 hours away. I think it is a lot better than when I purchased it all from local grocery stores. Funny as I am making some right now.

This, the live foods we produce and sell, and phyto are the only things we use with the exception of I buy a marine angel food as it has some sponge etc that is a must for the angels.

 

[Fishy888]

I make my own DIY frozen food. I made a frozen food blend a couple of days ago. I used shrimp, scallops, sockeye salmon, squid, oysters, mussels, smelt, and whole tilapia. I also used nori and peas this time around. This is blend #1. I’m going to make another blend for some variety. It’ll contain broccoli, peppers, carrots, collard greens, garlic, tuna steaks, crab legs, a whole lobster if I can find one locally or a lobster tail or two, and whatever other seafood I can find.

Now I won’t claim that my frozen food is the most nutritious ever but my fish, inverts, and corals are all doing well thankfully.

 

[Bob Weigant]

I remember once we made home made fish food at a club meeting when I lived in Vegas. It was at round table pizza and we stunk up the place badly

 

[biecacka]

I make mine and love it. 50-75$ and it lasts for ever! I just use a hodgepodge of ingredients from the seafood department and some nori. last batch I made was similar to the BRS one.


corey

 

[EmmaPark]

I made coral food. The ingredients are human edible natural chlorella powder, hematococcus powder with a lot of astaxanthin, and green leaf mussel powder that's good for inflammation. It's very cheap compared to ready-made coral food. Also, because it's a plant-based powder, I really like it. It was tested for a year. There was nothing wrong with the tank.