Gel foods, particularly thoughts & recipes for home-made Repashi

[Andyroo]

Ichthi-sages,
I can get commercial tilapia foods & various other nasty-looking coloured koi foods & bag'O day-glo flake around here, but I'd like to take a little more control of wet-pet (and breakfast tilapia) nutrition.

I work in the sea & have access to (heaps of) of carrageenan and some agar, and have been making my own dog-food (joint) supplements and have been quite shocked by the amount of gelling (gelatine) I get now that we're using chicken-feet.

SO I wonder how this can extend to feeding fish. Clown loaches, BGK & blue dolphin cichlid & also paradise as these don't seem to be growing as big/fast as-advertised (loaches appreciated). I'd also love to try to breed card.tetras & shrimps again this year.

Best gel agent (preferably of my at-hand options)?
Blend or keep it chunky?

Readily available ingredient options: herring/anchovie/lionfish, moringa, pumpkin, shrimp tails, red kidney beans, sweet potato, wild "calaloo" spinach & garden-greens various, green & yellow banana/plantain, chicken & beef including offals, etc.

I expect one chops/purees & dries first, then add to the warm (liquid) gel & the chill - yes?

Thanks & best regards for '26

 

[jjohnwm]

I used to make large amounts of gel foods for storage in the freezer, mostly back when I had lots of tanks full of lots of big fish. I still make it, but not as often as my fish keeping is fairly downsized nowadays. I use plain ordinary Knox gelatin, mixed usually with the meltwater from frozen fish food, and I have the ingredients pureed down fine so the same mix can be used to feed anything from guppies to groupers. I'm sure you can boil down all the chicken feet you want if that's your thing. I freeze it in single serving chunks for small fish, either in ice cube trays or in those multi-compartment plastic trays in which they sell frozen brine shrimp or bloodworms. Thaw before feeding, then just drop it in and the fish go to town. For big fish, it can be cut into larger chunks or strips; in those cases, I try to keep the pieces small enough that the fish can just grab and easily swallow the whole thing which minimizes messy feedings.

Ingredients vary seasonally, and can include a little or a lot of plant matter to better cater to carnivores, omnivores or herbivores. Animal protein consists mostly of whole small fish, shrimp, grasshoppers, mayflies, earthworms (back when I could collect them in large quantities), frogs, etc. Plant matter is usually duckweed, sometimes dandelion and other stuff. Back when I had marine tanks I was able to produce huge amounts of a grape-like Caulerpa algae which was a common ingredient in my gels. I usually include any pellet or dry foods I have that are approaching or at expiration date.

Again, everything is pureed down fine, so that each mouthful taken, regardless of fish size, is a uniform mix of all ingredients.

It's a bit of a kitchen disaster, so I make it rarely but in large quantities, which last a long time in the freezer. A dedicated blender is a must! Until you get a "feel" for consistencies, you might find the first batch or two is not quite right; no big deal, just add it into the next batch and adjust quantities until you get it perfect. Dry fish food added to a mix thickens it up nicely. Ingredients with chitinous exoskeletons (insets, shrimp) seem to call for a bit less gelatin than duckweed-heavy blends. You'll get the hang of it.

My wife says my gel foods are just like me: cheap, simple and messy.