Gel food for carnivores

[RD.]

Mazuri has very detailed nutritional information (download the product sheet PDF).

Quite a variety of gel foods as well as affordable bulk dry diets.

LOL, I basically told Hendre that exact same thing when he PM'd me this morning. All commercial manufacturers of gel food have nutritional info attached to them. But Hendre is not asking about where to buy commercial gel food, he's attempting to save money by making up some of his own DIY food, to save feeding costs.

 

[Hendre]

Yes, and it isn't readily available here. Imported foods like hikari are super expensive.

 

[duanes]

When you consider how fish eat in nature, they often eat the entire prey item, if its a fish, they eat the head, bones, gut, scales, etc, if they eat a crustacean, in many cases they swallow the the head, shell, legs, same goes for insects.
I tried making my own gel for a while, and would put stuff into a dedicated chopper/blender and puree shrimp whole, small fish whole, and make sure some plant matter, even algae, with liquid vitamins, and sometimes garlic, before adding the gelatin. Kind of like the Bass-O-matic.

 

[Hendre]

Looks good! Don't know what plant matter I would include. Today I got some salmon/trout offcuts, snoek fillet and some larger whole fish (About 7") from which I'll add the fillet and insides

 

[duanes]

Sometimes I would add thawed peas, and cooked carrot, among others.
I tried broccoli, and certain species with a more vegetarian bent loved it, but a day after feeding the entire fish room smelled like an enormous fart.

 

[Mr Pleco]

Look into candy molds, I made my gel food shaped like fish for my cichla .......... used tipila, prawns , beef heart and spirulina podwer in my mix

 

[Hendre]

Wild thought. Would duckweed not work as a plant additive?

 

[RD.]

From a previous topic. Hope that helps

When collected fresh, approx. 90+% water content (a non-nutrient), high in carbs, ash, and fiber, the latter being what Duane was referring to. As far as actual nutrient content, including protein/fat/minerals etc, that would be dependent on the water they are grown out in, so that will obviously vary.

But I agree, all fish, even those that are classified as carnivorous, should be consuming some aquatic plant matter on a regular basis. I supplement mine with dry aquatic based commercial food, I would personally never introduce duckweed to a tank due to the mess it can make if not kept under control. That, and the nutrient levels are a lot higher when aquatic plant matter is fed on a dry matter basis, vs fresh.

For reference:

Duckweed | Feedipedia

www.feedipedia.org

duckweed nutritional composition

 

[Hendre]

Seeing about the oxylate, that may be a slight issue? Too much can be hazardous to fish. I wonder what could be used otherwise.

 

[RD.]

Is your water particularly hard? Could you grow it just for this purpose, in softer water? Either way I don't see it being an issue, it would be making up a very small portion of your overall formula, and as you can see from that link others have fed it to various species with no issues. Unless polys have serious issues with oxalic acid? I happen to be one of those unlucky people who form stones, so anything with high levels of oxalate are off limits to me. No spinach, no duckweed, No Bueno!