Home Made Vs Commercial Pellets

[Caribbean Jake]

Ok Guys, I been thinking about this for a while and want to know your opinion.

 

We make food parties and mix too mention few ingredients; nori, squid, fish, shrimp, scallops, cyclopeez, mysis shrimps, silvers, phytoplankton, golden pearl, etc. Is this more nutritive or the same as feeding Commercial Pellets, or perhaps flakes only to your livestock.

 

Here is the question.

Once we start feeding home prepared food, do we eliminate commerical off the shelf food, or do we mix them?

 

My tangs and wrasse no longer care for the pellets or flakes, they go for home food only.

 

Jacob

[flowerseller]

Everybody likes Moms cooking the best.

[ErikS]

Everybody likes Moms cooking the best.

Not me

 

I'd imagine they like fresh better, pellets no matter the brand are hard & not really like any natural food = not preferred.

 

Now if we were talking pure nutrition then a high quality brand of pellets wins hands down......but....the homemade mixes provide all they need.

[dzekunoi]

As a mom I believe fast food is bad and home cooking is good, taste does not matter! LOL

 

I think home made food for fish is less processed = better nutritions. Does not contain preservatives as well. I do not trust seafood which stays fresh in form of pellets at room temperature.

 

 

Just my opinion.

[Caribbean Jake]

that was my first concern. if home made food was nutritios enough for our livestock, or supplemental food was needed. I think what we put into our gourmet mix is essentially good enough to keep them going for years.

[ErikS]

taste does not matter!

Now that sounds like my childhood

 

I would think the homemade is fine - it's what they eat in nature? I mean some of the processed food is "loaded" with extras - but are they really necessary? I think the answer would be no.

[Caribbean Jake]

Ever since that Food Party at Eddies house, I been feeding them home made food, mysys shrimp and cyclopeez. I ahev Formula 1 and other dry goods sotck for almost a year now that I have not even touch. Growth is great and coloration on all livestock is outstanding as many of you have noticed during your visits. So, based on that, I will keep feeding natural food and use the flakes and others in case of emergency.

 

Does anyone know the life expectancy on thise flakes (formula 1) ?

[phisigs79]

i liked the idea of homemade food but when i feed my fish the stuff we made a eddi's my skimmers cup filled up 3 times in a matter on minutes. I have a euro reef cs5-2 on a 55g and didnt feed then that much. I think i heard some people had the problem as well. I put the rinser pipe all the way down and it was still going crazy! I was disappointed to say the least

[dzekunoi]

i liked the idea of homemade food but when i feed my fish the stuff we made a eddi's my skimmers cup filled up 3 times in a matter on minutes. I have a euro reef cs5-2 on a 55g and didnt feed then that much. I think i heard some people had the problem as well. I put the rinser pipe all the way down and it was still going crazy! I was disappointed to say the least

I usually rinse food in a small strainer just before adding it to the tank. It helps quite a bit. I have the same skimmer.

[Caribbean Jake]

glad to hear I am not the only one having the food dust problem.

[Guest Kimo]

I use the dried food for when I am out of town - It's much easier for a tank sitter to grab a pinch of flakes than get some frozen food, thaw it, feed it, etc.

 

I really love using the homemade food, I think that it also has less 'bad' stuff, like phosphates. I occasionally feed mysis or flakes, just to mix things up.

 

To prevent the 'dusting' problem, I don't like to grind the food into a paste when making it, just make it small enough for the fishes' mouths.

 

I also feel that things like selcon can tend to pollute the water.

[HowardofNOVA]

Well for starters, my fish loved the DIY Food from Eddie's meeting. I feed them (About 15 fish) once in the morning and again in the evening afterwork.

 

Commercial food is SUPOSEABLY loaded with added ingredients for healthy fish and have to agree for the most part. Competition makes them do it more than anything. But just like all living things, keeping in mind other pets like cat's and dog's, they enjoy the fresh stuff more for taste and I guess you could say realism in eating.

 

Myself, I prefer a mixture of several types of foods, DIY mix like we just made this past weekend (See below)

flakes, live brine shrimp and pellets. Variety being the spice of life. Now speaking for my fish, they are ALL fat and sassy and seem to be doing very well. Now with the added food in the tank is another reason, I'm heavy on the Cleaner Crews so I believe the waste won't go to waste in my tank....but I could be wrong?

 

The Food Making party went well, but our cost seem a bit high. About $8 for a Gallon Ziplock bag about 1/2" thick and $4 for a Quart size. Ingredients:

1/2 block of Cyclopeez

1/2 block of Mysis

1/2 bag of Nori

2 Fresh Croakers, skinned and deboned

2 King Mackeral fillets - Buddys going to kill me if he finds out I turned his hard earned catch into fish food!

Pound of Shrimp

Pound of Silversides - Got fresh from Asian Store

Pound of mussels or clams? Can't remember which, been sick in bed since they left Sunday?

Several types of commercial cubes, guys need to add in here?

and more?

 

So, inconclusion, I believe variety is key to keeping the fish happy, but one item by itself could keep your fish going, but a little variety could catch something that the one item your feeding they is not!

Howard