DIY fish food

[sardesign]

trying the fish food thing:

2 lb whole uncooked shrimp
1 head of brocolli
1/2 bag frozen unsalted peas
1/2 bushel fresh spinach
4 packets of unflavored gelatin
50 mL aquatic multi-vitamins
1 banana
2 tbsp pure spirulina powder
2 tsp garlic powder
90 mL pure garlic extract

all mixed in and cooked together and frozen in individual zip lock bags. destroyed my blender... not the metal blades but the hard plastic drive wheel... should have fun arguing with the manufacturer about how their product is a piece of junk

going to try this tomorrow morning after it's nice and frozen and can be ready to be thawed and fed to the fish. lots of clown loaches so i'm hoping they will take to this quickly.

all in all without the expense of the garlic extract, spirulina powder, and multi-vitamins which can be used for a good year or two, it cost me $20 to make 6 flats. assuming that it takes me a month to get through 2 flats, i think $6.70 isn't too bad for cost. currently my store bought food costs me anywhere between $20.00 to $25.00 a month.

the homemade food should be healthier too since i prepared the food myself and am using fairly pure ingredients... we shall see.

 

[RodInCALIFORNIA]

QUESTION "all mixed in and cooked together" HOW DO YOU COOK IT?

 

[coach_z]

QUESTION "all mixed in and cooked together" HOW DO YOU COOK IT?

i agree....more detail would be great!

 

[sardesign]

i agree....more detail would be great!

ok... got most of the tips from other websites like loachesonline.

1) thawed the shrimp in cold water
2) boiled the shrimp for 3 minutes
3) blended (liquefied) shrimp, banana, spinach, peas, broccoli and thew it into a pot on very low heat
4) moved "puree" into glass bowl
5) started a pot with boiling water (about 2 cups)
6) mixed in spirulina powder, garlic powder, aquatic multi-vitamins into bowl
7) dissolved gelatin in boiling water
8) gradually mix in "puree" into pot with gelatin mix and mixed very thoroughly
9) let cool for about 20 minutes
10) spooned out "puree" into ziplock bags (enough so when laid flat, they were 1/2" thick)
11) placed 15 drops of garlic extract into each bag (i made six bags aka 'flats')
12) laid bags flat on baking sheet and placed in freezer.

to use i just cut a piece off and held it under water in the tank to thaw.

did it this morning... fish LOVED it. pending any deaths, the only mistake i made was not using enough gelatin for the amount of food i made. the food stays together fairly well but still breaks apart a bit too easily. you sure don't want to foul the tank water.