DIY Food Question

[Devilish]

I was looking over some recipes for DIY food and they suggest using the pre-prepared frozen mix of seafood among other ingredients. At my local supermarket they do carry this but while reading the ingredients Imitation Crab Meat was one. Is this still acceptable for use, or should I keep looking for 100% real stuff. Thanx in advance.

[blissskr]

Personally I wouldnt use anything with imitation crab meat.

[LiveMermaid07]

Personally I wouldnt use anything with imitation crab meat.


why not?
it's just fish and sometimes a little crab (usually. at least the stuff I eat is.)

[Amphiprion]

It has been cooked and processed, which makes it much, much less useful for our applications. Raw or frozen fresh foods are much more preferred.

[Jstdv8]

I bought fresh, never cooked, ocean caught, squid, scallops, shrimp, and cod,
Layed it all out on the cutting baord and cut it into small chunks, added in some nori sheets and a couple of cloves of garlic and stuck it in the Vita-Mix and stired it around until it looked chunky but none of the pieces were very big at all, which took some time to get to.
Layed it all out on a cookie sheet and smoothed it out until it was about 1/2" deep and put it in the freezer until it got a little hard. Then I cut it up into 1/2" chunks and put it in a gallon freezer ziplock. Filled up the whole ziplock.
My fish go absolutley crazy for it. Every fish in my tank eats it including the yellow tang, mandarin, sixline wrasse and clown fish.

[redfishblewfish]

First off, there should be no problem with imitation crab…it’s just some white fish that they substitute for crab. It’s not like it’s some cardboard substitute. I’m also in agreement with others that stated it should be non-cooked. I actually use a frozen seafood medley (actually Sea Port’s, Marinara Mix) from the Asian market, and blend the crap out of it. My meat eating fish love it. You could also try Eric Borneman's fish food recipe. The one problem with his recipe is that, for the single hobbyist, it makes enough to last you a lifetime. Our local club actually does this as a “Group Buy,” where about a dozen or so members get together and mix this stuff up and then split it. They do this about once a year. Your fish will love this stuff.

ERIC BORNEMAN’S RECIPE

Ingredients

a whole fresh sea fish
10 whole shrimp - I squeeze the heads
1 pound fresh mussels - cracked and scraped out
1 pound fresh clams including clam juice
1 8 oz container fresh oysters
1-2 fresh or frozen squid, whole
1 package frozen sea urchin cubes
1 12 oz package artemia (brine shrimp, frozen), thawed
6 types of dried seaweed Nori, Wakame, Hijiki, Dulse, Ano, etc.) - available at Whole Foods market, health food stores, Asian markets.
about 2 g. powdered sea greens/antioxidants or immune boost complex
2 tbsp. marine flake
2 tbsp. VibraGro
2 tbsp. powdered spirulina
1 tbsp Super Selco

Method

Blend coarse ingredients in food processor
Mix in fine ingredients (Artemia, powders, flake, Selco)
Freeze in flats

[Amphiprion]

Imitation crab meat is already pre-cooked and processed, which is why I would avoid it. That isn't counting the artificial colorants, etc. added. It won't have the same nutritional value that its individual raw ingredients had. I would just pick it out of the mix.

[Jstdv8]

I've heard about this selco, what is it and where do you get it?

[Amphiprion]

Should be Selcon: http://www.marinedepot.com/additives_american_marine-ap.html

[Jstdv8]

figures it would have to be something bought online and not at my fish store.

[Ace25]

Vita-Chem (http://www.marinedepot.com/Boyd_Vitachem_4_oz._Fish_Vitamin_Additives_Supplem ents-Boyd_Enterprises-BE1131-FIADTESF-vi.html) may be easier to find at a LFS than Selcon. Same stuff basically.

[Amphiprion]

If you can't track anything down, I wouldn't worry too terribly much. While it certainly helps, I wouldn't consider such a vitamin mix to be an absolute necessity--good, fresh foods and variety are, however.

[Jstdv8]

my fish go crazy for teh food I made. It's almost time for another batch, I gave a bunch to my brother and dad to try.
Think there would be any harm in using these saltwater ground up species for freshwater feeding?
The reason I ask is my brother has 2 big oscars. he started feeding my food to them and 2-3 days later his tank was all cloudy. Now I attribute this to two things, my food, and/or he is terrible at tank maintenance (like none at all) and maybe it was just a coincedence.