Baby food

[carla]

Thanks to Rob I have now some nice Microworms climbing up the walls of their punnets and very happy guppy kids.

Now I am on the lookout for some Infusoria for my Minnow babies, as they cannot eat the worms (too big) for the first two weeks. The first 2 lots have survived on green water (and each other) but were not in the slightest interested in the fry food from the LFS.

I know you can do hay or banana peel brews which might have lots of different infusaria and also have some "bad" infusoria as well (the sort that hunt and can hurt small fish).

In Europe you can buy Protogen granules, which will grow nice small infusoria right then when you need them, instead of having these jars going all the time....

Does anyone know if these are available in NZ as well or do we have to import them?

Thanks!

[Caryl]

Don't know about the granules Carla but what is wrong with using the green water?

[dogmatix]

I found this recipie on the net a while ago.

Liquid Fry Food (makes about four Fluid ounces)

Basis ingredients:

3 tablespoons powdered whole egg 2 tablespoons powdered nutritional yeast 1 tablespoon chick-pea (or other king of legume) flour Water (distilled or filtered is preferable)

Optional ingredients:

A few drops fish liver oil

Flaked fish food (the *growth* formulas are particularly suitable) A small amount of fresh vegetable, like lettuce or zucchini

To mix this up, it's best to use some kind of mechanical device, since R needs a lot of beating to form a good suspension. I have one of those miniature food-processor gizmos, which works wonderfully, but a blender, either hand-held or the stand type, ought to work fine, particularly if you have a small blending container.

First combine all dry ingredients. If adding flake food, and not using a blender, try to pulverize the flakes somehow (coffee grinder, mortar & pestle, rubbing between fingers) before adding to the other ingredients. Now add the *wet' ingredients like oil and vegetables. Do not add more than a few drops of oil; in small quantifies the oil adds nutritional value and increases the size of the *clumps* of liquid that get suspended in the water, but if you add too much you'll end up with a slimy mess that floats on top of the water and makes a horrible mess of your tank. Add about 1/4 cup of water and blend well, then stop to check the consistency. It's really impossible to say how much water you'll need to add in total, since the yeast and egg powders are very hygroscopic, and their moisture content varies enormously. The best thing to do is add water in small increment, and keep checking, until you have something that pours like whipping cream. At this point, try it out on your fry. An eyedropper is the best way to deliver it; of course you remembered to get one when you were at the pharmacy asking for fish liver oil, didn't you? If you should get R too thin, so that it disperses immediately on hitting the water, add a little extra pea flour. If you're not careful, though, this sort of trial and error can yield a much larger batch of food than intended. Once you've got the consistency right, refrigerate it immediately. It'll go bad in a matter of hours if left out; otherwise it keeps for a couple of weeks.

For really tiny fry, you probably want to stick with the basic formula, and make the mixture quite thin, so it disperses quickly into the water. Even when you can no longer see the particles of food, you'll see the fry chasing them. As the fry get bigger, you thicken up the mix, and add the oil, which makes it form slightly larger clumps of suspension in the water, which usually get swallowed before they can disperse further. You can gradually introduce flaked food, vegetable matter, or whatever other food that you're planning to use when the fry outgrow the liquid formula. In this way, you avoid sudden changes in diet, which can be stressful, and reduce any potential problems with acceptance of new foods. It's an easy thing to play around with, and you can experiment until you find the right mixture for your particular fish. A parting caveat: be careful not to overfeed, or your tanks will get very filthy very fast :roll:

HTH Ben

[dennis]

i just use cook egg yolk it works well

[carla]

Thanks for all the good ideas. The dogmatix recipe sounds great, just got to get all the ingredients I guess and do a "cooking" session one day soon. Could probably freeze it and add the greens later?

The green water didn't produce many fish in the end caryl, that's why I was looking for something a bit more substantial for them to eat than just "greens". And the egg yolk trick sounds quite interesting too dennis, do you chop it up?

The banana peel is producing something, just got to get the microscope out and have a look what exactly is growing in that fluid. (Sorry to have put some members off their shop-bought bananas).

Any more good ideas welcomed.

Have a good weekend!

[Caryl]

Egg yolk works well but can pollute the tank easily. Strain it through muslin to make it fine enough for the fry.