Fish Food
I got this recipe from Cichlid Dude at http://www.aquariumlife.net. This is a copy of his article below.
Ingredients
- 1 lb (454g) Whole Shrimp – You want complete shrimp with the heads, shells, and legs. “Cheap” shrimp is better, as long as they are full grown. Don’t spend money on “large” shrimp, it won’t matter for our application. I picked up a bag of Whole Prawns for $4.99 at my local grocery store.
- 1 lb (454g) Frozen Green Peas – I used a bag of Green Giant peas I had in the freezer.
- 2 Big handfuls of Frozen Broccoli – Again, I used some from a bag of Green Giant I had in the freezer.
- 2 tsp Pure Spirulina Powder – I picked up a bottle of 100% Spirulina Powder from my local health food store, 100g for $17 after tax. A bit pricey, but this is enough to last you forever or to share. Get the powder, not the capsules. You should be able to find this item at any local health food store. Just ask.
- Unflavoured Gelatin Powder – I used 5 packets of “Knox” brand gelatin, available in the baking section of your grocery store for about $2 a box (4 packs in a box, unfortunately…)
- 5ml (one capful) Liquid Multivitamins – I used Kent Zoe Freshwater vitamin/mineral supplement that I picked up from Big Als Kanata (~ $14 after OVAS discount). The original recipe calls for only a few drops of this stuff, but since the label suggests SOAKING food in it, I decided to use a bit more. One capful looked right.
The Procedure
- Thaw the Shrimp, Peas, and Broccoli so they are just slightly frozen.
- Use a Blender or food processor to grind up the above. My blender is a bit small for all of this, so I did it in two batches and poured the results into a large bowl. You might find your blender has trouble with the solid nature of the ingredients; if you do, just add a little water to the blender and it will help. (Don’t go overboard, but enough to get things blending is fine). The final consistancy should be a fine paste. Tiny lumps are ok.
- With the mix in a bowl, add the Spirulina Powder and the Liquid Vitamins. Stir the heck out of it with a big spoon. The final result will be a dark green liquidy paste.
- Now it’s time to mix the Gelatin. The directions on the box are mostly fine; with Knox I did exactly this: Poured 1 cup of water in a pot, turned on the oven to low heat. Boiled water in a kettle. While water is heating up, add 5 packets of gelatin to the water in the pot and stir it up. When water is boiling, add 1 cup of boiling water to the pot, and stir. Keep the pot on LOW heat. (It doesn’t need to be much). Note that the amount of water suggested for 5 packets on the box is MORE than what is specified here; it is intentional.
- Add the contents of the bowl slowly to the pot, stirring constantly. You want the gelatin mix (which at this point is probably the consistancy of water or maybe slightly thicker). I added a big spoonful of the green mix to the pot at a time, and stirred. Eventually you’ll get the whole thing in there and your pot will be filled with a seemingly liquidy green nastiness.
- When done, pour the mix into a big wide-flat tupperware container. Anything that will give you a thickness of say, 1-2 cm. Put it in the fridge for several hours.
- After several hours, it will have the consistancy of Jello. At this time, you can cut it up into convenient sizes, throw into ziplock bags, and freeze it until ready to use. I recommend using a very sharp knife to cut out a grid of 1cm squares.
How To Use
Break apart a few cubes and put them in a cup (I use a shot glass for each tank). I simply put the cup somewhere room-temperature and let it thaw for approximately 1 to 1.5 hours. This seems to bring the food back to a good consistancy where it is solid enough for you to pick up, but will easily break apart when chewed by the fish. Feed one cube at a time. If an aggressive fish grabs a cube you may notice it break apart into little bits…don’t worry. I guarantee you the fish will clean it all up. Don’t try to heat the cubes to thaw them faster…all that will happen is the gelatin will break down and you’ll end up with liquid again (which isn’t bad for the fish, they will still eat it, but it’s less convenient to handle). Because this food is just dripping with vitamins and minerals, I currently don’t recommend you feed it more than once a day.
First Taste Test!
When my batch was done, I cut up some small cubes and tried it on my pickiest audience, my 90gal African tank. To say they were enthusiastic would be an understatement. They gobbled it with glee; plus, because that tank has fish of various sizes, it made me feel better seeing that the big guys could get an actual full mouthful of food and the little guys could eat the chunks that went flying, rather than forcing the big guys to eat little tiny morsels (traditional fish food).
Economics
This recipe makes a large amount of food; it will easily last a couple months. Although the initial investment in money includes expensive items like the vitamins and spirulina powder, the amount you get vs the amount you use means that every batch you make will get cheaper and cheaper overall. The Vitamins and Powder will last you a LONG time.
Nutrition
The benefits of this food are great. Now I know exactly what my fish are eating, and can vary future recipes accordingly if I want to introduce a new element. This food is high in veggie value, and has enough protein to satisfy the carnivores as well as grow the herbivores without promoting malawi bloat. I hope to research more and produce some percentages, but for now I am very happy. The Shells are important to include, don’t decide that it’s better to use “shelled” shrimp. Fish in the wild eat small crustaceans shells and all. The shells contain minerals that will benefit your fish.
Current Status
This food has become the standard food for all my African tanks. My wife has asked why certain fish seem to be more colourful than before, so I know it is having a positive effect on their appearance.
I’ll be trying some different ingredients in future batches, and will update this article after testing if I find something beneficial. If you try it, please let me know how it worked for you, and if you have any ideas for it!
I had cichlids a long time ago, i used to make food for them using pureed beef heart and gelatin. (my mom still hates me for this use of her blender)
LOL. Yeah. I can see her finding that an issue. Moms. Sheesh.
We had cichlids a long time ago too. They were really pretty, but it seemed tough to keep them since they were so aggressive. Although, I know more about fish behavior than I used to. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad now. Have you been to Disney’s Animal Kingdom? Back on the way to the Safari ride they have a hippo (?) exhibit that is full of cichlids in a natural type environment. It’s so awesome. You can see below the water level through a glass wall. It’s thick with them. They have pond areas that are connected and have baby ones. Really incredible.