Fish food

[CalebLS]

So I want to make some fish food, this is for small omnivores in my tank. I've been researching and such but was wondering if anyone had a recipe? If no one does I'm thinking of using things like: peas, spinach, zucchini, paprika**, prawns, carrots. I would also add pipis and cockles but can you feed these and are they safe? 

**Your probably wondering why I will use this, it is because I read that it is a very good natural source of colour for fish, so I thought by feeding it to my neons and cardinals they would develop a nicer colour! Also, do mollies change colour? I have some Dalmatians and want to keep them Dalmatian!

[Caryl]

With all the specialised fish foods available today, complete with all the right vitamins and nutrients, it is easy to forget that fish love fresh food too. Many fish in the wild eat fruit and other stuff that falls into the water, and all fish appreciate a change in diet occasionally, so why not try fruit and vegetables? Your fish, especially the vegetarians, will love you for it.
It is important to remember, in this age of sprays and toxins, to wash the food thoroughly before putting it in the aquarium. In some cases it also pays to peel it as well. Weigh leaves or sliced rings down with plant weights, rocks, or push onto a suction cup on the side of the tank. I thread mine onto a plastic knitting needle weighted with a sinker. Some leave the food to float. See what your fishes prefer. Remove any uneaten bits before they foul the tank.
Try the following and let us know which of your fish liked it;
Asparagus; Raw.
Bananas; I know oscars love banana chunks. Very messy though so be careful not to overfeed.
Beans (green and broad); Raw
Broccoli; Raw. Drop in florets.
Cabbage & Chinese greens: Raw or blanched (dropped in boiling water). Put in whole leaf. Cabbage is preferred more by bigger fish like silver dollars, Malawis and plecs as it is too fibrous for smaller fish to digest fully.
Capsicums; Raw
Carrot; Raw and peeled. Slice into rings
Corn cob; Raw. Drop in a whole or half cob. Loved by fish but very messy.
Cucumber, zucchini, courgette; Raw. Slice into 2cm wide rings. Ancistrus and catfish love it. Remove the peel when the fish have eaten the rest (from the inside out). If you cook it for a few minutes and freeze it, it will sink when you add it to the tank.
Kiwifruit; Sliced. Not so popular.
Lettuce; Raw or blanched. Add as whole leaf.
Mushrooms; Raw
Peas; A good laxative for fish. Save a few cooked peas from your meal and squeeze gently to pop the pea out of the outer shell (too tough to digest) then just drop them in the aquarium. Most fish like peas, as do apple snails. Can also be fed raw.
Potato, kumara, yam; Raw and peeled, cut into chunks. Be careful not to use any green potato. Can use cooked but it tends to make a mess.
Rice; Cooked. Kuhli loaches and corys love it. Drop in as a small ball.
Spinach; Raw

I am told gold severums don’t like oranges 

[Caryl]

AquaCon's Homemade Fish Food Recipe

Start with ANY greens, fruits and vegetables you can find. An example would include, but not be limited to: carrots, broccoli, yams, oranges, apples, Romaine lettuce, etc.
Put all the above in a blender or food processor.
Slowly add shrimp, crab legs (both with shells), and/or smelt. Do not use any fish that would contain high levels of oils, like herring or mackerel.
Blend mixture as fine as possible.
Add liquid vitamins or crushed tablets. You can also add Selco or Selcon. The mixture should have the consistency of mud. Add some liquid to thin it up if it appears too thick. Carrot or sweet potato juice works well for this purpose as it is high in vitamin content. You can also use clam juice or water.
Next: Boil 100-150ml of water and add the same amount of unflavored gelatin. Mix the gelatin and vegetable mixture together. Pour the resulting mixture into a rectangle pan and allow to cool.
You can place the mixture in the freezer but be sure to score the mixture before it is completely hardened to make it easier to separate later.

After the mixture is frozen you can separate the pieces and place them in freezer bags for use as needed. 

[Caryl]

PS. Your dalmations should stay dalmations.

[CalebLS]

So I have previously feed my fish these foods, and they peck at it but mainly the bn eats it. These foods include

Courgettes, which he chomps

Capsicum 

Cucumber

lettuce

peas

carrot

brocoli

and asparagus

all of these he loves! While the other fish don't tend to eat so much but they still try and eat it. I think his faves are zucchini asparagus and capsicum !!

[Ira]

I occasionally give mine courgettes, spinach and chicken.  They seem to love chicken.

[camtang]

Add a bit of garlic to your mix, garlic is just as good for fish as it is for humans from my understanding.

[Ira]

Don't do that.  Would YOU want to be stuck in a 2'X4' box with a bunch of other people with garlic breath?  How cruel are you?

[camtang]

Gold lol

[alexyay]

I personally just made a batch (except the darn stuff floats, when it's mostly intended for the bottom dwellers lol) - I used:

 

- Prawn

- Broccoli

- Kumura

- Pumpkin

- Zucchini

- Cucumber (because I accidentally left it too long and it was soft, so I decided to give it to the fish instead of eating it myself lol)

- Carrot

- Garlic

 

 

I let everything simmer for a while (excluding the prawns), then slowly added it to a blender. Then I put it back on the stove and stirred in some gelatine (unfortunately I didn't put enough in this time), and set it in a bunch of ice cube trays.

[CalebLS]

Yeah that's what I was thinking of using, almost exactly! But I will add paprika as I've heard it can enhance the colours of red and orange fish.

 

[JJWooble]

Awesome thread  Learn something new every day. My kuhlis may be getting some rice from my breakfast tomorrow  

[Zimbaliza]

used to give mine a bit of boiled egg (yellow) even the white...  my Corys would snack on it...

took a bit for them to work out it's actually food!... but they would go nuts see them taking chunks out of the white!

only gave them tiny tiny bits. (as they are tiny fish!!)

bigger fish probably would love 'em too (was the secret bait for kingi's in the kaipara a few decades ago!)

-Chris

 

[Shilo]

Just picked up a small blender today so made some food up for my natives.  Being carnivores no veges of course:

4 Prawns, 5 fat earthworms, tubifex, Repashy Grub Pie powder & a small amount of gelatin to hold it together.  

They went wild over it.  Wouldn't mind getting some insect meal or whole insects to replace the grub pie & tubifex eventually.  Surprisingly when it came out of the blender it wasn't as a disgusting mess as I thought it was going to be  - wouldn't personally eat it though......

[CalebLS]

Is this a good feeding routine for a community tank which has, neons, cardinals, mollies and platies.

Monday: AM:Home made vege food. PM Spirulina tablet stuck to side of aquariuam

Tuesday: Am: Fasting? PM: Fasting

Wednesday: AM: Freeze dried brine shrimp soaked in water. PM: Colour enhancing flakes, soaked so they sink

Thursday: AM: Spirulina pellets. PM: Fozen Blood Worms

Friday: AM: Home made vege food. PM: Nothing

Saturday: AM:Normal flakes PM: Freeze dried bs soaked

Sunday: Colour enhancing flakes soaked. PM: Pea, or cucumber or another vege

Please give advice. Thanks.