Topic of the Week - DIY Fish Food

[sassAwrasse]

This week's topic of the week is DIY Fish Food.

Have you ever wanted to make your own food and curious about: how to, recipes, tools needed, recommendations?

Have you made your food before? Still do? What are your preferences? What are your recipes?

Talk about your experiences here as well as ask questions if you have any.

 

[sassAwrasse]

I decided on this week's topic because making a new batch of food crossed my mind tonight as I passed the seafood counter at the supermarket.

Our fish eat various pellets and flakes in addition to the various frozen foods. We also spot feed our corals and anemones with Red Sea Reef Energy, Coral Frenzy Pellets, Mysis/Krill and whatever else the fish eat.

Although we feed Rod's, Larry's Reef Frenzy, and Frozen Mysis and Krill, I make our own frozen food as well. Most of the "store bought" frozen food we've won or ordered during group buys, but we feel it's good to keep a variety on hand. Overall, because it makes so much and lasts so long, the money goes a long way.

A few years ago, we had asked for a used food processor for Christmas specifically to make fish food. We bought mini ice cube trays to use for shaping the food into portions, but also fill 2 trays of regular size ice cubes. I usually fill 4 or 5 trays, freeze, store the mixture until the next day, and make a few more trays. Unfortunately, even with buying a small portion of each ingredient, it makes ALOT. On the plus side, I only do this 1-3 times a year depending on what other frozen foods we have on hand.

The very first time I made it, it was a bit too thick, even after much processing, and the fish didn't eat as much of it as we liked so we tweaked the recipe a bit.

I am thinking I may make a new batch tomorrow. I will post pictures and a tutorial. It is pretty simple, but all the same, pictures are always fun.

 

[Triggreef]

I was doing it the same as you with the ice cube trays. I was scared off a little after listening to Larry speak at our club meeting, when he spoke about all the preservatives & such in the super market items. Larry's food is great but just so expensive. Idk but what I'm paying for mysis lately I may just start going back to Larry's.

Truthfully, my fish only tank, they are so big now they eat so much I'm really starting to feel the cost of feeding them.

Right now I've given up on making my own, & I'm using hikari mysis, pe mysis, frozen krill, frozen silver sides, nori sheets, NLS pellets, & live black worms. Both tanks get everything but the krill & silver sides are only for the FO. All that just about every day.

I'm strongly debating a drastic renovation of my FO tank to include re homing much of the stock and going full reef. If you ever seen a tang suck down nori a full sheet at a time, you'll understand.

 

[SteelerMike]

My dad and I have made a few batches and the fish really like it. The first time we made it it was a bit too thick and didn't break up too well for the fish. The big change we made this time was using a food processor and not a blender and it came out much better. This particular batch had cod, shrimp, scallops, cyclopeze, mysis shrimp, nori, and liquid garlic. We used some RO water to moisten it and allow the processor to do its job and then froze it in zip loc bags. I just break a piece off and thaw it out in RO water and the fish love it. I had suggested a while back that the club make food at the meeting but it didn't get much response. We are members of The Boston Reef Society as well and they make what they call "fish goo" at every meeting. Everyone brings an ingredient and you leave with a bag or 2 of food for little money. Their's has many more ingredients but it is a bit too expensive to make by yourself.

 

[firstlight10]

I don't use a lot of fish food so its not cost effective to make it. I do have some we made at a club meeting a while ago and my fish love it!

 

[james30ct]

I've made a few batches and its this recipe the only thing I changes was no flake food and the fresh seafood changes with what they have.
3 oysters
2 fresh calamari
1/4lb chopped clams
10 krill
2 cubes brine shrimp
2 cubes blood worms
2 cubes each nutrtition formula 1 & 2
1/4 sheet omega one super veggie nori
2 cubes frozen emerald entree
pinch of new life spectrum small fish pellets
and a pinch of tetra marine flakes

I've been using rods food I won in the CMAC raffle and the fish really like that too.

 

[james30ct]

yummy

 

[sassAwrasse]

So I went to the store today and brought home my ingredients to make my own fish food.

Normally, I like to add squid or octopus into my mixture, but they only had frozen so I opted not to use it this time around.


My ingredient list:

1 tsp Aegis pellets
1 tsp Spectrum Thera A+ pellets
Handful of Cobalt Spirulina Flakes
.25lb Beef Heart
.12lb Wild Caught Ocean Perch
.25lb Shrimp
.25lb Wild Caught Flounder Fillet
.30lb Wild Caught Cod
.50lb Wild Caught Sockeye Salmon
.25lb Bay Scallops
Fresh Garlic Cloves
RODI Water

I have a food processor for fish food only because it can get pretty messy and smelly.

First thing I do is get my work area set up with everything that I need.






I like to use different size ice cube trays for different feeding types/times since we have more than one tank.

 

[sassAwrasse]

First thing I do is grind up the dry ingredients and separate them for later. I've found that if you combine them with the wet ingredients while blending, they don't always get as broken up as I like. They tend to stay in bigger pieces because the fish is a nice mushy sludge when ground up.




Then I cut up the beef heart, being careful to remove any parts that may be too stringy/chewy in our mixture.




I get the beef heart started in the processor. I like to blend it together for a while so it doesn't stay too tough.
I get my garlic cloves peeled and then add them to the processor and let it continue to whirl away while I prep more items.



I slowly add my other ingredients, one by one...letting them blend together in between adding a new ingredient..





Then I add my dry ingredients to the mix..

 

[sassAwrasse]

I then take a toothpick and test it to see how thick and sludgy it is. I add RODI throughout the whole process to make sure it doesn't get too thick.



It was still a little thick for my liking, so I let it blend a while longer with some RODI.

Meanwhile, I gave the tanks a taste.

 

[sassAwrasse]

I tried to take a video of the fish going nuts but it was hard to do with one hand covered in fish food.


Then I start plopping the mixture on to the trays and spreading it out, occassionally tapping the trays so that the mixture falls all the way to the bottom.




I then scrape the top so that I can see the separation between each tray. It helps when they are solid and they are easier to pop out.





Wrap those bad boys up with some seran wrap or foil so that they don't stink up the freezer. Believe me, if you don't, everything will smell like fish.

 

[sassAwrasse]

This is a picture of the old batch that I'm tossing...just to show you the final size.




Not mentioned above, but I added Brightwell Vitamin C to the mixture as well.


So I realized at the end of everything that I forgot to put the scallops into the mix. Since I had left over Beef Heart, I blended the two up together with some of the spirulina flakes and poured them into a freezer bag. Laid it flat, and stuck it in the freezer.

After that, it's all clean-up.

 

[Vaiodude]

I was doing it the same as you with the ice cube trays. I was scared off a little after listening to Larry speak at our club meeting, when he spoke about all the preservatives & such in the super market items. Larry's food is great but just so expensive. Idk but what I'm paying for mysis lately I may just start going back to Larry's.

Truthfully, my fish only tank, they are so big now they eat so much I'm really starting to feel the cost of feeding them.

Right now I've given up on making my own, & I'm using hikari mysis, pe mysis, frozen krill, frozen silver sides, nori sheets, NLS pellets, & live black worms. Both tanks get everything but the krill & silver sides are only for the FO. All that just about every day.

I'm strongly debating a drastic renovation of my FO tank to include re homing much of the stock and going full reef. If you ever seen a tang suck down nori a full sheet at a time, you'll understand.

+1 on the Larry Reef Frenzy that stuff rocks!

 

[fishcrf450r]

Is there a reason not to use frozen sea food ?

 

[LeslieP]

I have made my own food for years - it's the only way to go for me. Like others, I grab a piece of regular fish - could be flounder, salmon, tilapia - whatever is around when I hit the fish market. I also get a couple of clams, a couple of shrimp and a couple of scallops. I used to get small squid but I couldn't stand the smell. I actually can't stand to be near seafood so I try to make this when my nose isn't working well and I always use nitrile gloves.

I add in Selcon if I have it, some of what ever flakes or pellets I have (usually gotten as samples from meetings), some squirts of oyster feast (reef nutrition), reef chili and golden pearls. I love the frozen cyclopeez but I wasn't able to find it last time I made food. I have some Rod's and Larry's food in the freezer just waiting to be added to my next batch. I'll also add in some freshly minced garlic and nori - just the stuff from the Asian market.

I chop up some of the fish, scallops, clams and shrimp into small pieces for my larger fish - this is easier to do if they are somewhat frozen first. Then I take the rest of it and put it in the food processor to make smaller pieces as well as mush for the corals. I don't have much in the way of SPS so I don't need to get the food super small. I add DI water to get a good consistency and then drop small spoonfuls onto cookie sheets which then get frozen in the freezer. Once frozen, I scoop them into a bag and I'm set for a long time.

 

[sassAwrasse]

Is there a reason not to use frozen sea food ?

I prefer fresh or thawed. Easier to work with. Some frozen stuff could be more expensive or questionable in quality.

 

[fishcrf450r]

I have used frozen sea food meddaly in my mix because it comes with octopus , squid , shrimp , clams , scallop and fish . I add mysid , silversides , liquid garlic and sometimes nori .
Fish love it but i have wondered about the frozen vs fresh . It is convenient but if there is negitive properties to it it wouldn't be worth it .

 

[LeslieP]

I also prefer fresh - I buy it fresh, but then freeze it partially to make it easier to chop. With all of the great local fish markets, it's easy. Although I must admit to thinking that I might check out that frozen sea food medley, it sound quite convenient.