Homemade Fish Food Ideas (DIY)

[Renelope]

I've started to make my own frozen food as well - it ends up being so much cheaper this way, and I get to control what goes in it.

Usually I add Nori, regular shrimp, brine shrimp, vitamins, phytoplankton, and sometimes some high quality pellets or flake food to round it out. If I have extra macro-algae in the refugium I've been know to add that as well. Blend up and place in tiny ice cube trays. My tray has a silicone bottom, so they literally "pop" out of the tray. Couldn't be easier. Fish and corals love it - and instead of adding 3-4 items to the tank at each meal - everything is in the cube.

 

[paphater]

Is there any issue thawing out frozen food only to refreeze it once it's processed?

 

[Turbo's Aquatics]

If you mean buying frozen, thawing, using in a DIY food mix, then re-freezing, the answer is that it depends. I would recommend minimal time above refrigerator temperature and placing in freezer as quickly as possible after mixing. That's all you can do...do it as fast as you can.

I think it's less of an issue with fresh seafood in a thawed state versus if you took a bag of prepared food and let it thaw fully then re-freeze it...that can be an issue.

 

[paphater]

If you mean buying frozen, thawing, using in a DIY food mix, then re-freezing, the answer is that it depends. I would recommend minimal time above refrigerator temperature and placing in freezer as quickly as possible after mixing. That's all you can do...do it as fast as you can.

I think it's less of an issue with fresh seafood in a thawed state versus if you took a bag of prepared food and let it thaw fully then re-freeze it...that can be an issue.

Yeah I was mainly concerned with thawing stuff out so I can soak in RO to try and leach out any preservatives. I'm having a hard time finding stuff with out sodium trippolyphosphate.

 

[Gareth elliott]

It is very hard to thaw frozen food and then portion accurately into smaller cubes.

You will invariably get 1 square with lots of meat, another with lots of water.

Its much easier to portion with your own ingredients then add tank water to it. So each cube is relatively equal.

 

[Turbo's Aquatics]

It is very hard to thaw frozen food and then portion accurately into smaller cubes.

I guess it depends on how thoroughly you chop and mix. The batches we have made (anywhere from 30 to 100 bags, 16 ounces each) have turned out relatively homogenous actually. I just freeze them flat, cut off the bag and cut into cubes with a long kitchen knife. Another way to do it is to flatten the bag, then lay it on top of egg crate in the freeezer so you can break off cubes along the impression lines.

I'm having a hard time finding stuff with out sodium trippolyphosphate.

Yeah that's the trick...also STP doesn't really dissolve in water very well so you can't get rid of it completely.

One thing i learned is that if you buy shrimp as the main ingredient, get it unpeeled. They spray the STP on it so the shell actually protects the meat, so after you peel the shell off, most of the preservative is gone. You may want to check with a local restaurant seafood supplier to see what they carry. Explain to them what you are doing, sometimes they will make exceptions (especially if it is for your club and non-profit 501c3). Ask for "no no" seafood (which is "code" for no preservatives, no additives)

 

[FishKeeper01]

Great idea, thanks for posting!

 

[inktomi]

Does anyone have a good source for sponge to use in food that is fed to pygmy angelfish? I've been making my own food, but haven't really been able to feel super confident that all my fish are getting proper nutrition because I don't add sponge to it.

 

[FortyFour44]

Great thread! I’m trying hard not to laugh imaginging my wife’s reaction to what I have planned for the food processor.

 

[evoque335i]

Great idea will save so much now.

 

[Bengals888]

I’m going to make my own to try. I notice few youtube videos, majority of the food dropped into the tank, is cloud of protein with few bits of food.
Fish eat the flesh bits, not drink the protein shake?

So when you use food processor, how can you get small bits without it not being too liquid or to big of chunks?

Is it better to thaw frozen mix and pat dry or leave semi frozen? I read about the squid needing to be semi frozen.

 

[paphater]

You will need to partially thaw the shrimp at least. I used a ninja blender and ended up with the opposite problem where I wish I had a tad smaller particle.

 

[Bengals888]

I have a ninja, have not tried. Surprised the 2 blade ninja is not fine enough vs. regular food processor.

 

[Turbo's Aquatics]

So when you use food processor, how can you get small bits without it not being too liquid or to big of chunks?

It takes a bit of practice and trial/error but a food processor IMO is the way to go. You get a good mixture of small and larger particles depending on how long you run it for. It also helps to stop, open, and use a spatula to fold everything to the center once or twice with each batch to obtain a more even size. This is easier to do in a food processor vs a blender.

Is it better to thaw frozen mix and pat dry or leave semi frozen?

Generally you will need to thaw and maybe chop a bit, then soak in RODI a couple times. Unless you manage to get preservative-free seafood, which is harder and harder to find.

I read about the squid needing to be semi frozen

Squid and octopus are extremely difficult to chop up when thawed. That's why I recommend keeping these frozen. Also they are usually flash-frozen or frozen into ice blocks, so there usually are no preservatives in use. I usually don't soak squid/octo in RODI but you can, after you chop. Food processors don't usually reduce the particle size of s/o much, so you have to chop into small pieces as larger pieces will just get tied up on the blade/rotor. Sometimes a blender works better for chopping up s/o, especially a ninja, but you still have to pre-chop

 

[HollidayReefer]

So are you just using regular raw shrimp for the most part ?

 

[Turbo's Aquatics]

always raw. I try to get all ingredients with the least amount of preservatives. This can be challenging. I used to be able to get "no no" shrimp = no preservatives, no additives, but this is not available anymore locally. The closest I can get is shell-on flash frozen, which is still sprayed with trisodium phosphate, but it doesn't penetrate through the shell very much. It just means you have to peel them all which takes time.

 

[s2nhle]

Great! Thank You for sharing.

 

[s2nhle]

Great, Thank You for sharing

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Bump! How many of you guys are still making your own DIY food?

 

[kelein]

We also make our own DYI blend--approximately the same as yours. I prefer to use our marjarita maker rather than the food processor. I just like the texture of the food better. One thing my husband does that has worked very well is when I am done making the food mixture, I leave a small amount (1-2 tablespoons) in the marjarita maker (or food processor) and he fills it with RO/DI water then blends it for several minutes. He then leaves the solution to separate in the refrigerator for a few hours. The heavier particals settle to the bottom. He than uses a turkey baster and sucks the mostly clear solution off the top and freezes that in ice cube trays. He feeds his corals with this solution. They absolutely love that food, much more than any coral food we have bought at the LFS.

This idea is great. I love fish food a lot.n