Food- what are by best options?

[A;exr54]

I’ve been using cubed frozed brine shrimp/mysis/Emerald entree/super carnivore.
From spirulina and omega one brands.
Also sometimes small sinking marine pellets from omega one.
That’s all that’s available at my LFS.

I’ve been thinking about my options. Since I am afraid I’m introducing bad parameters by using these foods. The fish and RBTA gobble it all up. But maybe I can do better?

One thing I was thinking about was breeding brine. Like in a seamonkey type small tank.
I have no idea about how mysis is bred.
Also not sure if I breed brine if they will not be nutrient enough.

Been searching about what the best foods are to get. But it’s kind of all over the place. And things change as times change. I’ve been reef keeping since 1992.
What I may think is normal is now old news and wrong.
I was looking at ordering frozen food online but the overnight shipping charges cost just as much as the actual food from places like liveaquaria.

What are your suggestions?

 

[A;exr54]

Sorry about the typos

Admins, please update the title when you can to:

Food - What are my best options?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

anything and everything: roe, cyclops, veggie flakes, live baby brine shrimp, live copepods, DIY foods, etc...

Anytime I see something I dont have I pick it up

 

[Joe31415]

I've been doing live brine shrimp lately. No idea how good or bad it is for the water or livestock, but the fish seem to love it.
People swear by the hatchery dish, and I'll probably end up picking one up, but right now I'm using one of the bubbling cone things (store bought, but similar to the upside down 2L soda bottle) and I have freshly hatched brine shrimp every 24-48 hours.*

Beyond that, I have a variety of frozen foods. Pretty much what you'd see in the stores. Every few days, I take a cube/chunk of each one, toss them in a portion cup with a few drops of Selcon or VitaChem and some Oyster Feast or SuperEggs. Each day I toss in some pellets (I have a few different kinds, I just pick a random bottle) and a spoonful of the thawed out food.
Everyone seems happy and my parameters are good (or at least not high, Nitrate/phosphate are actually really low).

In the end, there's so much information and so much of it conflicting, I just try to give them as much variety as I can. Sure, maybe they should have more of something specific, but at the same time, I'm not going overboard on something that could cause other problems.

*Or I would if brineshrimpdirect.com would ship the eggs I ordered two weeks ago.

 

[A;exr54]

I've been doing live brine shrimp lately. No idea how good or bad it is for the water or livestock, but the fish seem to love it.
People swear by the hatchery dish, and I'll probably end up picking one up, but right now I'm using one of the bubbling cone things (store bought, but similar to the upside down 2L soda bottle) and I have freshly hatched brine shrimp every 24-48 hours.*

Beyond that, I have a variety of frozen foods. Pretty much what you'd see in the stores. Every few days, I take a cube/chunk of each one, toss them in a portion cup with a few drops of Selcon or VitaChem and some Oyster Feast or SuperEggs. Each day I toss in some pellets (I have a few different kinds, I just pick a random bottle) and a spoonful of the thawed out food.
Everyone seems happy and my parameters are good (or at least not high, Nitrate/phosphate are actually really low).

In the end, there's so much information and so much of it conflicting, I just try to give them as much variety as I can. Sure, maybe they should have more of something specific, but at the same time, I'm not going overboard on something that could cause other problems.

*Or I would if brineshrimpdirect.com would ship the eggs I ordered two weeks ago.

I am shopping for a brine shrimp hatchery.
I just can’t decide which to get…
When there are too many options it makes pulling the trigger that much harder for me.

i would like something kind of small, like a couple gallons tops. So I can keep it near the DT with a low footprint.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I am shopping for a brine shrimp hatchery.
I just can’t decide which to get…
When there are too many options it makes pulling the trigger that much harder for me.

i would like something kind of small, like a couple gallons tops. So I can keep it near the DT with a low footprint.

the best one is always the one you make yourself. there's lots of guides and video's online, this one is mine.

 

[T-J]

From what I've read, Brine are pretty much a "snack", unless you gut load them. Then they have some nutritional value.

I feed mine a mix of mysis shrimp, marine cuisine and LRS FIsh Frenzy. I also add in a bit of flake (the Tang loves flakes) and occasionally some pellets.

 

[Joe31415]

i would like something kind of small, like a couple gallons tops

Something that's a couple of gallons would be enormous. The inverted cone that you often see, like this, holds 500ml, or about 1/8th of a gallon. One batch will get you over 100,000 shrimp (if my math is right).

Having said that, I've heard nothing but good things about the hatchery dish. Everyone seems to like it quite a bit.

 

[A;exr54]

Something that's a couple of gallons would be enormous. The inverted cone that you often see, like this, holds 500ml, or about 1/8th of a gallon. One batch will get you over 100,000 shrimp (if my math is right).

Having said that, I've heard nothing but good things about the hatchery dish. Everyone seems to like it quite a bit.

Thanks I’ll try the dish for now since it seems very simple.

 

[Zach B]

I'm a big fan of LRS fish frenzy, Rods Original & Limpets Reef for frozen foods. They all have a really good mix. For pellets I really like TDO Chromaboost & Seaweed Extreme. Brine shrimp are fun for the little fish to eat, my bigger ones don't seem to care for them.. I feel these diets cover pretty much everything your fish need. Best of luck

 

[A;exr54]

I'm a big fan of LRS fish frenzy, Rods Original & Limpets Reef for frozen foods. They all have a really good mix. For pellets I really like TDO Chromaboost & Seaweed Extreme. Brine shrimp are fun for the little fish to eat, my bigger ones don't seem to care for them.. I feel these diets cover pretty much everything your fish need. Best of luck

I wish I had more local options.
I just can’t justify paying overnight shipping for frozen fish food.

 

[Zach B]

I wish I had more local options.
I just can’t justify paying overnight shipping for frozen fish food.

I understand completely. I have to travel about 45 min each way to get mine but it beats shipping as you stated. If you order a years supply it might be worth it Once again Best of luck!

 

[Joe31415]

I wish I had more local options.

Do you have a Petco nearby? Looking at their website, it appears they have frozen fish food available in their stores. Otherwise, you might ask an LFS if they'd be willing to carry it. If no one in the area sells it, it would probably do well and could bring in customers. One of my LFSs just has a cheap freezer that they keep it in, nothing fancy at all.
Plus, they can get it a lot cheaper than you, either by buying enough to offset delivery charges or because a local distributor stocks it.

 

[A;exr54]

Do you have a Petco nearby? Looking at their website, it appears they have frozen fish food available in their stores. Otherwise, you might ask an LFS if they'd be willing to carry it. If no one in the area sells it, it would probably do well and could bring in customers. One of my LFSs just has a cheap freezer that they keep it in, nothing fancy at all.
Plus, they can get it a lot cheaper than you, either by buying enough to offset delivery charges or because a local distributor stocks it.

Yea the petco is where I currently get the frozen food I listed in my original post.
Thats all the type is frozen food they carry here.

 

[Red_Beard]

If you are most concerned with fish nutrition and availability, i would recommend the DIY method. I have been doing that for over a year and my fish are all fat, happy, and colorful.

Clams and mussels are some of the best things you can feed your fish. My frozen DIY is usually fresh little neck clams and mussels from the sea-food counter at the grocery. A bag of raw frozen shrimp, without the sodium phosphate they spray on them "for freshness", squid, a dash of selcon, and if i feel like it, some fish of some kind or other. After it is shelled and frozen for a day, it all goes into the blender bit by bit and is blended until chunky enough to be still chunks but small enough the fish can eat it. I have a restaurant trey (if you have an Asian store nearby they have them for cheap usually) i dump it in after that and mix it all together so it is fairly homogenous with a spoon or whatever, then i pack it into a freezer gallon bag until it is about 1/2 inch ish thick (i close it all but a corner and use a rolling pin to flatten it) throughout the whole bag and place it in a flat spot in the freezer for a couple days. I usually get 4 or 5 gallon bags full like that. Once they are frozen solid you can move them to where-ever for longer-term storage. Then when i am ready for more, i pull out a bag, open it up with a knife and, using a butcher's knife chop the whole thing into cubes. That goes into a new bag and is kept on-hand for daily use until it is empty, then rinse repeat with another flat bag.

Doing this, I usually have to make food ONCE per year and have high quality food on hand, for about 30 - 40 bucks. It may seem a little intimidating, but once you've done it, it is super easy! HTH

 

[A;exr54]

If you are most concerned with fish nutrition and availability, i would recommend the DIY method. I have been doing that for over a year and my fish are all fat, happy, and colorful.

Clams and mussels are some of the best things you can feed your fish. My frozen DIY is usually fresh little neck clams and mussels from the sea-food counter at the grocery. A bag of raw frozen shrimp, without the sodium phosphate they spray on them "for freshness", squid, a dash of selcon, and if i feel like it, some fish of some kind or other. After it is shelled and frozen for a day, it all goes into the blender bit by bit and is blended until chunky enough to be still chunks but small enough the fish can eat it. I have a restaurant trey (if you have an Asian store nearby they have them for cheap usually) i dump it in after that and mix it all together so it is fairly homogenous with a spoon or whatever, then i pack it into a freezer gallon bag until it is about 1/2 inch ish thick (i close it all but a corner and use a rolling pin to flatten it) throughout the whole bag and place it in a flat spot in the freezer for a couple days. I usually get 4 or 5 gallon bags full like that. Once they are frozen solid you can move them to where-ever for longer-term storage. Then when i am ready for more, i pull out a bag, open it up with a knife and, using a butcher's knife chop the whole thing into cubes. That goes into a new bag and is kept on-hand for daily use until it is empty, then rinse repeat with another flat bag.

Doing this, I usually have to make food ONCE per year and have high quality food on hand, for about 30 - 40 bucks. It may seem a little intimidating, but once you've done it, it is super easy! HTH

That is awesome!
Thanks for the recipe and ideas.

I was thinking maybe instead of buying frozen shrimp I can get some live fresh shrimp from a bait shop. Freeze them myself and use those in the recipe.
I would go out with a cast net and try to catch the shrimp but I’m afraid that I wouldn’t get any as I suck with a cast net.

I also wonder if anyone has ever used sand fleas in their food mixture.
The beaches near me have tons of them and they are really easy to catch.

 

[Red_Beard]

That is awesome!
Thanks for the recipe and ideas.

I was thinking maybe instead of buying frozen shrimp I can get some live fresh shrimp from a bait shop. Freeze them myself and use those in the recipe.
I would go out with a cast net and try to catch the shrimp but I’m afraid that I wouldn’t get any as I suck with a cast net.

I also wonder if anyone has ever used sand fleas in their food mixture.
The beaches near me have tons of them and they are really easy to catch.

You are very welcome! I use the frozen because i live in the deserts of Utah. Fresh would be legit to have on hand!

Never tried sand fleas, but you could always get a few and give it a try. One thing, anything you put in your tank raw will also add whatever bacteria/pathogens are in it. Which, in the case of mussels and clams can be pretty beneficial from what i have heard, but if you are worried about adding anything bad, freeze it first for a few days and you are good to go.

 

[Sink_or_Swim]

That is awesome!
Thanks for the recipe and ideas.

I was thinking maybe instead of buying frozen shrimp I can get some live fresh shrimp from a bait shop. Freeze them myself and use those in the recipe.
I would go out with a cast net and try to catch the shrimp but I’m afraid that I wouldn’t get any as I suck with a cast net.

I also wonder if anyone has ever used sand fleas in their food mixture.
The beaches near me have tons of them and they are really easy to catch.

I watched a great video on youtube by BRS just fyi - they give you a shopping list and show step by step how to make a really decent looking frozen food and store it. Very similar to @Red_Beard ! I found it very helpful. Only thing I'm planning to do differently is I'm getting a few food grade silicone mini ice cub trays with lids on Amazon, and going to freeze the food in those so I have ready made cubes. I just don't like pinching chunks out of the bag, lol.

 

[A;exr54]

I watched a great video on youtube by BRS just fyi - they give you a shopping list and show step by step how to make a really decent looking frozen food and store it. Very similar to @Red_Beard ! I found it very helpful. Only thing I'm planning to do differently is I'm getting a few food grade silicone mini ice cub trays with lids on Amazon, and going to freeze the food in those so I have ready made cubes. I just don't like pinching chunks out of the bag, lol.

I have a few of those mini ice cube trays. It never worked out too well for me. I always over filled and they never came out so nice.
I’ll try the bag trick.

 

[Red_Beard]

I watched a great video on youtube by BRS just fyi - they give you a shopping list and show step by step how to make a really decent looking frozen food and store it. Very similar to @Red_Beard ! I found it very helpful. Only thing I'm planning to do differently is I'm getting a few food grade silicone mini ice cub trays with lids on Amazon, and going to freeze the food in those so I have ready made cubes. I just don't like pinching chunks out of the bag, lol.

I have a few of those mini ice cube trays. It never worked out too well for me. I always over filled and they never came out so nice.
I’ll try the bag trick.

Yep. I also tried the mini cube trays, while they seem like they would be the ticket, in practice it is WAY easier to do the bag method and chop them up into cubes after. And then you can store it for a while without it getting freezer burn. Trays were pretty messy and took forever to fill properly, but, they do work.