Does anyone make their own fish food?

[RyanScanner]

Have you tested your water?

Yes

If I did not test my water...

...I recognize that I will likely be asked to do a test, and that water tests are critical for solving freshwater health problems.

Do you do water changes?

Yes

If I do not change my water...

...I recognize that I will likely be recommended to do a water change, and water changes are critical for preventing future freshwater health problems.

Just curious if anyone has had a go at it, and tip or tricks.

I just made some blended seafoods and back worms with gelatine. Yet to test it though.

 

[RyanScanner]

It works fantastic I put a fair bit of gelatine in so it doesn’t melt or break apart and I put blanched spinach, garlic, turmeric, paprika, seaweed, dried black worms and heaps of vita chem. The fish go crazy for it and leave the blood worms for the eels mostly. Working better than expected. Cost less than store bought pellets.

 

[Friller2009]

Yep. Barra fillets, bait prawns, black soldier fly larvae, woodies, mealworms, mosquito larvae, val, duckweed, azolla, garlic, spirulina all into the thermomix then add some agar and works a treat. Yet to encounter something that won't eat it.

 

[jjohnwm]

I'm a fan of DIY gels as well. I have a blender dedicated to fish food (if you don't know why, you will understand after you make the first batch in what was up to that point your kitchen blender). I use as little gelatin as possible, just enough to get the thing to hold together and be handled and cut. Using the melt water from frozen brine shrimp or other frozen foods to mix the gelatin adds nutrition that would otherwise be wasted and unusable.

These foods are easy to dose with vitamins if desired, and the recipe can vary to allow the use of seasonal foods like mayflies, grasshoppers, etc. that can be collected in large quantities only at certain points of the year. They can also be modified with smaller or larger percentages of greens...mostly duckweed and hair algae in my case...to cater to species that are more carnivorous or herbivorous than the average.

I usual blenderize the ingredients into a disgusting worm/duckweed smoothie-type consistency. Once you get the texture just right...pretty much by trial and error...you will be able to cut the resulting quivering slab of goo into various sizes and shapes. You want food sizes that can be swallowed whole without needing to be torn apart by the fish, as this keeps the tank cleaner. Very small fish must be allowed to just pick apart a chunk but any fish of more than a couple inches can be offered custom-sized bites for easy swallowing. You can use ice cube trays (again, dedicated ones!) to mold individual portions but it's easier just to make a big chunk in a baking pan or casserole dish, then cut it up after it sets.

This is not only an excellent and cost-conscious way to feed your fish, but it's also a terrific way to confirm that your spouse or significant other really loves you...because if they don't...you're gonna know it!

 

[cockroach]

I do and I love it! Fish love it. I create a base line staple food and then supplment each tank as needed. carnivores get some extra protein, vegetarians get some extra greens thrown in.

If you have many tanks and lots of fish. It is very economical. I like the less gelatin but only with the smaller fish, say under 4", as they clean up the bits that break apart. Bigger fish i would use a little more gelatin.

jjohnwm , never even gave the frozen brine shrimp water a thought. I like it.

 

[RyanScanner]

Is there any advantage to using agar instead of gelatine.

 

[andyroo]

... or carrageenan? I can grow & home-make that stuff.

 

[andyroo]

we put some work into making a fish-friendly food to sell to tourists as healthy alternative/replacement for bread when I was working for the local MPA: fish-heads/guts (frozen~thawed), macroalgae, garageenan etc from & made on the fishing beach, to be blended, formed & dried/chilled into a bar & wrapped in some sort of wax-paper, sell for $2-a-pop for school-fees. Didn't get traction, as tour-operators preferred their bread... though the fish likely didn't.

 

[RyanScanner]

... or carrageenan? I can grow & home-make that stuff.

Is it easy to grow? Probably a way better more natural option to thicken.

 

[jjohnwm]

Is it easy to grow? Probably a way better more natural option to thicken.

Better in what way? All three are sourced from nature; gelatin comes from animal collagen, whereas the other two are made from seaweed and seem to be referred to as vegetarian or vegan gelatin. A quick Google check shows numerous articles linking carrageenan to health problems in humans. Gelatin seems by far the cheapest and is certainly simple to use. Why switch?