Freshwater puffers do eat freshwater clams,mussels and shrimp. Clown loaches eat snails, mollusk tissue is pretty similar across the board be it fresh or marine. The aim here is to give the fish a broad spectrum of whole foods. If we were to apply your logic to people food we would be eating our meals pre-prepared by McDonald's and told that it's all we need and that to eat fresh organic whole foods is not good for us in the long term.
DIY fish food
- Thread starter Chitala Ornata Mama
- Start date
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Freshwater puffers do eat freshwater clams,mussels and shrimp. Clown loaches eat snails, mollusk tissue is pretty similar across the board be it fresh or marine. The aim here is to give the fish a broad spectrum of whole foods. If we were to apply your logic to people food we would be eating our meals pre-prepared by McDonald's and told that it's all we need and that to eat fresh organic whole foods is not good for us in the long term.
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..
What was implied was that BECAUSE they have wheat, making your own food seems like a better alternative.
I'm pretty sure you're just out to troll. In reading the ingredients list for nearly every pellet Hikari offers, I see wheat flour as the second ingredient. Using your "pellets are best" logic, you're going to tell me that wheat flour, yeast, and dried bakery product, whatever that is, are far more suitable for monster or scavenger fish, than foods that are in a whole form? While my ingredients may not be geographically 100% accurate for each species of fish I keep, they are comparable to something they'd find locally, and contain vitamins, minerals, trace elements, and necessary roughage components that compare to what they'd find in the wild. It is far preferable that any species have it's nutritional needs met in a whole food form, and mine does that. You will find that fish food, much like human vitamin tablets, contains vitamin ingredients that can not be absorbed in the amount or form they're presented in. An example of this would be the 10 gold fish in 1 massivore pellet. A fish can not metabolize the calcium of 10 goldfish at one time. Assuming a fish eats multiple pellets, many of the nutrients are going to waste.
While Massivore is a decent staple, these are the ingredients: Fish meal, krill meal, starch, wheat flour, dried seaweed meal, brewer's dried yeast, dried A. niger fermentation extract, astaxanthin, canthaxanthin, vitamins and minerals.
Explain to me why my food would be less suitable, please?
While Massivore is a decent staple, these are the ingredients: Fish meal, krill meal, starch, wheat flour, dried seaweed meal, brewer's dried yeast, dried A. niger fermentation extract, astaxanthin, canthaxanthin, vitamins and minerals.
Explain to me why my food would be less suitable, please?
A few comment on your ingredients: Your homemade recipe has too much meat content and not enough vegetable matter in it. (For carnivorous fish 40-60% meat content, most fish in general 20-40% meat content, for vegetarian fish 10-20% meat content). Spinach is not good for fish. The garlic is what makes your fish go crazy for the food. Vegetable juice is made with tomatoes which are also not good for fish.
If you are going to make your own food, cook the vegetables (peas, zucchini, beans, squash, carrots, pumpkin). Better yet, buy jars of baby food. It will be already cooked and save you time. The meat and fish should be raw (more vitamin and nutritional content). The shrimp should be cooked. The "shell" on the shrimp can be left on as long as it is ground up fine enough. Hope this helps.
If you are going to make your own food, cook the vegetables (peas, zucchini, beans, squash, carrots, pumpkin). Better yet, buy jars of baby food. It will be already cooked and save you time. The meat and fish should be raw (more vitamin and nutritional content). The shrimp should be cooked. The "shell" on the shrimp can be left on as long as it is ground up fine enough. Hope this helps.
Freshwater puffers do eat freshwater clams,mussels and shrimp. Clown loaches eat snails, mollusk tissue is pretty similar across the board be it fresh or marine. The aim here is to give the fish a broad spectrum of whole foods. If we were to apply your logic to people food we would be eating our meals pre-prepared by McDonald's and told that it's all we need and that to eat fresh organic whole foods is not good for us in the long term.
As I said, I don't know much about Puffers to comment. So you're comparing pellets to McDonalds.. Hmm.. My logic is that, Pellets that are specially formulated to suit aquarium fish offer much more nutritional needs than feeding raw foods alone. In the wild, Fish are able to graze on different types of algae, detritus, fish, insects, etc. Pellets are the closest thing to achieving the whole broad spectrum.
What was implied was that BECAUSE they have wheat, making your own food seems like a better alternative.
I think there's a bit of confusion here. My last comment that you quoted was towards Handsomedevil, now you're turning it to address what you're saying..
I'm pretty sure you're just out to troll. In reading the ingredients list for nearly every pellet Hikari offers, I see wheat flour as the second ingredient. Using your "pellets are best" logic, you're going to tell me that wheat flour, yeast, and dried bakery product, whatever that is, are far more suitable for monster or scavenger fish, than foods that are in a whole form? While my ingredients may not be geographically 100% accurate for each species of fish I keep, they are comparable to something they'd find locally, and contain vitamins, minerals, trace elements, and necessary roughage components that compare to what they'd find in the wild. It is far preferable that any species have it's nutritional needs met in a whole food form, and mine does that. You will find that fish food, much like human vitamin tablets, contains vitamin ingredients that can not be absorbed in the amount or form they're presented in. An example of this would be the 10 gold fish in 1 massivore pellet. A fish can not metabolize the calcium of 10 goldfish at one time. Assuming a fish eats multiple pellets, many of the nutrients are going to waste.
While Massivore is a decent staple, these are the ingredients: Fish meal, krill meal, starch, wheat flour, dried seaweed meal, brewer's dried yeast, dried A. niger fermentation extract, astaxanthin, canthaxanthin, vitamins and minerals.
Explain to me why my food would be less suitable, please?
I'm questioning home made recipes? How is that trolling? As for Hikari, I don't use it. I merely used it as an example to explain that wheat is used as a binding agent. Look at NLS. A far superior pellet imo. As for the Massivore, my point was that pellets offer more nutrients than what is offered in raw ingredients simply because it has so much stuff packed into it. I guess my argument with the whole homemade recipe vs pellets thing is.. You can't really offer a balanced diet either.. You stated you used a handful of shrimp.. Lets say its 6oz.. 6oz of shrimp is about 34grams of protein, plus the protein from the liver and you're way out there for the protein count. At least with pellets, theres a controlled amount in each pellet.. Forget the Hikari and Massivores I used as examples. Compare yours to NLS. That's what I feed my fish. But anyway, I'm done. Keep feeding your fish what you want.
A few comment on your ingredients: Your homemade recipe has too much meat content and not enough vegetable matter in it. (For carnivorous fish 40-60% meat content, most fish in general 20-40% meat content, for vegetarian fish 10-20% meat content). Spinach is not good for fish. The garlic is what makes your fish go crazy for the food. Vegetable juice is made with tomatoes which are also not good for fish.
If you are going to make your own food, cook the vegetables (peas, zucchini, beans, squash, carrots, pumpkin). Better yet, buy jars of baby food. It will be already cooked and save you time. The meat and fish should be raw (more vitamin and nutritional content). The shrimp should be cooked. The "shell" on the shrimp can be left on as long as it is ground up fine enough. Hope this helps.
If you read carefully, you will see that the entire recipe is cooked, simply meaning that my shrimp are double cooked. Cooking vegetables is what causes them to lose their vitamins. Raw vegetables are always preferable over cooked. Cooking meat will not change it's vitamin content, however, it will kill any parasites that could live in the raw fish and shell fish. If you look carefully at the ratios I've used, you will see that my veggie matter makes up a good portion of my recipe, and would be comparable to the ratio used in manufactured fish foods. However, mine does not contain starch and other fillers, meant to add bulk but not sustenance.
Garlic is a very powerful attractant, which is part of why it's used. It's also used because it's a natural antibiotic, which helps my fish stay healthy.
Anyway, it's a solid recipe, my fish love it, and I thought I'd share for anyone else who is interested.
As far as the vegetable content of your recipe, you have a small package of spinach (which is not good for fish), some garlic, and V8 Juice (main ingredient is tomato juice which is not good for fish). Your recipe does not have enough good vegetable matter for fish. I am not knocking homemade fish food. I was only trying to point out that your recipe contains too much meat and fish and not enough vegetable matter. A diet like that which is very high in protein will not be good for your fish in the long run.If you read carefully, you will see that the entire recipe is cooked, simply meaning that my shrimp are double cooked. Cooking vegetables is what causes them to lose their vitamins. Raw vegetables are always preferable over cooked. Cooking meat will not change it's vitamin content, however, it will kill any parasites that could live in the raw fish and shell fish. If you look carefully at the ratios I've used, you will see that my veggie matter makes up a good portion of my recipe, and would be comparable to the ratio used in manufactured fish foods. However, mine does not contain starch and other fillers, meant to add bulk but not sustenance.
Garlic is a very powerful attractant, which is part of why it's used. It's also used because it's a natural antibiotic, which helps my fish stay healthy.
Anyway, it's a solid recipe, my fish love it, and I thought I'd share for anyone else who is interested.
The small package of spinach, along with garlic and V8 makes up nearly 40% of the recipe, so it's plenty. The tilapia I used was not that big, and neither is 2 slices of liver. Additionally, there is nothing about tomatoes that will hurt fish. In fact, the vitamin C and the acids are good for them. It's a matter of preference, nothing more. I would also like to know where you got the information that spinach is bad for fish, yet other leafy greens, such as kelp are not.
I think you mean well, but I'm not sure if you've spent as much time researching this as I have, or perhaps if you did, you found different information for different fish.
A high protein diet is exactly what my fish need to stay healthy in the long run, so while I think you mean well, you're wrong. You probably take very good care of your fish, and if they are happier with what they're eating, then good for all of you.
I think you mean well, but I'm not sure if you've spent as much time researching this as I have, or perhaps if you did, you found different information for different fish.
A high protein diet is exactly what my fish need to stay healthy in the long run, so while I think you mean well, you're wrong. You probably take very good care of your fish, and if they are happier with what they're eating, then good for all of you.
Spinach has acid calcium binders which are not good for fish. Fish will eat spinach, but it is not good for them.How is spinach not good for fish? Gourami's love it, and it is not bad for them.
