Home Made Flake/Freeze Dried Fish Food

[CatfishandCaves]

Hey peoples, thought i would post this given in most parts of the world there is a resession on and fishkeepers need to save money where they can?

Does anyone on a DIY basis have experiance in making and preparing home made flake food or Freeze dried food at home (not on a commercial basis)?

Yes we have all done the beefheart mix and frozen it for use later
This summer just gone i did really well with a 45 gallon water butt outside my greenhouse which i put some daphnia in and boy did it multiply!

So much so that i used to scoop it out in a fish net void of water and place it in some cheap ice cube trays from my local pound land shop, and pop it in the frezzer unbeknown to the wife! (shusssssssssss!) free food all summer and winter! I guess i have amassed arounf a Kilo or so of nearly neat of water daphnia! good start, but the good lady is not impressed! taking up the freezer space.

What I am after is the process in which you can make flake food? or dehumidify if to make freeze dried food for future use.

I see on the maket now earthworm flakefood, brineshrimp, and on the freeze dried front the Australian Black Worm which is expensive but great in bringing your fish into spawning condition.

Any tails or experainces would be helpful :woohoo::woohoo:

 

[FF MkII]

Tbh mate probably would be cheaper to buy a tub of the stuff.

 

[Doodles]

or make veggie/spirulina frozen blocks for pleco's. I was looking into doing this, you can use agar but so far it looks quite expensive

 

[FF MkII]

What is? Agar? get it from a chinese food store or here

http://www.google.co.uk/products?hl=en&q=agar+agar&wrapid=tlif12916603476251&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=Piz9TLjyKsKxhQeLponlCg&sa=X&oi=product_result_group&ct=title&resnum=3&ved=0CD8QrQQwAg

 

[Jo Crane]

Thousands of pounds goes into the research and development of good quality food with many dedicated species feeds with the correct balanced diet, I don't see the benefit to the fish with homemade from scratch blends food is basic for any pet in my opinion only, they deserve the best you can afford for them not the cheapest you can find.

 

[scatz]

I don't see the benefit to the fish with homemade from scratch blends food is basic for any pet in my opinion only, they deserve the best you can afford for them not the cheapest you can find.

I see one huge benefit, if i made up some blocks of food to freeze, i would know every single thing that has gone into it. I like the idea of making some, using ingredients like spinache, garlic, pea's, prawns etc, all the things that i know my fish like and are really good for them

 

[Jo Crane]

I see one huge benefit, if i made up some blocks of food to freeze, i would know every single thing that has gone into it. I like the idea of making some, using ingredients like spinache, garlic, pea's, prawns etc, all the things that i know my fish like and are really good for them

Yes but that aint to save money though is it?

 

[FF MkII]

Just ordered some Agar Agar so will give it a go soon.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
I've made my own frozen food from the recipe for cichlids, basically 1:1 shell on prawns (or krill/mysis shrimp) and peas blended together with a small amount of gelatine or Agar in a power blender, an frozen in very small blocks. I've tried adding garlic, spirulina powder (from a health shop) and paprika. The fish eat it and I use it if I'm short of live food.

cheers Darrel

 

[Irene0100]

if you want to feed earthworms why not just chop them up rather than make flaes with them? I must admit that I have enough to do taking care of the tanks to spend time making food up for them too.
but good for you if you want to.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

if you want to feed earthworms why not just chop them up rather than make flakes with them?

Irene has a good point, I feed most of the fish earthworms (Lumbricus rubellus), either via my worm bin/red worm culture or from the compost heap. The problems comes when you are either short of time or the weather is really cold, and you have used up all your small worms.

For larger fish it doesn't make any difference, but for small fish there is a difference between a chunk of a large worm and 1/2 or a whole small worm.
A chunk of larger worm doesn't wriggle or have an enticing shape, it is just a large, tough cylinder of muscle and a lot of fish which will eat a small worm will ignore it. If I had a good consistent supply of small earthworms (from a bit bigger than a white worm through to matchstick sized) I wouldn't want anything else.

As it is I don't and I would like a replacement, the really nice earthworm flake from TA aquaculture is perfect, and you can crumble it down really fine and small fish love it, but they don't always have it available. I have kilo's of earthworms available in the summer, so if I could produce my own flake it would be useful.

cheers Darrel

 

[FF MkII]

TA Aquaculture is great for food. They have new wafers now too.