Raw fish food

[ThisCityIsDead]

Hey guys, what type of fish do you feed your fish?

I've heard many on here saying they purchase their raw fish food from the grocery store. Well, my question is what fish? Like carp?

Also, how much and do you guys just drop it in the tank or target feed..?

 

[cloak]

As long as the fish is clean, I don't think it really matters which type it is. Just make sure to chop it up into bite size portions. Two millimeters would be a good starting point IMO. Some of fish will eat it, some might not. This is just how it goes. If the food happens to hit the bottom and nothing seems to be eating it, get it out if you can. Overfeeding can be a big problem in a reef tank. GL

 

[ThisCityIsDead]

I also purchase some frozen cubes. Variety pack. So, hopefully they can eat this

 

[Crooked Reef]

Shrimp, mussels and clams are always good. I personally wouldn't use carp but only because it is a freshwater fish and a bottom feeder. You never know what contaminants it may have ingested in its lifetime that has built up in its flesh. May not matter at all but i prefer to feed saltwater to saltwater.

 

[shesacharmer]

I get crumbled up chowder fish...it's basically broken pieces of saltwater fish that can't be sold otherwise so it's cheap. I also get some chopped clams, mussels, scallops, squid, shrimp, whatever is fresh and I run it through my mini food processor with some flakes and pellets and some garlic extreme. Then I put it into mini ice cube trays until frozen and then transfer it to tupperware like containers until I use a piece at a time. I generally hold the frozen piece in front of a running powerhead and it flows throughout the tank feeding fish and corals alike.

 

[ThisCityIsDead]

So for the cubes, are the suppose to be cut in to tiny pieces and then fed like fish flakes and pellets? Or, are they just dropped into the tank like the vacation food people use when they go on vacation?

 

[shesacharmer]

If it's frozen just hold it in front of your powerhead and let it thaw. It will distribute itself.

 

[cloak]

If you have a lot of fish in the tank, and they'll make short work of that cube right quick, you can just drop it in the tank. If not, defrosting it in a cup of water and then feeding small portions at a time with a spoon is a much safer option IMO. You don't necessarily have to feed all of it either. Keeping defrosted food in the fridge for a couple days has never been a problem for me. GL.

 

[randybrinkman]

I have seen a big difference in my fish colloration and health since I started feeding homemade food. I feed clams, shrimp, and squid that I chop in the food processor and freeze. I also feed algae from the refugium daily for the tangs.

 

[E46Twist]

I have a good recipe for what is called "blender mush" lol. Everything in the tank gets excited when I put in and it feeds everything, even corals. I still put nori on a clip for my Foxface and soon to be PBT but I soak kit in a little of the food. I made a gallon zip lock bags worth a while back and still have it. Let me know if youd like some ideas on what I use and what others use. It has made getting fish to eat very easy and nothing is worse than waiting for a very expensive new fish to eat for the first time lol.

 

[EvanderDive]

Are shrimp ok to feed fish with?

 

[kmbyrnes]

If you mean cocktail shrimp from the grocery, they are fine. Just be sure to get raw and not cooked. My entire tank loves shrimp and scallops.

 

[ThisCityIsDead]

I have a good recipe for what is called "blender mush" lol. Everything in the tank gets excited when I put in and it feeds everything, even corals. I still put nori on a clip for my Foxface and soon to be PBT but I soak kit in a little of the food. I made a gallon zip lock bags worth a while back and still have it. Let me know if youd like some ideas on what I use and what others use. It has made getting fish to eat very easy and nothing is worse than waiting for a very expensive new fish to eat for the first time lol.

Yes please. Share your recipe with us!

 

[Bryopsis]

I was at our local grocery over the weekend this is what I got for about 10-15$
few shrimp
few clams
few tilapia
big chunk of squid
few mussels

I hand chopped it up so you don't create a soup like you get with a blender... Puffer eats it just fine, clowns prefer smaller pieces, but overall I have probably 40-50 days worth of feedings. (from 10-15$)
Helps to be ocean stuff, try to get stuff that doesn't say 'previously frozen'.
Mix in a few drops of selcon or vitachem and you're good to go...

 

[E46Twist]

Keep in mind I have made this food to feed everything in my tank so check on your inhabitants diets to make sure your not feeding something that won't be eaten.

I go to hyvee and get varied end of the day day sea food cuts, I always make sure to get shrimp. I will only buy fresh or non additive frozen pieces of fish, clam, shrimp, and squid even crab sometimes.

I then go get fresh baby spinach but will settle for other similar greens, I dont use much since it is not natural to sea diet. I also go get super market nori, but make sure seaweed is the only ingredient.

Next stop is the vitamins, pick up some (I'm going to spell this wrong) spurlina(blue green algae.)

Also pick up some whole garlic.

Now your back at home. Peel one clove of garlic and boil it lightly. Add the garlic and then open up a good number of the blue green algae capsules and pour the contents in. For my tank I add equal parts veggie to seafood to the blender, about half nori and half spinach. I have not cooked any of this BTW. Next go grab some of your favorite dry foods and add a quarter cups worth or so. Also now that I have macro algae growing I'll add some of that but not much. Add a little rodi water and puree

Then I pour this into good sealing zip locks and freeze. When I feed i take out a weeks portion add it to a container with some rodi, cyclopeze, and a cube of brine or mysis shrimp and mix well. When I feed I will just suck about 5 ml up into my dropper and slowly release it into my tank in three squirts. I wait about 5 minutes before the second squirt to alert everybody. Everything goes crazy! A couple of times a week I do the first squirt and then shut the pumps off and target feed some corals. I also will soak nori sheets in it that put on a clip to let the bigger fish eat throughout the day.

Forgot to mention that I freeze the spinach for 24 hour previous to kill any bacteria and make it easier to process.

 

[cloak]

http://www.melevsreef.com/node/1616

Be careful with recipes like this, they can be kind of messy sometimes...

 

[E46Twist]

Good point, but then all food can be messy if you feed carelessly. Benefits of a high flow BB tank is no settling food on the sand

 

[ShannyG]

For $7 at the grocery store today I bought something called Sea Quest seafood medley. Octopus, cuttlefish, squid, shrimp, clams and mussels all in the same bag. I thawed maybe 1/10th of the bag with some water, added a couple big pinches of flake food (my fish won't eat flake food - whhhhyyyy?) and zapped it in the Magic Bullet I haven't used since my daughter was a baby. Put the goo in a Ziploc and laid it flat in the freezer so it freezes in a sheet. I can break pieces off as I need it. If it works and everyone likes it I just reduced my feeding costs by about 700%.
Nori was a good idea, I may add that next time. Maybe a tiny cube or two of salmon.

 

[wcarterh]

May want to watch with these diets. One issue is size, which you CAN make smaller with a blender, but you have a ton of leftovers. Aka phosphates. Easiest way I've found is to buy the frozen cubes, different sized items for different sized fish (IE pe mysis, blood worms, cyclopeze). You can then rinse the food. Tank water. I filter out the food after about an hour by using a basic fresh water fish net. You'd be amazed at the amount of phosphates left over.

 

[ThisCityIsDead]

I'll have to try the blender mix. I don't know where I can find vitamins though;/.