Feeding fish roe?

[corbett_n]

I have access to a lot of fresh fish roe, and was wondering if there is anything I should worry about when feeding this roe to my reef. I don't know if it matters but I am using American Shad roe. It seems like to me that this would be the best source of nutrition you could feed a reef and the fish in it. Would I need a variety of frozen food if I am using roe?

 

[corbett_n]

anybody?

 

[corbett_n]

I just read that the eggs maybe to fatty to feed often, is this true?

 

[nebraskareef]

Dude, you are a marine biologist! Tell us!!

In all honestly, I wouldn't add too much - if you've got fish, I wouldn't add any. I imagine it's going to be like adding straight p04 - but I have no evidence to back that up.

 

[DSMpunk]

Ive fed flying fish roe to my fish and they go bonkers over the stuff. I only fed it occasionally, like once a week or so. I noticed the corals seemed to respond well to it also.

Just a fair warning, roe goes rancid quickly even in the freezer it seems. But it you have access to a ton of it, I suppose it would matter all that much.

 

[corbett_n]

Me being a marine biologist doesn't have anything to do with my experiences feeding roe to my aquarium. People have really skewed view of a what we do.

 

[Chihuahua6]

Being they spend most of their time in saltwater I think the roe of this fish would be a healthy addition to your fishes' diet.

While I am not sure about the fat content I do believe in variety when it comes to my fishes' diet. I don't feed any one thing exclusively and I constantly rotate the different types of seafood that I give them.

I always freeze the fresh fish I buy before I feed them to help kill off bacteria and other possible contaminants.

Where do you get this roe if you don't mind me asking? If I had a source of fresh roe I would definitley use it. I make fresh seafood mash in the food processor for my fish every week.

 

[corbett_n]

The project I work on collects American Shad (which the roe is a delicacy). I can also get dolphin and just about any other kind of roe. Shad eggs are bigger than flying fish roe. My ricordia loves them.

 

[southbound2008]

Living on the coast and getting shrimp a couple of hours from coming off the net,and from cleaning fresh fish , I will use fresh roe once or twice a week this time of year.

I've never had any problems with fresh roe. Mix any roe available together and freeze in saltwater taken from your tank ,it will be fine in my experience for 5-6 mo.
Freeze and seal small batches that will be used in a week or two .
You can supplement before freezing if you want or need to.

I would not use any of the shad [menhaden /pogies/greenies/ green backs or any other applicable local name ] meat . As you probably already know ,as it is very oily . [ great bait ]

 

[corbett_n]

so are you saying I shouldn't use shad flesh or shad roe because it is too oily?

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

I feed roe to my fish about once a week (as often as I feed any other particular food), I bought it at an asian grocery. I used it fresh until the use-by date, and I've ben using it from the freezer ever since. It's the little orange balls you see on california rolls, maybe a bit larger. It said on the package "sweetfish roe."

 

[snorvich]

I also feed it. My fish love it as does my LPS corals. Best not to feed too frequently but mine does well in the freezer. I feed various food multiple times per day with a small amount of fish roe as one of the four feedings.

 

[Rumplestilsken]

I feed Rod's fish roe. It drives the fish nuts (even my sand sifter eats it) and I target feed it to the corals. I would be interested in hearing how a food can be too fatty for occasional feeding.

 

[corbett_n]

The best part about the shad roe is that it is sinks, I have used other fish roe that floats and that didn't work well for obvious reasons to feed corals

 

[noahm]

I would not hesitate to use it once or twice a week. I think the tendency would be to add too much as everything loves it, so more often might become a problem. On a side note, I would not feed anything from farmed fish unless you knew the exact diet they were being fed.

 

[goodtimes2]

Once in a while we have lobsters, and the green roe I occasionally get from the lobster I feed to my LPS. I rinse the roe in salt water to release the eggs from the skien and feed the eggs to my LPS corals. They love the stuff and the eggs are a bit sticky so they attach to the coral well.

 

[scubasteve06]

I think the only thing that most of the posters are worried about when they are saying not to use it or to use it sparingly is because it is so fatty and oily you could be adding a lot of phosphate or nitrate directly into your aquarium. I'd think if you have adequate or good surface skimming, flow, and a good protein skimmer on your system then feeding them roe once I week shouldn't pose any problems.

 

[Stuart60611]

Any suggestions on larger fish roe which would be good to feed larger fish like a tusk, dogface puffer, and medium sized trigger?

 

[corbett_n]

You could just feed them the roe still in the gonadal sacs, so it wouldn't matter the size of the roe.

 

[Stuart60611]

You could just feed them the roe still in the gonadal sacs, so it wouldn't matter the size of the roe.

Any idea where I could find such roe to purchase?