Best food there is

[Paul B]

Jay, unfortunately that $10,000 you guys spent on a study is flawed in a hobbiest's tank.
In a public aquarium I would not rinse anything but if I even put three salmon eggs in my 100 gallon tank without first rinsing them well, my 5 gallon skimmer bucket would overflow, twice. There is no way I could feed these things right out of the container. Also whole foods like fish eggs and baby fish would not lose anything if rinsed. That problem would arise if you fed chopped foods like so many people make in blenders. If you chop things like clams, worms, squid and fish, you are going to lose most of the oil soluble vitamins which would be stored in the liver. Forget the water souuble vitamins also.

I personally like to use chopped food but when I do I try not to chop the hell out of it to try to preserve some of the oils.
I have always said, whole foods are the best. Fish eggs are whole and contain a lot of oil, calcium and even water soluble vitamins. Fish eat these eggs whole so none of the nutrients are lost.

By the way Jay, which aquarium are you in. I may have to check the place out sometime.
And Jay, I love the pictures you take.

Have a great day.
Paul

 

[GreshamH]

Curator of fishes @ the Toledo Zoo........

Isn't Google amazing. Returned that in half a second

Paul & Jay, there is a difference with thawing in water and rinsing. I would never thaw in water but I would do a quick rinse.

 

[GreshamH]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15203502#post15203502 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Paul B
They are sold in a food store so I would imagine if there is anything added it could not be too bad as it is edible for humans.
The eggs I buy are labeled "product of the USA.
They are in a plastic container and are fresh. No other ingredients other than Salmon eggs are listed

many seafood items are soaked in a phosphate bath. Not sure about you but I don't find that safe for my aquarium and it's just fine for human consumption. FWIW it may not be on the label as it may fall under the % required to be put on a label *but* that does not mean it's OK for aquarium usage.

 

[Paul B]

that does not mean it's OK for aquarium usage

Grisham that is of course true but I have been feeding these things on and off for just under 40 years, so far, in my tank anyway they seem to be fine. But if you buy something packaged, canned or frozen they may not be suitable. I am fairly sure in the store I get them, they remove them right from the salmon and put them in containers, but I could be wrong.
I know my family has been in the seafood business for as far back as history goes here in the US and in Sicily and we used to just throw the eggs out with the rest of the guts.
I am sure if you can get fish eggs right from the fish, that would be fine but not always possable

 

[GreshamH]

Paul, it's Gresham Ditto on coming from a long line of fish industry folks. Most of my moms side was a commercial fisherman and worked at the family "fish shack" or on the fleet. I myself did some commercial fishing, and currently work for a marine fish feed manufacturer so I take this subject rather seriously I attend aquaculture conferences, read all the AQ mags and speak to numerous people within the industry on a daily basis. My job puts me in touch with all labeling laws for both human and pet feed industries.

I was simply pointing out the fact not all ingredients are required to be listed and you could very well do some damage if you just start tossing seafood in your tank. Your statement

They are sold in a food store so I would imagine if there is anything added it could not be too bad as it is edible for humans.

may be correct at your supplier and may hold true but it is not always the case. I just wanted the readers to be aware of the possible dangers

 

[Paul B]

Gresham, nice to meet another person from a commercial fishing family. My family from those days are all gone now but I did visit the fishing village my Grand Father came from in Sicily.
You are of course correct that some foods would not be aproproate for our fish. It is almost impossable to be sure what they put in stuff we eat and what is in our fish food. My town puts zinc orthophosphate in my town water which killed all of my corals twice.
My statement about if humans eat it, it can't be that bad was refering to formaldehyde and other things they may put in bait.
I try to get fresh fish eggs right from a fish but many people don't live on the sea and can't do that.
Thank you for clearing that up and also for joining the thread.
Have a great day.
Paul

PS this is the first day in a month that it is not supposed to rain. It will be cloudy but no rain. The rain comes back tomorrow for another week. So I get to go collecting

 

[GreshamH]

Wow lots a rain. Wish we had some out here in Cali (with El Nino reportedly in the starts, I won't be wishing for rain this winter)

Zinc orthophosphate sounds like something I would want to filter out before I even drink it. Is that to combat something in your water source in L.I. ?

I just wanted to make sure the readers know I am not saying don't use fresh seafood, just be cautious. Absolutely nothing wrong with it if the source is good

 

[Paul B]

Gresham, they use the zinc here on Long Island to fight corrosion in plumbing. Our water just eats up anything made of brass.
The washers used to come out of their seats because the brass screw would disentigrate. Now they add zinc orthophosphate and it seems to work. It is also supposed to be good for humans but unfortunately not corals. The amount of it is very small but even so, the last two times they added large doses of it, I lost all of my corals as did a large LFS a few blocks from me. They don't use a RO but even though I do, if I am lax on changing the resins on the RO, enough gets through to kill the corals in a few hours.
Now I have resins and a membrane that is supposed to remove the zinc orthophosphate. I even have a final filter on the inlet water on my tank with resins in case my main resins are depleted.
This is why in a 40 year old tank my corals only last ten years. My town always finds a way to kill my corals. Now, hopefully I am prepared.
Yesterday it did not rain, today it is back to monsoons. I want to go to my boat because I got stuck last night with a boat load of my wife's friends, luckily, I have been a boater for most of my life and I brought a battery eliminator to get the thing started.
I need to do some repairs but as usual it is pouring.
But the rain does give us beautiful sunsets. This was last night from my boat over the Bronx.

 

[JHemdal]

Paul,

I think that rinsing fish eggs would not be an issue, all of the nutrients are held inside the chorion. My problem was with Mr. Pike's statement, "Soak seafood in RO water for a while..." *that* would be a problem in regards to washing out certain nutrients...especially since the time wasn't specified.

BTW: just in case I wasn't clear, the nutrition study wasn't just for the aquarium, it was a multi-year study that involved the whole zoo, just in case people thought the price was too high (grin).

Jay

 

[Paul B]

BTW: just in case I wasn't clear, the nutrition study wasn't just for the aquarium, it was a multi-year study that involved the whole zoo, just in case people thought the price was too high (grin).

Oh in that case I would have done it for half the price.
Elephants get peanuts
monkeys get bananas.
zebra's get grass
and lions get Zookeepers.

 

[GreshamH]

:lol: even if it was just for the fish $10,000 isn't that large of a sum for such work.

 

[corbett_n]

I use American shad eggs that are also very high in omega 3. My corals exploded when I started to feed it to them, especially the zoo's.

 

[Paul B]

I use American shad eggs

My kind of eggs, American eggs.

 

[Mathfreak71]

I live in the deep southern Illinois. I have lots of friends and family who fish a lot. They throw thousands of fish eggs away every year. Especially in the spring. So would Crappie or Bass eggs work just as well?

I could get eggs right from the fish. Therefore, they would not have been treated with any chemicals.

 

[MrPike]

I think that rinsing fish eggs would not be an issue, all of the nutrients are held inside the chorion. My problem was with Mr. Pike's statement, "Soak seafood in RO water for a while..." *that* would be a problem in regards to washing out certain nutrients...especially since the time wasn't specified.

Well, I suppose I fear the phosphates more then I like the "certain nutrients".

 

[bsagecko]

Math~

I am no expert but I think the idea is to use fish eggs from the ocean and not freshwater sources.........( I do understand that salmon spawn in freshwater)

 

[Paul B]

So would Crappie or Bass eggs work just as well?

You can use them but you really should use saltwater fish eggs