Homemade fish food

[jayden kolonne]

I have a reef tank that i feed frozen brine, frozen blood worms, frozen misses shrimp, & frozen plankton, all in differnt amounts, I mostly feed brine blood and misis though. I also feed dried seaweed from omega and I mix of the top 5 most popular pellets + some reef roids, I mixed it all up in an old metal container. Anyways, I am thinking about switching from my frozen food collection to regular frozen seafood. Today I chopped up wild caught gulf shrimp and wild caught sea scallops. I made shrimp paste and finely chopped the scallops. I find this to be more affordable, even with it all being from whole foods it's still cheaper than buying those little cubes, at least per gram. Buying the large pack of shrimp and the scallops cost me 20 bucks. The same cost as 2 packs of frozen miasses shrimp. Is there any other frozen foods you would recommend? I'm thinking to buy that seafood melody pack that has muscles, squid and shrimp. I can also buy it from cheaper places. I also was thinking about talipa fillets and solkeye salmon from costco. Let me know what you would recommend feeding to fill all their nutrient requirements, if possible even reducing the amount of pellets that need to be fed.

 

[Fish Fan]

I don't claim to be an expert in fish nutrition, but my concern with using shrimp tails and fish filets from the grocery store is that your fish wouldn't be getting the whole prey animal, and I *think* that's likely an important part of a fish's nutrition. For example, your fish may get necessary calcium from the bones of the fish they eat, which is not going to be in your filets.

I may be bringing one hobby over to the next, but in the world of reptile keeping, it's been shown that carnivores like snakes actually need the little bit of grains and vegetables in the stomachs of the mice and rats the snakes are eating. Further, there is a philosophy of "gut loading" food items for reptiles, which means feeding mice or crickets, for example, the best possible diet, fortified with vitamins, that then theoretically benefit the reptile that eats those animals.

Possibly a better approach may be to use something like whole smelt that you could grind up? Along with your whole scallops, clams, squid, whole head-on shrimp (look at your local Asian market), cocktail sauce, etc. Why am I suddenly hungry lol?? Maybe don't include the cocktail sauce.

I'm interested to see what other's say here. This isn't an emergency, so I don't want to tag in the "Fish Medic" crew, but those would be the guys to ask.

 

[jayden kolonne]

I don't claim to be an expert in fish nutrition, but my concern with using shrimp tails and fish filets from the grocery store is that your fish wouldn't be getting the whole prey animal, and I *think* that's likely an important part of a fish's nutrition. For example, your fish may get necessary calcium from the bones of the fish they eat, which is not going to be in your filets.

I may be bringing one hobby over to the next, but in the world of reptile keeping, it's been shown that carnivores like snakes actually need the little bit of grains and vegetables in the stomachs of the mice and rats the snakes are eating. Further, there is a philosophy of "gut loading" food items for reptiles, which means feeding mice or crickets, for example, the best possible diet, fortified with vitamins, that then theoretically benefit the reptile that eats those animals.

Possibly a better approach may be to use something like whole smelt that you could grind up? Along with your whole scallops, clams, squid, whole head-on shrimp (look at your local Asian market), cocktail sauce, etc. Why am I suddenly hungry lol?? Maybe don't include the cocktail sauce.

I'm interested to see what other's say here. This isn't an emergency, so I don't want to tag in the "Fish Medic" crew, but those would be the guys to ask.

I do understand your point about "gut loading" I don't know about bones, but intestines makes sense, although that will smell like absolute ..... it may be worth it to buy. I'll check it out on Friday, although just a thought, wouldn't getting the smaller things they eat like the small shrimp from the Asian supermarket, and muscles and everything else be what is in the gut of the fish that my fish are eating. I'd love to here what the medic people would say but I don't want to bug them with my non emergency.

 

[Fish Fan]

I do understand your point about "gut loading" I don't know about bones, but intestines makes sense, although that will smell like absolute ..... it may be worth it to buy. I'll check it out on Friday, although just a thought, wouldn't getting the smaller things they eat like the small shrimp from the Asian supermarket, and muscles and everything else be what is in the gut of the fish that my fish are eating. I'd love to here what the medic people would say but I don't want to bug them with my non emergency.

I'm sure other knowledgeable members will find this thread interesting enough to join in.

Yes, the fish you're going to make fish food from probably were eating those animals, but when you buy a Tilapia filet from the market, it's just a filet of fish flesh. There's no bones (calcium is super important to everything!), guts, scales, etc. Again, I don't know for sure, but I think animals that are predators and eat whole animals have evolved to need the whole prey animal.

Again, I just found the post interesting, I'm more or less just guessing. I'm sure plenty of people here make their own fish food and can help better than I can.

Here's some info that may help. This first one is from Marc Levison, he's a next-level reefer, been around the hobby a minute (as the kids say):

Make your own fishfood | Melev's Reef

melevsreef.com

And from here on R2R with some recipes:

Homemade fish food... Share your RECIPES!

I prefer making my own fish (and coral) food. Still perfecting it. But I have tons of fresh seafood available at my fingertips. Wondering what your recipes are. I typically use clam as the base and have added nori. I’m thinking about using different shellfish mixed together: clams and mussels...

www.reef2reef.com

One more I'm currently reading through, there's lots more threads here at R2R if you do a search:

Homemade Fish Food

Does anyone else make their own food. I have 3 variations. I feed once a day. They will get 2 to 3 cubes per feeding. And I used RODI water to dice it all together. My 1. Scallops with seaweed, dry rotifers, selcon, dry calanus and dried mysis shrimp. 2. Shrimp with everything mentioned 3...

www.reef2reef.com

I have to admit, now I'm thinking of doing this lol!

 

[jayden kolonne]

Ok, so a couple of things I've noticed is that,
1. It doesn't really mater what you feed as long as it's a large verity
2. People recommend feeding saltwater fish rather than fresh
3. Shellfish is good, muscles clams oysters.
4. Fatty fish is also a good thing
5. Fish eggs are good
6. Adding liquid supplements is recommended
7. Nori is also recommend to be added to the mix, but you can also use brocoli.
The only issue I have is I would have to do this by hand, my parents would kill me if I used the blender for fish food.

 

[Fish Fan]

Ok, so a couple of things I've noticed is that,
1. It doesn't really mater what you feed as long as it's a large verity
2. People recommend feeding saltwater fish rather than fresh
3. Shellfish is good, muscles clams oysters.
4. Fatty fish is also a good thing
5. Fish eggs are good
6. Adding liquid supplements is recommended
7. Nori is also recommend to be added to the mix, but you can also use brocoli.
The only issue I have is I would have to do this by hand, my parents would kill me if I used the blender for fish food.

Yeah! That's largely what I'm reading too.

I still stand by the idea of using whole foods as much as possible, it just makes sense to me. But you can add supplements or nori, and really customize things for your tank and its inhabitants.

You know, I guess going back like 30 years I tried making fish food for my freshwater fish. I kind of can't believe I didn't think to look into this for saltwater fish sooner. It's cheaper, and my fish can eat a lot of the same things I like to eat

 

[jayden kolonne]

Yeah! That's largely what I'm reading too.

I still stand by the idea of using whole foods as much as possible, it just makes sense to me. But you can add supplements or nori, and really customize things for your tank and its inhabitants.

You know, I guess going back like 30 years I tried making fish food for my freshwater fish. I kind of can't believe I didn't think to look into this for saltwater fish sooner. It's cheaper, and my fish can eat a lot of the same things I like to eat

I bet using fish skin would be really good, like frozen salmon always has skin on it. That was kind of the goal, was to get something that I is cheaper higher quality and tailored to the needs of the fish. I hope you try this out, I would love to hear what you add to your mix when you make it.

 

[Gtinnel]

I use the bag of frozen seafood mixture that I get at either Aldi or Trader Joe’s. I will mix in some fish (I’m not very consistent on which type and have used several different ones), some clams or mussels, masago (fish eggs), nori, spirulina powder, liquid vitamins, and garlic extreme.
I chop them up in a food processor individually then mix them all together. Put the paste into zip lock bags and freeze them flat. I just break off pieces when I feed. I can’t say how nutritious my food is but all of my fish seem to be happy and fat so it seems to be working for me.

I do make the food whenever my wife is not home and make it out on the porch because she hate the smell of seafood. It looks disgusting but it is all human food so I don’t mind using our normal food processor and then washing it well.

 

[Gtinnel]

I bet using fish skin would be really good, like frozen salmon always has skin on it.

I’ve used salmon with skin on it and the skin didn’t blend well for me. So I ended up with a huge piece of skin with no meat on it that I ended up pulling out of my mixture.

 

[Fish Fan]

I use the bag of frozen seafood mixture that I get at either Aldi or Trader Joe’s.

Yes! I had forgotten about this!

When I had a small N. wennerae Florida Mantis, who very sadly perished after an ATO malfunction, I used to get this for him! At Aldi near me, a bag of this smorgasbord was like 5 bucks, and you get a lot. Good call, @Gtinnel

Something like this, but at my local Aldi it was a lot cheaper even than the Mega-Lo-Mart:
Seafood smorgasbord at Walmart

 

[dedragon]

like gtinnel said, fish skin doesnt get processed well in a blender and even then the smaller pieces cant be eaten by fish without teeth (most reef friendly fish).
Dont stress too much just add a variety of fish and shellfish, and also something like selcon. I havent made food this year yet (it takes a long time to get through 1 batch of diy frozen), but i was thinking of doing a rinse before i bag it, probably in full saltwater or partial. Not a big issue but might help if you have high nutrient levels already

Anyone do a rinse before they bag?

 

[Fish Fan]

like gtinnel said, fish skin doesnt get processed well in a blender and even then the smaller pieces cant be eaten by fish without teeth (most reef friendly fish).
Dont stress too much just add a variety of fish and shellfish, and also something like selcon. I havent made food this year yet (it takes a long time to get through 1 batch of diy frozen), but i was thinking of doing a rinse before i bag it, probably in full saltwater or partial. Not a big issue but might help if you have high nutrient levels already

Anyone do a rinse before they bag?

Genuinely just asking, but a rinse for what? Wouldn't it be best to rinse the raw ingredients before you process them?

EDIT: Do you mean like rinse the way you might rinse frozen Mysis, to minimize excess nutrients in the tank from feeding?

I'm all ears here, but how would you rinse minced or ground up seafood? Just the home-cook in me sees that as problematic.

Thanks for your help!

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have a reef tank that i feed frozen brine, frozen blood worms, frozen misses shrimp, & frozen plankton, all in differnt amounts, I mostly feed brine blood and misis though. I also feed dried seaweed from omega and I mix of the top 5 most popular pellets + some reef roids, I mixed it all up in an old metal container. Anyways, I am thinking about switching from my frozen food collection to regular frozen seafood. Today I chopped up wild caught gulf shrimp and wild caught sea scallops. I made shrimp paste and finely chopped the scallops. I find this to be more affordable, even with it all being from whole foods it's still cheaper than buying those little cubes, at least per gram. Buying the large pack of shrimp and the scallops cost me 20 bucks. The same cost as 2 packs of frozen miasses shrimp. Is there any other frozen foods you would recommend? I'm thinking to buy that seafood melody pack that has muscles, squid and shrimp. I can also buy it from cheaper places. I also was thinking about talipa fillets and solkeye salmon from costco. Let me know what you would recommend feeding to fill all their nutrient requirements, if possible even reducing the amount of pellets that need to be fed.

Aldi blend is good. I get a variety from seafood counter and mix with prime reef, selcon vitamins, aminos and brine, plankton, seaweed and mysis to make flat packs and mini cubes

 

[Gtinnel]

like gtinnel said, fish skin doesnt get processed well in a blender and even then the smaller pieces cant be eaten by fish without teeth (most reef friendly fish).
Dont stress too much just add a variety of fish and shellfish, and also something like selcon. I havent made food this year yet (it takes a long time to get through 1 batch of diy frozen), but i was thinking of doing a rinse before i bag it, probably in full saltwater or partial. Not a big issue but might help if you have high nutrient levels already

Anyone do a rinse before they bag?

Yes I forgot to mention that I let all of the raw seafood sit in rodi for an hour or so then drain it before I blend it up. I’ve heard that a soak will help remove sodium tripolyphosphate if it was used on the seafood. I did however just recently start soaking the seafood, and I have no idea how much it helps remove STPP.

 

[dedragon]

Wouldn't it be best to rinse the raw ingredients before you process them?

definitely and most of my stuff is leftovers from me fishing or just going to the fish market and asking for scraps so im not too worried about anything being added.
In a blender it takes some stuff longer than others to get processed properly and in the time grinds some softer stuff to like a paste which just turns into a "mist" when adding to the tank. Like i said not an issue if you have proper nutrient control but can def add nitrates and phosphates to the tank

 

[Fish Fan]

definitely and most of my stuff is leftovers from me fishing or just going to the fish market

That's the way to do it! Or, if you work in a restaurant, which I did in my much younger days

Thanks for your help and reply!

 

[Gtinnel]

In a blender it takes some stuff longer than others to get processed properly and in the time grinds some softer stuff to like a paste which just turns into a "mist" when adding to the tank.

That was why I started blending everything individually so I can control the size of all of it. I even separate the bag of mixed seafood into each type. If I blended it together the scallops would be complete mush before the calamari was cut into reasonable sized pieces.

 

[dedragon]

I let all of the raw seafood sit in rodi for an hour or so then drain it before I blend it up.

Im just not sure if doing the rinse in rodi vs rodi + salt is better. When i filet fish i caught i rinse them off in ocean water as opposed to freshwater so the fish doesnt get mushy by absorbing the freshwater. It also probably adds extra water weight/volume to the food. Probably doesnt effect storage though but not sure

 

[Fish Fan]

That was why I started blending everything individually so I can control the size of all of it. I even separate the bag of mixed seafood into each type. If I blended it together the scallops would be complete mush before the calamari was cut into reasonable sized pieces.

Again, just the home-cook in me sees this. Different proteins are going to blend at different rates. Best to process each individually, and then mix. Good tip!

I've not tried this for many years, as said, but I do cook a lot at home, and as far as the smell, it should only be *bad* when you're preparing your raw ingredients, and even then it should smell more or less "fresh" like a beach. If your seafood stinks worse than that, throw it out, in my opinion.

A pro tip I absolutely can offer here is to go to your local thrift store or Goodwill store and get yourself your own blender and/or food processor dedicated to fish foods. You will NEVER dig all the particles of fish-smell out of your food processor, and the next time your parent/spouse/significant-other goes to make salad dressing, they are going to be very, very upset with you, unless they are making Caesar salad dressing lol!

 

[Gtinnel]

Im just not sure if doing the rinse in rodi vs rodi + salt is better. When i filet fish i caught i rinse them off in ocean water as opposed to freshwater so the fish doesnt get mushy by absorbing the freshwater. It also probably adds extra water weight/volume to the food. Probably doesnt effect storage though but not sure

I have no idea. Honestly, I just didn’t think about using fresh saltwater. I may try it on my next batch and see if I can tell a difference.