Homemade Food
- Thread starter Spiffyguy
- Start date
latazyo
New member
is roy's recipe top secret?
I see he's conveniently avoided the topic
can I pretty much blend/chop anything from the fish case together (provided its a sw species?)
I figured I'd blend up some shrimp, clams, calamari (since I have it), and some fish and some flake food and then freeze it...would that be a good idea?
I see he's conveniently avoided the topic
can I pretty much blend/chop anything from the fish case together (provided its a sw species?)
I figured I'd blend up some shrimp, clams, calamari (since I have it), and some fish and some flake food and then freeze it...would that be a good idea?
JxMetal
New member
steak. I just toss in t-bones.
But actually, I just use Rod's Food. I took into account all of the different purchases i'd have to make to get all the ingredients his food has and it wouldn't be economical to even think about making my own food. Plus I'm lazy and I think I'd make a pretty crummy fish food chef.
But actually, I just use Rod's Food. I took into account all of the different purchases i'd have to make to get all the ingredients his food has and it wouldn't be economical to even think about making my own food. Plus I'm lazy and I think I'd make a pretty crummy fish food chef.
Spiffyguy
New member
i looked at a super walmart, found one out in lake st louis. They didn't have any seafood mixes. I will have to put it together I think. Figured some shrimp, scallops and maybe as you said squid, if I can find that. Also some mysis and flakes of various sorts. Little cyclopeez too. Don't have to feed too much. One of my fish just went carpet surfing. The guy in the tank looks so alone. SO much for eggcrate helping too.
DrBDC
Active member
No secret. Just making up a really complicated sounding response so I can go into the custom food bus. 
I just go and pick out anything and everything I find. Crab legs, scallops, oysters, fish, etc. Then I add whatever I have around like flake food, frozen, cyclopeeze, etc to it. Just in case I missed some vitamin/mineral/fatty acid. Then pour it onto cookie sheets with eggrate on it. Then freeze. The eggrate makes it form into nice squares like the formula 1&2 packages.
A tiny amount of each item you find will make a LOT of food. It's hard to make less than 6 months to a year worth at a time.
I just go and pick out anything and everything I find. Crab legs, scallops, oysters, fish, etc. Then I add whatever I have around like flake food, frozen, cyclopeeze, etc to it. Just in case I missed some vitamin/mineral/fatty acid. Then pour it onto cookie sheets with eggrate on it. Then freeze. The eggrate makes it form into nice squares like the formula 1&2 packages.
A tiny amount of each item you find will make a LOT of food. It's hard to make less than 6 months to a year worth at a time.
DrBDC
Active member
Here is a cut/paste from Eric Bornemann:
I have a long series of articles at ReefKeeping.com on feeding corals that I will put on my article page soon.
I will say the following generalities:
1. relatively few rigorous gut analyses of coral species have been done.
2. Stony corals are almost exclusively carnivores, despite some evidence that a few have been noted to either take up or ingest phytoplankton (notably Acropora and Goniopora). However, these may have been later ejected as a pellet or not utilized. To my knowledge, no one has done radioacive tracer studies to label phyoplankton for incorporation into scleractinain biomass. Some lacking tentacle development (Mycetophyllia, Pachyseris) feed by mesenterial extrusion or ciliary action. Some Turbinaria feed using mucus webs. Scleractinian corals also utilize bacteria, dissolved inorganic and organic nutrients, amino acids and particulate material (detritus and psuedoplankton (eggs, etc.) as food sources. Various stony corals have differing prey capture behaviors, with some extremely good at capturing large motile prey items, and others tending towards inactive small prey or particulates. This group includes both small and large polyped corals. The only difference is the size of the food that can be captured, and the small polyped species can and often are more dependent on prey capture than large polyped species, and it simply depends on a species by species basis. There is also significant ability for switching, in that they maximize nutrient acquisition depending on the available resources. Some feed mainly by mucus webs, some by deposition, and some by active prey capture (cnidocysyts).
3. Soft corals appear to be a mixed bag, with most utilzing particulate material, dissolved material, and bacteria as food sources. In general, they lack the type of nematocysts necessary to capture large or motile prey. Older studies suggest they do capture zooplankton, and some might to a degree, but it is probably not the most important food source for them. The early studies also failed to watch the prey long enough, and some were able to evade, escape from or actually swim out of the guts of octocorals once captured. Some soft corals (i.e Clavularia, Briareum, probably all xeniids) lack sufficient development of cnidocytes and mesenteries to have any significant prey capture response. Phytoplankton has been shown as a food source for some soft corals, though the degree to which it is a food for all is currently unknown.
4. Zoanthids can be among the most nearly autotrophic cnidarians. Some, however, are highlyheterotrophic and capture prey effectively. They feed similarly to stony corals with the exception of some (like Z. sociatus) which may feed very little on zooplankton, but depend more on other sources.
5. Corallimorphs are similar in their variation. One, A, fenestrafer, captures fish. Others show almost no prey capture response at all and likely feed mainly on particulates and bacteria swept to the mouth by ciliary action. Trumpeting and purse-string closure are both behaviors indicating a feeding response by funneling food towards the mouth. They do, however, have the largest spirocysts of all corals, and this would indicate a prey response.
Some corals feed by day and some by night, and some around the clock. I feed the fish during the day, and the food mix has a lot of coral food in it, as well. I also feed them at night, and this mix is usually largely particles too small for fish, with enough that nocturnal fish like some cardinals, get a natural timing for feeding, too. My night mix is mostly oyster eggs and cyclop-eeze.
I rarely target feed, but will turn off the skimmer during feeding, especially the very small (and expensive) foods. Some corals should be target fed...Tubastraea, for example. Large polyped corals do not necessarily benefit from big chunky foods. Just because they can swallow them does not mean its a good thing. Larger foods take more time and energy to digest, so large polyped corals might be better off exerting less energy with smaller food sources. Small polyped corals need very small food.
As to the question of feeding vs. culturing or production in the tank, live foods are always ideal as they do not degrade in the water...they are livestock, so to speak, and culturing areas where there are lots of polychaetes, mysids, amphipods, etc is a great idea - by batch culture, continuous culture or through refugia. While they may not directly feed the corals (they avoid them pretty well), their gametes and larvae do. Small polyped species tend to feed on things that are at or below the level of visual perception, so if its big enough to see, its probably too big for the smallest polyped species. Hence why blenderizing the food produces a lot of really small particles.
Now, here is an updated version of my coral food recipe that has been posted about everywhere on the planet by now.
Eric's "famous" coral food recipe
I rarely have or use all of the ingredients listed, and I don't think it will make a difference over the long term. I also use this, or a variation of it, for my homemade fish food (I leave the fish food chunkier and add various algae). Basically, I either use what is left over from the last round of food-making, or I go to a few stores and get whatever they might have at the time. I feed this to the tank day and at night, generally, and would add that for some of the ingredients, I have no idea if they have any specific role. Its just what I have done before. I have also changed a bit with some other foods now available (since I have written this last time)
I try to get a mix of particle sizes involved to accomodate not just all sizes of polyps, but also feed other inverts that filter feed.
Fresh seafood:
Some combination of the ingredients below and it makes up a relatively small percent of the total - maybe 10-20%?
shrimp (I squeeze the heads and usually use some of the "meat" in the fish food)
oysters - blend well (may have Vibriostatic properties)
various other shellfish (mussels, clams, periwinkles, etc. - the bloodier, the better...live is great (shucking is a pain but gives a good final product)
Fish roe (sometimes available at Asian markets as fresh)
Frozen foods
This makes up perhaps 20-30% of the mix - some are from an aquarium store, some from the grocer, some can be cultured
Artemia - adult
Artemia nauplii (baby brine shrimp) (enriched, if possible)
Mysid shrimp
Sea urchin roe
Flying fish roe
Rotifers
DT's oyster eggs - this is a new additions and one of my very favorite coral foods. Particle size and nutrition is excellent.
Dried Aquarium Foods
this makes up the majority of my mix - probably 40%
Golden Pearls - all sizes available, but a majority of the smallest size
Cyclop-Eeze
VibraGro
Powdered marine flake
Phytoplankton - doesn't need to be alive since the mix is frozen, but make sure it is high quality. I don't expect it does much, but just in case some of the species utilize it, great. If not, the zooplankton and other filter feeders wiil -makes up maybe 2% of mix or less?
Supplements
makes up maybe 2-5% of mix?
Super Selco ( a big squeeze)
Sea Green Vitamin supplements - various brands, powdered, from Whole Foods market
I have also been known to add Echinacea capsules, the skins of colorful vegetables and fruits, various pigment complexes of carotenoids, etc. and/or antioxidants from Whole Foods market. I am also now adding SeaVive, a beta glucan/vitamin C and protein complex (all natural) into my fish foods, which due to its powdered form, also will potentially be a coral food.
In terms of preparation, I puree the solid seaoods, mix in the frozen thawed ingredients, soak the dry/powdered ingredients in the wet ingredients, combine them all together and let them sit for a few hours, and then freeze them into small flats in ziplocs in the freezer. I usually wind up with about 50.00 in foods per batch and make about a gallon or so of food that lasts a couple or more months.
If I have live cultures going, I add them when its time. I have no qualms about making the tank absolutely cloudy with food, though do not feed this heavily all the time. I try to feed every night, but miss some nights. Some nights I give them the holy grail and just pour in food so it resides for at least an hour, and then skim the rest out.
I have a long series of articles at ReefKeeping.com on feeding corals that I will put on my article page soon.
I will say the following generalities:
1. relatively few rigorous gut analyses of coral species have been done.
2. Stony corals are almost exclusively carnivores, despite some evidence that a few have been noted to either take up or ingest phytoplankton (notably Acropora and Goniopora). However, these may have been later ejected as a pellet or not utilized. To my knowledge, no one has done radioacive tracer studies to label phyoplankton for incorporation into scleractinain biomass. Some lacking tentacle development (Mycetophyllia, Pachyseris) feed by mesenterial extrusion or ciliary action. Some Turbinaria feed using mucus webs. Scleractinian corals also utilize bacteria, dissolved inorganic and organic nutrients, amino acids and particulate material (detritus and psuedoplankton (eggs, etc.) as food sources. Various stony corals have differing prey capture behaviors, with some extremely good at capturing large motile prey items, and others tending towards inactive small prey or particulates. This group includes both small and large polyped corals. The only difference is the size of the food that can be captured, and the small polyped species can and often are more dependent on prey capture than large polyped species, and it simply depends on a species by species basis. There is also significant ability for switching, in that they maximize nutrient acquisition depending on the available resources. Some feed mainly by mucus webs, some by deposition, and some by active prey capture (cnidocysyts).
3. Soft corals appear to be a mixed bag, with most utilzing particulate material, dissolved material, and bacteria as food sources. In general, they lack the type of nematocysts necessary to capture large or motile prey. Older studies suggest they do capture zooplankton, and some might to a degree, but it is probably not the most important food source for them. The early studies also failed to watch the prey long enough, and some were able to evade, escape from or actually swim out of the guts of octocorals once captured. Some soft corals (i.e Clavularia, Briareum, probably all xeniids) lack sufficient development of cnidocytes and mesenteries to have any significant prey capture response. Phytoplankton has been shown as a food source for some soft corals, though the degree to which it is a food for all is currently unknown.
4. Zoanthids can be among the most nearly autotrophic cnidarians. Some, however, are highlyheterotrophic and capture prey effectively. They feed similarly to stony corals with the exception of some (like Z. sociatus) which may feed very little on zooplankton, but depend more on other sources.
5. Corallimorphs are similar in their variation. One, A, fenestrafer, captures fish. Others show almost no prey capture response at all and likely feed mainly on particulates and bacteria swept to the mouth by ciliary action. Trumpeting and purse-string closure are both behaviors indicating a feeding response by funneling food towards the mouth. They do, however, have the largest spirocysts of all corals, and this would indicate a prey response.
Some corals feed by day and some by night, and some around the clock. I feed the fish during the day, and the food mix has a lot of coral food in it, as well. I also feed them at night, and this mix is usually largely particles too small for fish, with enough that nocturnal fish like some cardinals, get a natural timing for feeding, too. My night mix is mostly oyster eggs and cyclop-eeze.
I rarely target feed, but will turn off the skimmer during feeding, especially the very small (and expensive) foods. Some corals should be target fed...Tubastraea, for example. Large polyped corals do not necessarily benefit from big chunky foods. Just because they can swallow them does not mean its a good thing. Larger foods take more time and energy to digest, so large polyped corals might be better off exerting less energy with smaller food sources. Small polyped corals need very small food.
As to the question of feeding vs. culturing or production in the tank, live foods are always ideal as they do not degrade in the water...they are livestock, so to speak, and culturing areas where there are lots of polychaetes, mysids, amphipods, etc is a great idea - by batch culture, continuous culture or through refugia. While they may not directly feed the corals (they avoid them pretty well), their gametes and larvae do. Small polyped species tend to feed on things that are at or below the level of visual perception, so if its big enough to see, its probably too big for the smallest polyped species. Hence why blenderizing the food produces a lot of really small particles.
Now, here is an updated version of my coral food recipe that has been posted about everywhere on the planet by now.
Eric's "famous" coral food recipe
I rarely have or use all of the ingredients listed, and I don't think it will make a difference over the long term. I also use this, or a variation of it, for my homemade fish food (I leave the fish food chunkier and add various algae). Basically, I either use what is left over from the last round of food-making, or I go to a few stores and get whatever they might have at the time. I feed this to the tank day and at night, generally, and would add that for some of the ingredients, I have no idea if they have any specific role. Its just what I have done before. I have also changed a bit with some other foods now available (since I have written this last time)
I try to get a mix of particle sizes involved to accomodate not just all sizes of polyps, but also feed other inverts that filter feed.
Fresh seafood:
Some combination of the ingredients below and it makes up a relatively small percent of the total - maybe 10-20%?
shrimp (I squeeze the heads and usually use some of the "meat" in the fish food)
oysters - blend well (may have Vibriostatic properties)
various other shellfish (mussels, clams, periwinkles, etc. - the bloodier, the better...live is great (shucking is a pain but gives a good final product)
Fish roe (sometimes available at Asian markets as fresh)
Frozen foods
This makes up perhaps 20-30% of the mix - some are from an aquarium store, some from the grocer, some can be cultured
Artemia - adult
Artemia nauplii (baby brine shrimp) (enriched, if possible)
Mysid shrimp
Sea urchin roe
Flying fish roe
Rotifers
DT's oyster eggs - this is a new additions and one of my very favorite coral foods. Particle size and nutrition is excellent.
Dried Aquarium Foods
this makes up the majority of my mix - probably 40%
Golden Pearls - all sizes available, but a majority of the smallest size
Cyclop-Eeze
VibraGro
Powdered marine flake
Phytoplankton - doesn't need to be alive since the mix is frozen, but make sure it is high quality. I don't expect it does much, but just in case some of the species utilize it, great. If not, the zooplankton and other filter feeders wiil -makes up maybe 2% of mix or less?
Supplements
makes up maybe 2-5% of mix?
Super Selco ( a big squeeze)
Sea Green Vitamin supplements - various brands, powdered, from Whole Foods market
I have also been known to add Echinacea capsules, the skins of colorful vegetables and fruits, various pigment complexes of carotenoids, etc. and/or antioxidants from Whole Foods market. I am also now adding SeaVive, a beta glucan/vitamin C and protein complex (all natural) into my fish foods, which due to its powdered form, also will potentially be a coral food.
In terms of preparation, I puree the solid seaoods, mix in the frozen thawed ingredients, soak the dry/powdered ingredients in the wet ingredients, combine them all together and let them sit for a few hours, and then freeze them into small flats in ziplocs in the freezer. I usually wind up with about 50.00 in foods per batch and make about a gallon or so of food that lasts a couple or more months.
If I have live cultures going, I add them when its time. I have no qualms about making the tank absolutely cloudy with food, though do not feed this heavily all the time. I try to feed every night, but miss some nights. Some nights I give them the holy grail and just pour in food so it resides for at least an hour, and then skim the rest out.
Similar threads
