Do it yourself food article

[jnarowe]

I don't see any reason not to. If they eat it already, it should be no problem.

 

[Steven Pro]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11591032#post11591032 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ladyfsu
I have so many tanks at school and very limited budget -- this is the ONLY way we feed our tanks (only way we could afford to). Besides - the guys like to make it and gross out the girls.

I'm really a novice at all this --- to save on money and maybe make it fresher, is it fine to leave out the nori and add the various red and green macros we grow at school (like ulva, gracillarous, dragons tongue or w/e it's called). We grow this stuff like crazy. Is there any sort of macro I should make sure I do NOT add?...also, should we dry the macro first to eliminate some water (therefore absorb more of the excess liquid when it's added to the mixture)?

I don't see anything wrong with using fresh marcoalgae instead of nori. If I had it available to me, that is what I would use. ANd, I would not bother drying it. I would probably steer clear of Caulerpa, though. I have some concern about the Caulerpa because it is so noxious. I probably would not use Chaetomorpha either as most fish won't eat it live. Maybe a texture thing. Seems kind of tough to me.

 

[Steven Pro]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11586618#post11586618 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ArtC
Steven -

Haven't you ever been single? Us single guys all have a blender to make margaritas and a cookie sheet to bake our frozen pizzas on!

When I was single, I was a poor college student and subsisted on cheap beer and ramen noodles.

 

[jnarowe]

I resembled that!

 

[danoreef]

where do I get the Silversides/Smelts? and by the way I love the eggcrate idea

 

[jnarowe]

you can buy smelts and silversides at just about any asian food store.

 

[danoreef]

they are 2 different things? Thank you for your reply.

 

[jnarowe]

at the asian store, they are different things. smelt are much smaller than silversides. I will be using smelt in the batch I am making on Saturday.

 

[spawner]

Steve,

I would be extremely concerned about the levels of lipids in your food. You've seriously over weighted your diet in them. If you feed that diet every day you'd slowly kill your fish from fatty liver. Centropyge and other herbivorous fish would suffer the most from such a high lipid diet.

 

[Steven Pro]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11639642#post11639642 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by spawner
Steve,

I would be extremely concerned about the levels of lipids in your food. You've seriously over weighted your diet in them. If you feed that diet every day you'd slowly kill your fish from fatty liver. Centropyge and other herbivorous fish would suffer the most from such a high lipid diet.

Because of all the Selcon I used? I thought I might be overdoing it in Vita-Chem and Selcon, but I have not seen any problems with the fish. Although, I usually only feed frozen a couple of times a week, even less now that everything has been moved to the greenhouse.

 

[Phyre]

my wife and i made our own frozen food using scallops, oysters shrimp and octopus tentacles. Unfortunately everytime we feed it all floats at the top and no one eats it. Is there a way to weigh it down so it sinks?

 

[jnarowe]

Phyre:

[welcome]

Are you thawing and straining it before you feed? The only thing that comes to mind is that you are trying to feed while it's still frozen.

 

[cmor1701d]

I bought some silicone bakers moulds to put the mixture in. Very easy to remove the frozen cubes. Another trick is to put the cubes into a freezer bag with some baking soda and shake the bag to coat all the cubes. Now they won't stick together in the freezer.

 

[Phyre]

Thanks for the welcome jn, and no we were not straining it, I had not actually heard anyone suggest that until reading your post on page one half an hour ago!! Will give it a try today though! We have fully thawed before feeding however.

 

[jnarowe]

I don't understand why it would float if it was thawed. Was it cooked? I don't see that from your post, but figured I should ask. I have never seen this happen so I am curious as to what is going on.

As far as straining it goes, I did this for an audience of PSAS members last Saturday and they were shocked at the muddy water that I accumulated. It really was a bit disturbing to view in a bucket.

 

[Phyre]

No nothing cooked, everything raw, no preservatives. bought fresh from supermarket seaford counter. we didnt add water or any other liquids, just chopped them in the food processor and smoothed out into a thin layer in a ziplock then froze them.

 

[jnarowe]

Well, I am stumped as to why it would float.

 

[Phyre]

Thats about where we are standing on it lol. im going to give it another shot today ( after straining it lol) Ill let ya know if it still floats.

 

[killagoby]

KISS- Rod's Foods works well...

 

[Phyre]

well just an update, after my last post i broke a chunk of food off and set in in a glass with some tank water, been about 30 mins, everything still floating on the top. Even with a stir they rise back up to the surface. Could it be i chopped everything too fine?