I make my own food. it costs less but NOT cheap. I use haddock or cod
filets, ground up in a blender. I use salmon, sardines, shrimp, etc. may
use some lean white turkey slices. may add some frozen peas, spinach or
collards cooked and then I take some commercial fish food like koi pellets
and grind them up dry. I add liquid baby vitamines. whatever I think is
good. then I mix up the liquid in a large pot. add in the powdered koi food
to dry out the mixture a bit. then I take a box of 4 packages of Knox
gelatine and maybe 3 ounces of water and put it into a covered microwave bowl
and heat to dissolve for 2 minutes. when clear and dissolved, I pour it
fast into the bowl of food and use the mix master. the last batch I used 3
boxes of gelatine. about a dollar a box. then I pour it out in glass pyrex
trays and allow to set in the refrigerator over night. then when good and
firm. I cut it into blocks and wrap in plastic paper and freeze. then I use
one block at a time. my blocks may be 2 in by 3 in by 1/2 in thick. it last
about 2 days. all my fish love it. most of the fish and shrimp are NOT
cooked but are raw. sometimes I used canned fish. this is obviously cooked
in the can. this is OK too. I always make it different every time. never
use a recipe. ooh yes. I always add some spirulina powder. makes the food
green.
if you dont have the koi food to grind up dry. then try oatmeal or
wheatgerm. probably could use ground up powdered dry dog food or something
like that. I really don't know. most of my food is the fish and shrimp. I
want to try adding some beef heart some day.
if I use less gelatine the final product is softer and the smaller fish can
easily eat it. if I use more gelatine then it becomes more firm and the
larger fish can still eat it, but the small fry may have more of a time of
it. with small fry I have been making it soft. some people cook the fish,
meat. I use it raw because I don't know of any wild fish that cook their
food first. hehe.
i obtained some small fry sunfish. they doubled their mass or weight in one
week with this food. I am surprised how efficiently the sunfish eat this.
they take large pieces larger than my guess of their mouth and suck it in.
then in 20 to 30 seconds they take in more again and again. they are very
efficient eaters. my crayfish wait for the food. they argue with each other
to get the bits that fall to the bottom.
george arndt
harvard, mass
I also feed some cocktail shrimps whole after thawing out. some fish love
them. then I have live red worms and white worms going. and some crayfish.
well when the crayfish molt. lookout. some soft crayfish get eatten. I am
working on this one. the crayfish are new for me.
george arndt
harvard, mass
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