DIY fish food

[Dr.Fishy]

I am doing an SAE project for animal companions and chose to change it. I was before going to breed fish but in a turn of events and lots of new fish I wasn't planning, I've instead decided to make my own fish food. Could you possibly give me some pointers on fish nutrition and what are the best things to add? I am going to make a carnivore, omnivore, herbivore, and mixture as close to commercial fish food as possible. I know fish food has lots of vitamins and gives the fish a complete diet but the food I feed my fish from Tetra includes ground up fish, flour, gluten, vitamins, and preservatives. I this really good for fish? Any ideas, info, stories, lessons, etc would be great, I have a lot to learn about fish nutrition.
Here is the list of ideas I have to far.
Veggie mix
Zucchini
shelled peas
cucumber
romaine lettuce
carrots

Meat mix
freeze-dried beef heart
freeze dried tubifex worms
tuna
clam
pink salmon

Food closest to commercial fish food
full ground up fish
sweet potato
cooked rice
flour
cooked oats
ground up pellets

 

[Rbishop]

That is a noble idea and a fair amount of work. Take at look at Kens' or Repashy food line to see their mixes.

 

[OrionGirl]

Fish foods vary widely. Some are basic, some go the extra mile to replicate more natural food sources. I'm not sure why you think any of the foods really are nutritionally complete--there are more laws that cover the packaging/labeling requirements for animal feeds than content and nutrition.

In terms of what's needed...fresh fruit, vegetable and meats are all good, but commercial preparation requires use of preservatives. For small scale, it's usually enough to mince them into bite sized pieces and feed only what gets eaten.

Live foods are another option, and can be readily cultured.

Search on beef heart fish food. Lots of examples.

 

[fishorama]

I used to make foods for my discus grow out fry. Seafood was clams, shrimp, scallops, some vitamins, spinach, sometimes cooked carrot & turmeric. No real recipe, just grind it all up in a food processor. I sometimes used fresh fish too if it looked good in both versions.

I did a beefheart version too. It was quite gross to "devein" the heart, but the fish (who were raised on similar) loved it. Banana & raw shrimp are pretty good binders, I did not use grains of any kind in either

I would NOT feed tubifex in any form. They live in polluted yucky water & may harbor disease. Freeze dried foods of any kind are lesser IMO. Frozen foods I added on occasion included bloodworms, cyclops, etc.