How I DIY fish food.

[skinz78]

Interesting Scott711, why do you add the Aloe Vera?

 

[scampi]

bump +1

 

[kingfisherfleshy]

Rogger's Reef food also uses aloe vera. I really want to try his food, and will be doing so in the near future, while still working on perfecting a reef food of my own.

Aloe vera is supposedly just packed with vitamins and minerals. There is slightly more information on that on roggers reef food website...but maybe the poster can give us his .02 as well.

 

[redtop03]

skinz78,of all the threads with pics of beautiful fish and coral,you had to go and add pics of homemade fish food,that's about the most disgusting thing I've ever seen :bigsmile:

I'll bet the fish love it though,and great write up for sure,I've been aiming on trying to make my own but I do have a weak stomach...and I could almost smell that stuff from here :bad_smelly:

 

[RogerWilco357]

where did you find the shrimp with eggs? My wife just bought a fancy food processor will that work ? I do have some extra powders just sitting around like chili powder and the cyclopeeze hmm might give it a whirl with the egg crate and cookie sheet nice idea ..hey did you add vitamins at all like vitamin c from the gnc store? or do you get that from the selcon? or is adding vitamins a no no?

 

[skinz78]

I got the shrimp with eggs out of the fish bait freezer at the sporting goods store....

I don't add vit C because you can't judge how it mixes in and there is too much room for overdose IMO.

 

[kingfisherfleshy]

Hey guys, I just made my own, and its pretty good stuff it would seem.

Its a food intended to feed everything from the bottom up, and so far it looks like it is doing that. I have noticed corals taking small particles, and I also noticed that some things that used to be un-popular (silversides) are now taken with gusto.

I used:

Shrimp,
clams,
mussles,
scallops,
squid,
krill,
silversides,
mysis,
frozen "reef-plankton,
cyclopeeze,
dry coral food (powder),
selcon,
zoecon,
garlic (extract),
and vitachem

The only advice I have now is to turn off your skimmer before use...the stuff is super fatty and you will be pulling h2o for awhile if you add it with the skimmer on.

I might add lobster in the future, but I would stay away from octopus just because I dont think they should be killed...there is a lot of un-sustainable harvest going on there.

I also chose not to include nori because I feed several different types, and feel that it is more efficient to feed it via clip, than in a food like this where some of it might go someplace where my tangs or angelfish wont.

Not meaning to have a thread jack, but since skinz was the motivation for me trying this, I thought I would post here.

 

[fsu1dolfan]

I got the shrimp with eggs out of the fish bait freezer at the sporting goods store....

I don't add vit C because you can't judge how it mixes in and there is too much room for overdose IMO.

Great write up and pics skinz!! Looks like messy fun. And good point with the vitamin C. I was thinking about that too but better to dose with the thawed out cube of food and have a precise measurement.

 

[skinz78]

I actually made a new batch weekend before last and I used eggcrate to make little squares. I won't be doing that again because it turned out to be a huge mess. I couldn't get the food to come free from the eggcrate very easily and spent a lot of time trying to get it out.

 

[fsu1dolfan]

I actually made a new batch weekend before last and I used eggcrate to make little squares. I won't be doing that again because it turned out to be a huge mess. I couldn't get the food to come free from the eggcrate very easily and spent a lot of time trying to get it out.

So do you still use that blender for other things LOL. I would assume once it goes reef there is no going back! :tongue:

 

[butts182]

So do you still use that blender for other things LOL. I would assume once it goes reef there is no going back! :tongue:

that was my question as well...i don't think my gf would let me use our blender to make that stuff...i'm surprised that the egg crate idea didn't work well for you...seems like a great idea though...i will have to try to make my own food one time.

 

[skinz78]

So do you still use that blender for other things LOL. I would assume once it goes reef there is no going back! :tongue:

LOL no it is strictly for fish food, it has issues with some of the frozen fish that I run through it...

that was my question as well...i don't think my gf would let me use our blender to make that stuff...i'm surprised that the egg crate idea didn't work well for you...seems like a great idea though...i will have to try to make my own food one time.

You should, it is cheap to do compared to buying fish food.

 

[nixer]

why add dry pellets when you can actually get all those dry ingredients much cheaper. try looking at http://www.kensfish.com/kensspecialtyfood.html
obviously you would have to mix with some of the raw food. this would also not make it so sloppy

 

[scott711]

Interesting Scott711, why do you add the Aloe Vera?

I have read quite a few places that say aloe vera is full of amino's and antioxidants.

 

[Billgax]

That food was awesome... if I hadn't sold my reef tank, I would have been all over round 2 with ya Skinz! I never had any water quality issues from this food... but my tank was way mature and fully stocked. And to make matters that much more confounding... I ran skimmerless while feeding this food daily.
BTW, vitamin C is water soluble and nearly impossible to overdose... but it doesn't store well in fish foods, best to add it just prior to feeding. This hobby is expensive enough as is...

 

[cdness]

I do the same thing, but with a little different selection of ingredients. Be careful with the minced garlic. Sometimes it isn't just garlic and can contain other additives... Cutting it up fresh would always be better. Use a garlic press.

If you have a glass blender you don't need to worry about the smells. Soak it in some vinegar and off to the dishwaser. All is better.

This is the way to go though. Cheaper, wholesome, healthy, and lots of selection for the fishies. Also it's the only thing my picky Achilles would eat.

 

[REEFKEEPER10]

Frozen chum. Cool I do almost then same thing about two weeks before going cat fishing. But mine goes in the sun not the freezer.

 

[D2TW]

Man I'm sure my wife would kill if I brought that stuff in our house.

 

[REEFKEEPER10]

There would be some friction between when she inserts her foot with a sand paper shoe. The good thing is my wife goes to school and works so she don't know what goes on around here.

 

[mermaids]

I have made our own fish food as well and we have used it for years. I havent made it in a while and have to dig up my recipe for it. From what i can remember i did something a bit different we used Spinach, lettuce, carrots, bananas, squid, shrimp, krill, some type of fish i picked up at the local store, lots of garlic, nori and selcon. i use small ziplock baggies and flatten the food so it is easy to brake peices off. I know it sounds weird that i used veggies but i have to say when i feed only my DIY food my fish and corals never looked better.