DIY fish food

[Water]

Ive tried similar recipes with no ill effect to the water. Mammalian liver isnt far off from fish liver. Liver tissue is the same among all creatures it just comes down to minerals and vitamins. Cow may not be the best choice but it is acceptable. you can probably find better ingredients than oysters and v8 though. I add crayfish, mealworms and earthworms along with the other things. Personally, i feed all of these ingredients to my fish at some point or another so I think its perfectly healthy to create this meal and feed it as a staple

By all means, if you see nothing wrong with your recipe then go ahead and feed it. I'm just saying it's not the best thing out there.

I see nothing wrong at all with the listed ingredients. Seems like a healthy stable diet to me. Seems most pellets are almost all grains anyway, I would rather my fish have this.

Pellets need something to bind everything together into the pellet form, that being grains of different types. With the OP's recipe, it's gelatin. Fish do need carbohydrates of some sort and a healthy pellet diet will always trump any homemade recipe.

 

[kamikaziechameleon]

DIY foods are indeed messy but I have good filtration so no matter. I've noticed that fresh DIY foods has a great impact on fish. My rule of thumb though is diversity, going strictly with any one food source is not adequate. I mix fresh shrimp/fish with DIY foods, and Fresh veggies, I try a little of it all. I've noticed different fish spawn on different foods. DIY foods are best for making med foods for sick fish or wild caught specimens IMHO.

 

[kevinfleming21]

By all means, if you see nothing wrong with your recipe then go ahead and feed it. I'm just saying it's not the best thing out there.



Pellets need something to bind everything together into the pellet form, that being grains of different types. With the OP's recipe, it's gelatin. Fish do need carbohydrates of some sort and a healthy pellet diet will always trump any homemade recipe.

You cannot honestly believe that last line......What if your homemade recipe (in your case) included the exact same thing as the pellets, plus additional nutrition?

 

[kamikaziechameleon]

a healthy pellet diet will always trump any homemade recipe.

Pretty presumptuous. I think you get benefits to each. I mean saying fresh is the same as not is kinda silly. Diversity is the secret. I don't think live is the best but I think its an important part of a diversified diet. I mean nothing is perfect or best really. We've seen that feeding one food type for most fish and animals creates either build ups or deficiencies in most animals. HITH can be caused by this as can other illness's. The ash content in processed foods is not ideal either, its unavoidable obviously.

 

[HandsomeDevil]

It seems like every brand of pellet out there on the market has the first ingredient listed as wheat or wheat products. I am pretty sure carnivorous fish aren't meant to eat wheat. Alot of the fish we keep are scavengers who would eat dead birds,fish and yes mammals in the wild.

 

[Chitala Ornata Mama]

While beef liver isn't necessarily the best ingredient on earth, it is absolutely reasonable that a member of the Bovinae species would drop dead into a lake or river from where these fish came originally, and be snacked upon accordingly. It actually would be less reasonable that a tilapia would be found in every place you'd find these fish, but would be very likely that some sort of bovine would.
Gelatin is made from ground hooves, as a general rule, so likewise, that would be more suitable than wheat. V8 is simply vegetable juice, which is a good form of roughage, and a proper carbohydrate, as opposed to a grain based carb.
My recipe might not be best for everyone, but for my fish, it's fantastic. The protein content is great for growing little monsters, and for sustaining already grown monsters.

 

[Water]

You cannot honestly believe that last line......What if your homemade recipe (in your case) included the exact same thing as the pellets, plus additional nutrition?

I honestly do. Most, if not all the home made recipes are just ball park estimates(And not very accurate ones at that) of the nutrition that fish need. Most, if not all of them include a ton of protein, fat and some little vegetable matter. Honestly, I don't even think you can compare a pellet, say NLS for example that took a bit of time and effort to develop to a recipe that most people make in their homes. I mean, they can be great for juvenile fish, but in the long run, not so much.

Pretty presumptuous. I think you get benefits to each. I mean saying fresh is the same as not is kinda silly. Diversity is the secret. I don't think live is the best but I think its an important part of a diversified diet. I mean nothing is perfect or best really. We've seen that feeding one food type for most fish and animals creates either build ups or deficiencies in most animals. HITH can be caused by this as can other illness's. The ash content in processed foods is not ideal either, its unavoidable obviously.

I hear the same thing when it comes to food. Variety, diversity, different types of foods. What I do not understand is your definition of diversity. Have you looked at pellet labels? Theres at least 10, ingredients listed. Pellets are so much more rich in nutrients than raw ingredients can offer. I believe it was Massivore that claimed that 1 pellet of massivore = 10 goldfish. As for HITH, it's not directly linked towards nutrition. I believe HITH is caused by unhealthy environments and nutrition. You cannot say HITH is caused by poor nutrition. For all we know, it can be the affects of inbreeding of domesticated fish, weak genetics. Oscars, are probably the most prone of all aquarium fish to be susceptible to HITH, does that mean all the Oscar keepers feed pellets only, or their own recipe. Heck no. Anyway, if anyone believes feeding pellets and adding something little more like an occasional shrimp or tilapia fillet then by all means go for it. I do it on occasion, with a mealworm or two just to see my fish "hunt". I just don't believe home made recipes can really beat out a quality pellet.

 

[Water]

It seems like every brand of pellet out there on the market has the first ingredient listed as wheat or wheat products. I am pretty sure carnivorous fish aren't meant to eat wheat. Alot of the fish we keep are scavengers who would eat dead birds,fish and yes mammals in the wild.

I'm not sure what labels you're looking at, but I believe Hikari and NLS both have some type of animal meal listed as their first ingredient. And if we're going to bring up the whole topic on fish aren't meant to eat pellets thing, I can always pull out the "well fish aren't meant to be kept in glass boxes but we do it anyway" LOL. In the wild, the likeliness of a fish obtaining a mammal or bird is pretty slim. Most fish scavenge detritus and plant matter.. And plus, I don't think a fresh water fish would ever be able to eat oysters.. or shrimp.. or spinach.. You know.. the list goes on and on lol.

While beef liver isn't necessarily the best ingredient on earth, it is absolutely reasonable that a member of the Bovinae species would drop dead into a lake or river from where these fish came originally, and be snacked upon accordingly. It actually would be less reasonable that a tilapia would be found in every place you'd find these fish, but would be very likely that some sort of bovine would.
Gelatin is made from ground hooves, as a general rule, so likewise, that would be more suitable than wheat. V8 is simply vegetable juice, which is a good form of roughage, and a proper carbohydrate, as opposed to a grain based carb.
My recipe might not be best for everyone, but for my fish, it's fantastic. The protein content is great for growing little monsters, and for sustaining already grown monsters.

Yes, theres no doubting that theres always the chance of a mammal dying in a river or lake. However, the chances of that happening is not as often as you're feeding your fish, which is probably 3-4 times a week, it not more. A tilapia, would still make a better choice in regards to nutrition . And hooves? Heck even Piranha in the Amazon don't even touch the hooves.. So I would never feed that to my fish. I don't see how that's more suitable for a fish. Wheat isn't ideal, but it holds the pellets together and in adequate amounts, results in being properly utilized. I said before, if it works for you, keep using it.

 

[kevinfleming21]

I'm not sure what labels you're looking at, but I believe Hikari and NLS both have some type of animal meal listed as their first ingredient. And if we're going to bring up the whole topic on fish aren't meant to eat pellets thing, I can always pull out the "well fish aren't meant to be kept in glass boxes but we do it anyway" LOL. In the wild, the likeliness of a fish obtaining a mammal or bird is pretty slim. Most fish scavenge detritus and plant matter.. And plus, I don't think a fresh water fish would ever be able to eat oysters.. or shrimp.. or spinach.. You know.. the list goes on and on lol.

Wait a minute, No one ever said that fish were not meant to eat pellets. That was never once brought up. The only thing that was being disputed was that pellets are a better staple diet than homemade fresh foods. Also, My puffers love oysters and a pellet based diet is terrible foor them.

 

[Water]

Wait a minute, No one ever said that fish were not meant to eat pellets. That was never once brought up. The only thing that was being disputed was that pellets are a better staple diet than homemade fresh foods. Also, My puffers love oysters and a pellet based diet is terrible foor them.

Yeah, it was implied when he said wheat, which is found in most pellets. As for puffers, I don't know much about them to comment..