I'm a health nut if you haven't noticed, this also translates to my pets. Today I will cover some of the dead foods I feed and why, with some nutritional info that I recall off the top of my head. This is by no means all the foods you can feed, these are just the ones I include in my feedings.
Salmon is my #1 dead food, wild skin on sockeye salmon to be specific, I get it from Trader Joes, and eat it myself a couple times a week. You can slice it for your eels, bite size chunks for your lions and scorps, mince it up if you feeding through a baster/pipette for smaller fish. Salmon contains a great amount of fats which are absolutely necessary for the overall health and long term survival. All fish can benefit from salmon, it also contains a carotenoid called astaxanthin, which can also help enhance yellow, orange, and red colors. Other fatty fish include tuna, sea bass, and trout; I find salmon the most readily available affordable source of necessary efa's.
Mollusks, which include clams, scallop, mussels, and squid. These will have an array of beneficial nutrients including vitamin B1(mussels), vitamin c(good for the immune system), ca and mg, and vit e. Many of these are high in protein, also very important, a high protein diet is very necessary. Squid contains the highest, check the others for the specific value of nutrients, including these is a beneficial addition. These can be fed in slices, chunks, and minced into a combo.
Shrimp, sparingly because of the high thiaminese content, and while can be a stable for many predator fish, no real nutritional values stand out. Fresh whole shrimp because of the shells and guts do provide a much higher value than frozen cleaned shrimp. Still not bad to include but I would be careful making it the dominant part of a dead only diet.
Human grade seafood bought fresh and frozen in small batches are hands above any other dead food you could feed. I will sometimes buy very small portions from the seafood counter and get weird looks from the counter person. If I'm in the mood for fun conversation I'll show them a pic of what I'm feeding. After that they usually give me 5 star service.
There are some various items I get from Asian markets like octopus, silverfish, human grade krill and human grade silversides. Feed human grade krill sparingly as any other shell fish like shrimp, because of the high amount of thiaminese. I feed no lfs krill, this krill is long dead as by it's color, and no longer contain any natural nutrition. Any nutritional value from lfs krill comes from the chemical supplementation. It also contains ethoxyquin as a preservative, this preservative is a known carcinogen. It is spayed on the seafood at the docks when separating human grade from other, so it is not listed in the ingredients. This will be true of all lfs foods with the exception of the ones using human grade seafood.
I only feed a few items from the lfs. The brands that use human grade seafood like LRS are A ok, the other foods I extremely limit. San Francisco Bay brand silversides is the only silverside I presently recommend. SFB brand uses a true silverside, while all the other brands I have available use other various fish species that contain a high amount of thiaminese and the wrong fat and protein profile. If you can find human grade silversides it will be so much better, no ethoxyquin or chemical additives. PE mysis, this mysis is good for your smaller preds and to include in baster/pipette feeding. They are meatier variety of mysis higher in protein. Hikari mega marine and Hikari mega algae, these I will also include in baster/pipette feeding.
Pellets, the two that I use are Hikari-Saki Marine Carnivore because of it's high vitamin c content and New Life Spectrum Algaemax because of the mixed variety of algae's. I do occasionally include algae foods in the predator's dead diet. In the wild they would receive these nutrients from the guts of their prey. You can include pellets in baster/pipette feeding as well as stuff a few into chunks and slices and seafood. I use the Marine Carnivore for new arrivals or fish recovering from injuries or disease.
Supplementation, while I rely on a diet with live foods and fresh foods these are some supplements you may consider. Selcon and Brightwell Aminomega, these will supply essential fatty acids(efa); if you are not supplying a fatty fish or feeding live fish, one of these is likely necessary. Vitachem and Brightwell Vitamarin-M, I like the Brightwell because of the higher amount of B1 but it is less tolerable than the Vitachem, it's has a pretty strong odor and likely taste. Because of the most frequent and deadly nutritional deficiency, vitamin B1, you could also use a human liquid vitamin B1. Injecting the vitamins into the seafood flesh is more effective at delivery than soaking, many times by soaking much of it rinses off.
I'm sure I missed something but that's enough to satisfy the needs of most predators.
Salmon is my #1 dead food, wild skin on sockeye salmon to be specific, I get it from Trader Joes, and eat it myself a couple times a week. You can slice it for your eels, bite size chunks for your lions and scorps, mince it up if you feeding through a baster/pipette for smaller fish. Salmon contains a great amount of fats which are absolutely necessary for the overall health and long term survival. All fish can benefit from salmon, it also contains a carotenoid called astaxanthin, which can also help enhance yellow, orange, and red colors. Other fatty fish include tuna, sea bass, and trout; I find salmon the most readily available affordable source of necessary efa's.
Mollusks, which include clams, scallop, mussels, and squid. These will have an array of beneficial nutrients including vitamin B1(mussels), vitamin c(good for the immune system), ca and mg, and vit e. Many of these are high in protein, also very important, a high protein diet is very necessary. Squid contains the highest, check the others for the specific value of nutrients, including these is a beneficial addition. These can be fed in slices, chunks, and minced into a combo.
Shrimp, sparingly because of the high thiaminese content, and while can be a stable for many predator fish, no real nutritional values stand out. Fresh whole shrimp because of the shells and guts do provide a much higher value than frozen cleaned shrimp. Still not bad to include but I would be careful making it the dominant part of a dead only diet.
Human grade seafood bought fresh and frozen in small batches are hands above any other dead food you could feed. I will sometimes buy very small portions from the seafood counter and get weird looks from the counter person. If I'm in the mood for fun conversation I'll show them a pic of what I'm feeding. After that they usually give me 5 star service.
There are some various items I get from Asian markets like octopus, silverfish, human grade krill and human grade silversides. Feed human grade krill sparingly as any other shell fish like shrimp, because of the high amount of thiaminese. I feed no lfs krill, this krill is long dead as by it's color, and no longer contain any natural nutrition. Any nutritional value from lfs krill comes from the chemical supplementation. It also contains ethoxyquin as a preservative, this preservative is a known carcinogen. It is spayed on the seafood at the docks when separating human grade from other, so it is not listed in the ingredients. This will be true of all lfs foods with the exception of the ones using human grade seafood.
I only feed a few items from the lfs. The brands that use human grade seafood like LRS are A ok, the other foods I extremely limit. San Francisco Bay brand silversides is the only silverside I presently recommend. SFB brand uses a true silverside, while all the other brands I have available use other various fish species that contain a high amount of thiaminese and the wrong fat and protein profile. If you can find human grade silversides it will be so much better, no ethoxyquin or chemical additives. PE mysis, this mysis is good for your smaller preds and to include in baster/pipette feeding. They are meatier variety of mysis higher in protein. Hikari mega marine and Hikari mega algae, these I will also include in baster/pipette feeding.
Pellets, the two that I use are Hikari-Saki Marine Carnivore because of it's high vitamin c content and New Life Spectrum Algaemax because of the mixed variety of algae's. I do occasionally include algae foods in the predator's dead diet. In the wild they would receive these nutrients from the guts of their prey. You can include pellets in baster/pipette feeding as well as stuff a few into chunks and slices and seafood. I use the Marine Carnivore for new arrivals or fish recovering from injuries or disease.
Supplementation, while I rely on a diet with live foods and fresh foods these are some supplements you may consider. Selcon and Brightwell Aminomega, these will supply essential fatty acids(efa); if you are not supplying a fatty fish or feeding live fish, one of these is likely necessary. Vitachem and Brightwell Vitamarin-M, I like the Brightwell because of the higher amount of B1 but it is less tolerable than the Vitachem, it's has a pretty strong odor and likely taste. Because of the most frequent and deadly nutritional deficiency, vitamin B1, you could also use a human liquid vitamin B1. Injecting the vitamins into the seafood flesh is more effective at delivery than soaking, many times by soaking much of it rinses off.
I'm sure I missed something but that's enough to satisfy the needs of most predators.
