I needed a quality food that all of my fish could eat, that wouldn't cost a fortune, and was easy to preserve. I don't like the ingredients in even the higher quality foods. I just can't find a reason to feed my fish flour. I found some recipes online, but they all seemed to be nutritionally incomplete in one way or another. For example, one recipe would call for white fish fillets, but without the bones and organs, vital nutrients would be lost. Other recipes called for less meat and more vegetable matter, which would make my loaches happy, but my other fish would miss good stuff.
The recipe I came up with ended up making my fish go insane. They were seriously crashing into each other to get to it. I've never seen such a crazy reaction, so I thought I'd share. I feed this to clown loaches, cories, various plecos, different cat fish, a clown knife, a ghost knife, a jag, 3 different bichir species, a gar, and a few other things. They all love it. Even my stink pot turtle likes it.
You can eyeball these ingredients. It isn't rocket surgery. You will need a high powered blender or food processor. I used the Ninja, and it worked well.
1 cow liver. Mine came in a package with 3 slices about 6" in length I used 2 and froze one for next time.
1 whole tilapia
1 good sized handful of shrimp. I used cooked/frozen because it's what I had. Raw would be better, I think.
1 can of oysters. Do not drain off liquid.
1 small package frozen spinach. I had raw on hand and used that.
4 cloves of garlic
1 can V8 juice. I had 2 small cans, and that was fine.
6 envelopes of gelatin
Puree the raw liver and put it in a large sauce pan. Begin cooking on medium heat. Cut the tilapia into pieces your food processor can handle, and puree it, bones and all. Add small amounts of water to make sure it will liquify, but only use as much as necessary, don't add too much. Add that to the cooking liver. At this point, it smells awful. Just a little fyi. Liquify the oysters, liquid and shrimp, adding V8 as needed. Add this to the pot. Lastly, puree the garlic and spinach with the last of the V8, and add it to the pot. It is important to cook until the liver is dark gray. The liver will foul your water if you don't cook it well.
Dissolve the gelatin in 3 cups of water, and pour that into your pot. Cook and stir until the gelatin is hot.
Ladle into freezer bags, making sure to not add more than 2 ladles per bag. Each back should be about 3/8" thick or less. Lie them on the counter to cool. Once cooled, place them in the refrigerator to chill. Once chilled, you will have fish/liver jello. Don't think about it, and you're cool. haha
I tried it on my fish at this stage and they lost their minds. Leave one bag out and freeze the rest. You can break off pieces and thaw them as needed. The gelatin makes it hold together once it's thawed. To thaw, just leave it at room temp, or in the fridge for a bit.
I hope your fish like it as much as mine do.
The recipe I came up with ended up making my fish go insane. They were seriously crashing into each other to get to it. I've never seen such a crazy reaction, so I thought I'd share. I feed this to clown loaches, cories, various plecos, different cat fish, a clown knife, a ghost knife, a jag, 3 different bichir species, a gar, and a few other things. They all love it. Even my stink pot turtle likes it.
You can eyeball these ingredients. It isn't rocket surgery. You will need a high powered blender or food processor. I used the Ninja, and it worked well.
1 cow liver. Mine came in a package with 3 slices about 6" in length I used 2 and froze one for next time.
1 whole tilapia
1 good sized handful of shrimp. I used cooked/frozen because it's what I had. Raw would be better, I think.
1 can of oysters. Do not drain off liquid.
1 small package frozen spinach. I had raw on hand and used that.
4 cloves of garlic
1 can V8 juice. I had 2 small cans, and that was fine.
6 envelopes of gelatin
Puree the raw liver and put it in a large sauce pan. Begin cooking on medium heat. Cut the tilapia into pieces your food processor can handle, and puree it, bones and all. Add small amounts of water to make sure it will liquify, but only use as much as necessary, don't add too much. Add that to the cooking liver. At this point, it smells awful. Just a little fyi. Liquify the oysters, liquid and shrimp, adding V8 as needed. Add this to the pot. Lastly, puree the garlic and spinach with the last of the V8, and add it to the pot. It is important to cook until the liver is dark gray. The liver will foul your water if you don't cook it well.
Dissolve the gelatin in 3 cups of water, and pour that into your pot. Cook and stir until the gelatin is hot.
Ladle into freezer bags, making sure to not add more than 2 ladles per bag. Each back should be about 3/8" thick or less. Lie them on the counter to cool. Once cooled, place them in the refrigerator to chill. Once chilled, you will have fish/liver jello. Don't think about it, and you're cool. haha
I tried it on my fish at this stage and they lost their minds. Leave one bag out and freeze the rest. You can break off pieces and thaw them as needed. The gelatin makes it hold together once it's thawed. To thaw, just leave it at room temp, or in the fridge for a bit.
I hope your fish like it as much as mine do.
