Frozen Seafood

Vitaly

New member
Are there any cautions, or things to look out for, purchasing frozen seafood from non-fish stores (Meijer, Sams) for use in my tank?

Are the frozen/cleaned/cooked itens (shrimp, squid, crab, etc) that are sold at the stores safe to feed to fish, anemones and other tank inhabitants?

Thanks....
 
Just make sure they are saltwater fish or critters. When I made some I used whitefish, shrimp, and scallops. I quit feeding it as part of the steps to killing off algaes. Tank loved it though.
 
You have to be careful of the packing process. There are some not reef safe preservatives used sometimes at particular times of the year. If your local store has seafood caught in the late winter, early spring, I would not use it. These creatures are subject to heavy metals in their diet and tend to have them in their flesh more than late season critters. They have time to move back into deeper less heavy metal loaded water.

The seafood critters move into shallow waters in the late winter early spring to feast on the nutriant waters created by all the run off of melted snow and rain runoff. These water, as you know, are loaded with heavy metals and toxins that the critters take in as they eat. And never use red meat fish in your tank, these fish have very high levels of heavy metals year round.
 
Wow, before asking for further clarification...let me thank everyone for the thoughtful comments!

<B>hounddog01</B> - I did not know that there a food making meeting. I am sure it would have been informational. But, for clarification, I am not actually thinking about making my own food mix just yet. Just more interested in having different sources of fish food to feed seperately. Does that make sense? I will eventually make my own "slurry."

<B>epon</B> - so are you saying that you were having algae blooms as a consequence of the food that you mixed up? What do you think was the cause...is it merely that the food was "overly" nutrient rich? Did the algae outbreak clear up when you discontinued feeding (I did not see much in your tank recently).

<B>GreenBay1</B> - that is exactly what I was thinking about...preservatives and other chemicals that may be in these foods that are safe for human consumption, but would be deleterious in a reef system. Do you happen to know of any specific chemicals/preservatives to watch out for...that would appear on the label?

<B>redvipe2010</B> - could you clarify regarding "raw" foods? Do you mean to say that I should avoid any frozen foods that are pre-cooked? Is this because they are "less" nutrious from being pre-cooked? For example, I currently feed the anemone [thanks again AndyCook] small pieces of San Fransicso Bay Brand Krill and Formula Two cubes. I was thinking about buying a bag of frozen cleaned shrimp and squid to feed instead. If they are uncooked would this be okay for the anemone?
 
Raw as in "not cooked". I feed frozen foods to anemones all the time. Thawed of course.

Avoid any frozen foods that are pre-cooked. Cooked food is not part of their natural diet. It will also be less nutritious and I'm not sure that they would even be able to digest it properly.
 
I believe it was a combination of factors. The alage was a slow battle to get to clear up. I dont know if it was related but the tank seems happy enoungh with flake and cyclopeeze.
 
Vitaly, I have a ton of whole frozen squid and shrimp in my freezer, I can give you as much as you want. Both are "flash frozen" on the catch boats so they should be preservative free. I've been feeding some of the shrimp to my crabs/ pep. shrimp (is that wrong????) and they love it and are still alive. I've been eating the squid and I'm still alive so take that for whatever it's worth :p
 
Oh yeah..One thing to watch out for with shrimp, especially those bought "fresh" out of the seafood display- The shrimp are often rinsed in a solution (I can't remember the name) that is somewhat similar to bleach to remove the "fishy" smell and extend shelf life. While the solution is FDA approved, again on a reef tank I don't know... For that reason I prefer shrimp frozen on the boat b/c theoretically they have no need to add the chemical dip....
 
All commercial caught food have to be dipped or treated with a chemical to destroy parasites. It is sprayed on while they are being rinsed for packing. I will try to find the name of it for you and post it up here. The way to get around that chemical is to soak your seafood in fresh water (very cold) and it should be fine. The chemical loses its grip on the food when it thaws and the cold soak causes it to drop to the bottom of the container. Sulfur Dioxide is often used as a fumigant to contral the smell in seafood as well. Two examples are the commonly used preservatives butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and sulfites. Sulfites can be used on seafood to help restore its fresh look, adding these to red meats is illegal in the US. BHA and the related compound butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) have been used for years, mostly in foods that are high in fats and oils. They slow the development of off-flavors, odors, and color changes caused by oxidation. Studies have shown that at very high levels in the diets of laboratory animals, BHA could cause tumors in the forestomach of rats, mice and hamsters, and liver tumors in FISH. You might want to avoid foods that have these sulfites in them, sulfur dioxide, sodium sulfite, sodium and potassium bisulfite, sodium and potassium metabisulfite. Hope this helps.

I will try to find the link to the information and post it for you.
 
Well he wanted to know what I was talking about :) I have a ton more info I could give, but I don't want anybodies eyes to get sore from to much reading. I will just post the links when I find them.
 
Thanks

Thanks

What an incredible wealth of information. While I was reading and worrying because I have feed my charges raw frozen Shrimp. My peppermint shrimp will steal it from the anenome. And the Crabs try to steal it from the shrimp. They seem to love it but I hope I am not poisoning them but then I started to reflect and maybe we should be considering what all these additional chemicals are doing to us when we eat them.

Thanks for the links. Great resources. You will never know how many people read and learn from these threads. I think this is one of the best parts of the hobby and community.
 
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