Food Idea for Y'all

sihaya

sihaya

Joined
6 May 2007
Posts
1,494
Reaction score
38
Location
USA
Hello my sub-saharan friends,

I keep trying to get people to make their own food, but so many people hesitate. I hesitated myself too. Sure, the thought of putting a squid in a blender doesn't much appeal to anyone... but you gotta go it! I'll tell you why...

1) You'll KNOW what's in your food.
2) You'll only have ONE (or maybe two) things to feed.
3) You can make it so that you end up putting a LOT less phosphates (preservatives and other junk) in your tanks.
3) You get to make a FABULOUS mess of your kitchen.

So, here's one place to start:
http://www.asira.org/feedingyourtanks
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/feeding.htm

And here's an idea... if anyone is afraid to venture it by themselves, have a party!! Maybe you could have each person bring a different ingredient. And this way only one person's house will smell like rotting fish for a week! :D

Bring some beer too (trust me, it's more fun that way).
:1:

I wish I could hold such a party myself, but I barely have the room to make enough food for my tanks...
 
Thanks will give this a bash soon Thinking of Squid, fish, fish roe and prawn, how long should we blend?

hope I dont pic up the blender jug to take a swig of Peroni
 
Kanga said:
hope I dont pic up the blender jug to take a swig of Peroni
Click to expand...

Haha... ok, let me clarify. The right about of beer to bring is... just enough that the smell of it all stops bothering you, but not quite enough that you start swigging squid puree. ;)
 
interesting
i havent made my own in a long time.
what i use to do was, get shrimps,muscles,hake,calamari,nori and garlic.
put them into a blender and then pour the mix into and ice cube tray and freeze.everytime i feed,i place the block of food in a teastrainer and pour boiling water over it until its defrosted and all the excess water is out.then just feeed slowly until the food is eaten and slowly add more and so on.....
 
mekaeel said:
interesting
i havent made my own in a long time.
what i use to do was, get shrimps,muscles,hake,calamari,nori and garlic.
put them into a blender and then pour the mix into and ice cube tray and freeze.everytime i feed,i place the block of food in a teastrainer and pour boiling water over it until its defrosted and all the excess water is out.then just feeed slowly until the food is eaten and slowly add more and so on.....
Click to expand...

Sound about right... but instead of ice cube trays, think about using zip-lock freezer bags (smoothed out and laid flat). That way you can just break off a chunk at feeding time. What do you think?
 
I have heard about the possibillity of introducing pathogens from the food items that could harm your inhabitants, don't you think this is a danger or not? ( i assume not but more..why not)
 
sihaya said:
Sound about right... but instead of ice cube trays, think about using zip-lock freezer bags (smoothed out and laid flat). That way you can just break off a chunk at feeding time. What do you think?
Click to expand...
hey never thought of that.i think im gonna make some tomorrow and use the ziplock idea.thanks for that
 
Wee-Man said:
I have heard about the possibillity of introducing pathogens from the food items that could harm your inhabitants, don't you think this is a danger or not? ( i assume not but more..why not)
Click to expand...

Whatever possibility there is, it's the same concern as with processed food. But when you make your own food, you'll at least have less of all that "other junk" they put in processed foods.

Most the long-time reef keepers I know use their own food (or have done so at some point). I've actually never personally heard any stories of pathogen contamination. Someone told me of a type of infection fish can get from food that's not sterilized via irradiation (most processed frozen fish foods aren't)... but I don't think it's common. I'll look into it though...
 
sihaya said:
... Most the long-time reef keepers I know use their own food (or have done so at some point). I've actually never personally heard any stories of pathogen contamination...
Click to expand...
Agreed - I have been doing it for about 8 years now, and have never had a problem.

One tip: don't use any Tjokka, squid or octopus - their meat is very tough, and usually clogs up the food processor. Frozen food grade prawns, shrimp, fresh fish, crabs, mussels and oysters work very well. Also add some Nori.

Hennie
 
Reef Maniac said:
don't use any Tjokka, squid or octopus - their meat is very tough, and usually clogs up the food processor.
Click to expand...

Yeah... tis true. However, if you can manage to hack it up first with a meat clever or something, you can make it work. Though, again, it makes a HUGE mess.
 
Reef Maniac said:
Agreed - I have been doing it for about 8 years now, and have never had a problem.

One tip: don't use any Tjokka, squid or octopus - their meat is very tough, and usually clogs up the food processor. Frozen food grade prawns, shrimp, fresh fish, crabs, mussels and oysters work very well. Also add some Nori.

Hennie
Click to expand...

Baby squid?
 
I have done the freezer bag method. I've also used a small piece of eggcrate, shoved it full of my blender mush and frozen my food into tiny little cubes.

A lot of seafood (even fresh seafood) is sprayed with polyphosphate salts as a preservative, to maintain moisture content, and to prevent cell walls from breaking if the seafood is to be later frozen. A good rinsing of all seafood before blending will remove a most of these phosphates. I've always been a little "over the top" and I soaked my seafood in RO/DI water.

I don't know what supplements you have there. I have always liked to add a little Vita-Chem or Selcon (for stabilized vitamins) and Selco (for HUFA's) as well.
 
mantisfreak said:
A lot of seafood (even fresh seafood) is sprayed with polyphosphate salts as a preservative, to maintain moisture content, and to prevent cell walls from breaking if the seafood is to be later frozen. A good rinsing of all seafood before blending will remove a most of these phosphates. I've always been a little "over the top" and I soaked my seafood in RO/DI water.
Click to expand...

Thanks Curt! I should have elaborated like this but was just being lazy. :blushing:
 
Thanks Sara for starting this thread. I think that a lot of reefers here in SA most likely heard about making your own food, but might be too scared that it will not work like the specially prepared "bought frozen foods" for marines....
I have been using my own home-made/blended frozen food now for the past 2 months, and it has so far been working out VERY well. Mostly better than the results I was getting with the specialized bought frozen food preparations.
 
Great thread this.


Kanga said:
...how long should we blend?
Click to expand...

I just had an idea. Why not divide the mixture before blending into three parts. Take the first lot, blend into a liquid. The second part into fine parts and the third lot you just give a few quick blasts with the blades. Then mix all together and freeze. That way you'll end up with a nice variety of sizes. Something for everyone.


mantisfreak said:
...I've also used a small piece of eggcrate...
Click to expand...

I like this idea.
 
Do you have a dedicated "fishy blender"? Alternatively, how do you convince your better half that there is no problem gushing up a bucket of red bait, prawn, blood worms and mussels...?
 
Pterois said:
Do you have a dedicated "fishy blender"? Alternatively, how do you convince your better half that there is no problem gushing up a bucket of red bait, prawn, blood worms and mussels...?
Click to expand...

You do it when they're out of course;)
 
I use our regular food processor. After all how different is seafood from meat anyway, and I use the blender to mince up steak for nice burger patties.

If it is a real problem just get yourself one of those little hand blenders.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom