Making Bichir Food??

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K

Keeper of the Ropes

Feeder Fish
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Mar 29, 2006
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YAY! THE COWBOYS WON!

Anyway, sorry... I'm focused again.

I was wondering if anyone had attempted and/or succeeded in making their own food. It'd be nice to come up with something that could meet all their needs without too much prep, but as it is I spend several hours a month deshelling and detailing shrimp. Would it be possible to throw a whole bunch of stuff in a blender then freeze the outcome?

Ingredients I definitely want to include...

* Market shrimp
* Bloodworms
* Earthworms
* Hikari Massivore Deluxe pellets
* Krill

If I froze all of that after I blended it, it would probably turn to liquid as soon as I tossed it into the tank. Can anyone think of a way around that?

And Beblondie (hehe) I know you have that one post that lists the percentages of fat and other fun stuff that you need to look for when you buy your commercial food. Do you know how the above foods I listed rank in those categories? Kinda hard to find the nutrition facts for fish on a pack of Earthworms ya know :)

Keeper*
 
You can use shrimp without deshelling- the fish get nutrients that are in the shell. As for freezing, I believe that you are right in that the food will turn into goop once defrosted in the water. A way around that is to use some binding ingredient like flour or gelatin and desicate the mix, a way of making your own pellet. Sounds easier to just feed market shrimp though.
 
Use plain unflavored gelatin as a binder
Earthworm 62.2% crude protein ,17.7%crude fat
Bloodworm 52.8% crude protein, 9.7%crude fat
Shrimp 20.31% crude protein, 1.73% crude fat
Krill min 7.5% crude protein, min 2.8%crude fat
Hikari massivore diet Crude Protein 47% Min.,Crude Fat 5% Min.,
 
I KNEW you'd be able to do that. You're the BEST Anne :) How much gelatin should I use? We never use our blender so I bet I can fill it full of worms and such and not get in trouble for it.

Jessie*

Oh, and I have to deshell them... my fish are spoiled brats. When I try to skip the deshelling, they attack them and spit them right back out. They just refuse.
 
The COWBOYS will beat the Patriots. No doubt :)
N-E-Wayz. I just got a bichir and im going to try this stuff.Thanks
Cowboys ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
We make food for our saltwater fish all the time. Just throw all the ingredients you want to use in the blender along with some vitamins, like Kent Zoe, and blend away. I wouldn't blend it too fine for the bichirs though. We make our own cubes with a cookie sheet(one with a lip on it!), some wax paper and that white, plastic "egg crate" stuff that people use on drop ceiling fluorescent light fixtures. Just put a sheet of wax paper on the cookie sheet, cut the egg crate to size, pour the nasty mess into the "cubes" and you're ready to freeze!
 
2 packets Knox unflavored gelatin
 
Any suggestions on what vitamins to include? Is the Kent ZOE applicable to a FW fish's diet as well?
 
VITAMINS and what they do
(If you want to suppliment vitamins use only vitamin products developed for fish
do not use vitamnins developed for humans use.)
-------------------------------------------------------------
Fat Soluble Vitamins
VITAMIN A promotes cellular growth
Functions: - normal vision, cell growth and resistance to infection
Deficiencies: - poor growth, poor vision, abnormal bone formation and
hemorrhaging at the base of the fins
VITAMIN D3 important for developing bone
Functions: - calcium blood levels (?)
Deficiencies: - unknown
VITAMIN E important for the development of the sex organs in breeding fish
Functions: - antioxidant, may paly a role in muscle cell respiration
Deficiencies: - anemia and poor growth
-------------------------------------------------------------
Water Soluble Vitamins
VITAMIN (B1)
Functions: - Thiamine-aids growth, digestion and fertility, nervous system
Deficiencies: - poor appetite, muscle atrophy, convulsions, loss of
equilibrium and poor growth
VITAMIN B2 Riboflavin- regulates enzymes
Functions: - vision, protein metabolism and enzyme functioning
Deficiencies: - photophobia, cloudy lens, dim vision, abnormal
colouration of the iris, striated constrictions on the
abdominal wall, dark pigmentation, poor appetite,
anemia and poor growth
VITAMIN B3 Nicotinic Acid-needed for proper digestion
Functions: - plays an important role in lipid, protein and amino
acid metabolism
Deficiencies: - loss of appetite, poor growth, lesions in colon,
erratic motion and weakness, edema of stomach and
colon
VITAMIN B5 Pantothenic Acid-controls metbolism and hormones
Functions: - adrenal functioning, cholersterol production, normal
physiology and metabolism
Deficiencies: - poor growth, sluggishness, clubbed gills, loss of
appetite, hemmorhagic skin and cellular atrophy
VITAMIN B6 Pyroxidine-enzymes and metabolism of protein
Functions: - plays a vital role in enzyme systems and protein
metabolism
Deficiencies: - nervous dissorders, fits, loss of appetite, poor
growth, rapid and gasping breathing, flexing of
opercles and hyperirritability
VITAMIN B12 Cyanocobalamin- metabolism
Functions: - enzyme systems, cholesterol metabolism
Deficiencies: - poor appetite, poor growth, anemia and dark
pigmentation
VITAMIN C Ascorbic Acid- formation fo teeth and bones , healing wounds and formation of
cartillage
Functions: - enzyme systems, bone, tooth and cartilage formation
and healing
Deficiencies: - hemorrhagic shin, kidneys, liver, intestine and muscle
tissue, eye lesions and scoliosis of the spine
VITAMIN H Biotin- promotes cell growth
Functions: - enzyme systems, purine and lipid synthesis, oxidation
of lipids and carbohydrates
Deficiencies: - loss of appetite, poor growth, anemia, skin lesions
and muscle atrophy
VITAMIN M Folic Acid- formation of blood and metabolism
Functions: - blood cell formation, blood glucose regulation and
fish metabolism
Deficiencies: - poor growth, lethargy, dark skin, anemia and fragility
of the caudal fin
CHOLIN growth and breakdown nutrients (fat) regulating glucose
Functions: - good growth and food conversion
Deficiencies: - poor growth, poor food conversion, hemorrhagic kidney
and intestine
INOSITOL permeability of cell membrane
Deficiencies: - poor growth, distended stomach, skin lesions and
increased gastric emptying time
p-AMINOBENZOID ACID- stimulates growth (not proven essential)
Deficiencies: - no abnormal indication in growth, appetite and
mortality

free in water the following happens After 30 seconds this applies to
water soluble vitamins only
Vitamin b6 loss 15%
Folic Acid loss 20%
Choline loss 30%
Panothenic acid loss 50%
Vitamin C loss 70%
Vitamin B12 loss 90%
 
Cohazard;1186961; said:
Any suggestions on what vitamins to include? Is the Kent ZOE applicable to a FW fish's diet as well?
Click to expand...

Yes it is. If you read the ingredients on the Kent Marine Zoe and Kent Freshwater Zoe, they are identical. I've been using Zoe for MANY years on fresh and salt fish, with great results. I also fresh garlic in homemade food or Seachems Garlic Guard in a food soak. I have seen good results in growth and HLLE prevention and healing while adding Kent Zoe-Con to food mixes as well.
 
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