Thanks RD, your last two post have brought things into perspective for me.
As for me
Thanks RD, your last two post have brought things into perspective for me.
Actually the water content of the gell is really important if you intend to use this as a food for grazers. If it didn't have a high water content you would potentially kill your fish, as RD points out drink 6 glasses of water then try to eat a steak, you'll eat less, but then you know what happens you eat a little more in another hr or two(assuming you have another 6 glasses) and so on. The water acts as a natural intake regulator.
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There's no need to grind pellets, there are already fine "powder" fry food available on the market, including the brand of food that I use. For those that simply want to fine grind the pellets that they already have on hand, an electric coffee grinder works pretty slick.
So the only time involved in making your own food would be sourcing the binding agent, and then mixing with hot water, just as one has to do with this product. Initially there may be some experimenting involved to get the gel ratio to ones liking, but there are plenty of recipes that can be found on the WWW. Comparing that with buying an extruder, and sourcing out these same raw ingredients for a premium powder, is laughable.
Also, if time & money is a factor, there are already fish foods that will remain "unfouled" for extended periods of time in ones tank that fish (including fry) can pick at all day long, such as wafers, which was also previously mentioned in this discussion. I know scores of breeders that breed numerous species of fish that utilize wafers during periods when they can't be present to feed their fish.
Apparently even guppies will eat them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBzOkarUgHQ
Most young fry don't have any problem figuring out that wafers are a source of food. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBOPtB-ypS0
I've seen fry that are only "days" old start picking at wafers.
I've been using wafers for years when I can't always be present to feed young fish, and/or for those species that are slow eaters, grazers etc. Plecos, cories, even ottos will utilize wafers. The wafers that I use will remain stable in my tanks for 24-48 hrs, supplying a constant source of nutrient dense nutrition. For very small fry I simply break them up into smaller pieces.
Same brand of wafer that I have used for years.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CEY-UTLV1Y
Just another option for those that can't always be there to feed their fish.
"The gelling agents I use only require a minute at temps above 85c to activate the gelling, so the formula is not exposed to the high heat of most extrusion and rolling manufacturing processes."
"A dried flake food, a second or two after it hits the water, is saturated to the same level as the gel. A pellet is slower to absorb water, but quickly will also be 2/3 water. The fact that pellets do not absorb water quickly is one of the negative things about pellets. "