Making my own food...

mrsmuffin · July 25th, 2008

I am planning on trying to make my own food this weekend. Any input would be more than welcome! Here is what I am planning to use so far:

Bag of salad shrimp
Garlic
Flake fish food
Some freeze dried brine shrimp that I find hard to feed because it seems to turn in to a powder when I put it in the water
Yellow squash (that I need to use for something before it ruins, and my pleco loves them, so won't everybody??)
Gelatin (how much? The box came with 4 packets. How much water should I put with it?)
Anything else you think I should add? More veggies? Peas? Lettuce? What?

My plan is to puree everything in the blender and mix together, then pour in to ziplock baggies and freeze flat - thin enough to break off when ready to feed.

Comments? Suggestions?

Devon · July 25th, 2008

I would put some peas in!!

I should start making food for my fishes, too... it has to be way way better for them; but... then my boyfriend will have me committed for sure!!

mrsmuffin · July 25th, 2008

Oh, I am sure that my hubby will think I am crazy...

Devon · July 25th, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrsmuffin

Oh, I am sure that my hubby will think I am crazy...

Well if he gets annoyed, tell him that it's good for his blood pressure. That always gets a great response.

Keep us posted on how the food-making goes... photos would be good! I'm trying to imagine what it will look like... eeew!

angelfish220 · July 25th, 2008

The other night the Family was out so I decided to try to make food. I took frozen peas and shrimp and fresh spinach and ground it all together, added garlic juice and vitachem, then added whole wheat-wheat germ to counteract the extra liquid, and froze it. it works pretty good.

I was thinking, and I know devon you probably know what I mean, would nutritional yeast be good for fish? (I figure you know what nutritional yeast is because of the vegan thread)

Devon · July 25th, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by angelfish220

I was thinking, and I know devon you probably know what I mean, would nutritional yeast be good for fish? (I figure you know what nutritional yeast is because of the vegan thread)

Hmm... I actually have some nutritional yeast left over from some (AMAZING!!) vegan "mac & cheese" I made the other day... just Googled to see if it's good for fishes, I guess it's used in some fry foods, and they even sell it in flake form as a supplement of some kind. I haven't come across anything saying you shouldn't feed it to fish.

So, I dunno... why not!?

angelfish220 · July 25th, 2008

maybe I'll try that in my next batch. I was going to use it in place of the wheat germ but didnt want to end up killing my fish!

That would add some good protieny things too. Hmmmmmm...

Chief_waterchanger · July 25th, 2008

Actually, activated yeast is what we feed to brine shrimp if/when we want adult brine shrimp of a week or two of size for some of the larger-than-baby fish.

The food I made included:

Spinach (half a bag, but the bag was about the size of an 8x11 sheet of paper, I think)
4 oz. Crab meat from a can
2 packets (about the size of a wallet-sized picture) unflavored gelatin
about 8 oz water
a whole frozen fish (tilapia in my case, but next time will use boneless fillets.. the bones that I didn't find to pull out didn't grind well)
1 medium zucchiniabout 30-40 malaysian trumpet snails (shells were for calcium, but the shells didn't grind completely for me.. so I may skip that next time)
about a palm full of duckweed (more plant matter there)
Salad shrimp, about half a bag.. maybe 4 oz?
2 large cloves of garlic that I had leftover (it was roasted, but left unused from a pasta dish, so it got frozen until I used it in this food)

(I think that is everything I put in it.)

I would use spinach rather than lettuce, mainly because lettuce is mostly water, whereas spinach is a healthy dark leafy green.

Slug · July 25th, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chief_waterchanger

Actually, activated yeast is what we feed to brine shrimp if/when we want adult brine shrimp of a week or two of size for some of the larger-than-baby fish.

The food I made included:

Spinach (half a bag, but the bag was about the size of an 8x11 sheet of paper, I think)
4 oz. Crab meat from a can
2 packets (about the size of a wallet-sized picture) unflavored gelatin
about 8 oz water
a whole frozen fish (tilapia in my case, but next time will use boneless fillets.. the bones that I didn't find to pull out didn't grind well)
1 medium zucchiniabout 30-40 malaysian trumpet snails (shells were for calcium, but the shells didn't grind completely for me.. so I may skip that next time)
about a palm full of duckweed (more plant matter there)
Salad shrimp, about half a bag.. maybe 4 oz?
2 large cloves of garlic that I had leftover (it was roasted, but left unused from a pasta dish, so it got frozen until I used it in this food)

(I think that is everything I put in it.)

I would use spinach rather than lettuce, mainly because lettuce is mostly water, whereas spinach is a healthy dark leafy green.

Thanks! The family really enjoyed dinner tonight! Oh wait a second.....

I'm gonna try and make some discus food here soon, probably just going to be a mix of Beefheart, Shrimp, and Spinach. Might put a little NLS in there too.

mrsmuffin · July 25th, 2008

Okay, I just got finished making it. Here is what I put in:

1 lb small cooked shrimp (without shells or tails)
3 tbs minced garlic from a jar
1/2 bag frozen peas
1 yellow squash
1-2 tbs Tetra Min tropical granuals "The Rich Mix"
1/2 .6 oz jar freeze dried brine shrimp
2 packets unflavored gelatin
3/4 - 1 cup water (some used while blending everything up, some used to desolve the gelatin)

I put everything in the blender in small portions and pureed and then mixed together in a large mixing bowl.

I have to say that when I had the peas and squash in the blender, it looked just like baby food. I would say that is a good description of what the finished product looks like too.

I portioned it out in freezer bags and have it flat in the freezer at the moment. I will report back tomorrow and let you know what the fish think!

Slug · July 25th, 2008

Just wondering why you cooked the shrimp? Doesn't all the good stuff leave with cooking?

Looking forward to the results.

mrsmuffin · July 25th, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slug

Just wondering why you cooked the shrimp? Doesn't all the good stuff leave with cooking?

My inspiration for making the food was a bag of pre-cooked shrimp that was in my freezer and needed to be used for something...

Slug · July 25th, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrsmuffin

My inspiration for making the food was a bag of pre-cooked shrimp that was in my freezer and needed to be used for something...

That works!

Similar Aquarium Fish Forum Threads
Thread	Fish Forum
Making my own fish food	Fish Food
making own tanks?	DIY - Do It Yourself
Making decorations	DIY - Do It Yourself
Tanks in the making. (:	Members Fish Tanks
RJ making himself at home	Betta Archive

Fish Forum Thread Tools
Show Printable Version