Food recipe that doesn't disolve in tank?

[ZX10R]

I have made 3 different food recipes so far and didn't like any of them. My fish like them and would eat the food but it always makes such a mess in my water. I have tried frozen and most recently a gelatin form of food. The food stays solid until the fish start to nip at it them it just falls apart and some what disolves I guess you can call it. Then I end up with a bunch of food particles floating around in my water which takes awhile to filter out. Can someone recommend a homemade food recipe that stays more solid when the fish eat and does not disolve so bad?

[dean9922]

I have used a food processor and even a blender before on beefheart and had the same problem...I know put it thru a grinder which still makes the food have finer particles and the fish clean it up pretty good. I have even used the grinder on Eddie's seafood mix recipe. I know exactly what you mean by it floating around forever in the tank...it's a total pain. I also don't use any gelatin. Anyway, this has worked for me on all size of discus. For small fry I just shave pieces off.

[ZX10R]

I use a food processor to make mine I don't have a grinder. I tried the gelatin this last time in hopes it would hold together better. But I either didn't use enough gelatin or it just isn't going to work. I made 3 one gallon ziplock bags and used 8 packets of gelatin and it still comes apart and disolves when the fish start to nip at it.

[jimg]

This is what I started mine at then I have switched to add/delete some things, but it is a excellent recipehttp://rockymountaindiscus.com/Discus_fish_food_recipe.htm

[ericatdallas]

I use shrimp, scallops, banana, flake, gelatin for my mix. I've only made three now and each time I add a new binder.

1st Try) Shrimp and gelatin -> Worked okay but still broke apart into tiny pieces. Didn't completely dissolve though because I could easily siphon the uneaten portions.
2nd Try) Shrimp, scallops, banana, fish, pellets, flake, and gelatin (twice as much) -> Still dissolved but won't until touched or been in tank a while..
3rd Try) Shrimp, banana (very ripe), lots of flakes, and gelatin -> Still dissolves but if untouched it will not. I've seen it in there for hours without dissolving. As soon as a fish touches it though it crumbles. The crumples typically just go to the bottom of the tank and is easy to siphon out.

So the lesson so far is that no matter what you do to it, it'll dissolve into the tank somewhat. I suppose you could make so much gelatin that the beef heart literally is suspended within a jello mixture. Not sure how the fish would take to it unless it was very well flavored gelatin (by fish tastes). I would also imagine that they wouldn't eat as much healthy stuff since they're stuffing their face with gelatin...

Someone in another thread mentioned they used eel powder. I don't know where to buy eel powder but I'm always looking for healthy binders.

[ZX10R]

That is problem I have it stays solid until they nip at it then it just falls apart in the water and makes a mess

[ericatdallas]

That is problem I have it stays solid until they nip at it then it just falls apart in the water and makes a mess

That's what I was getting at... I don't think there really is a way you can do it. The closest might be to feed straight up ground beef heart...

For me, as long as it falls apart as crumbles on the bottom where I can easily deal with it, then great. The last thing I want it to do is float around all day and I want it to be sucked into my filter even less. Then my filter just becomes a giant nitrate generating machine when that stuff breaks down in the filter (or I have to change/clean the filter media every day).

[Keith Perkins]

I've got a recipe you can try. I just ran out of it today and fed some sallys sfbb beefheart or I wouldn't have been able to relate to what you were saying very well. That stuff feel apart something awful, where mine doesn't. The recipe:

1 lb of shrimp (raw, I buy frozen) per very well trimmed heart, 7 A to Zinc vitamins, a can of super well drained spinach (I work for a company that cans veggies), a serving of cooked oat meal, maybe a couple of ounces of flake food, which can be any samples or whatever you have laying around, it's mostly for binder. I grind my heart fine, then grind everything on extra fine. The vitamins have already been through a coffee grinder. I put 2 cups in a gallon freezer bag and roll it out flat with a rolling pin. Freeze, and cut up a bag at a time as you need it. I probably forgot something I throw in it, but I always do. Probably never made it exactly the same twice yet. Had a can of freeze dried bloodworms in the last batch.

I think it's the oatmeal and flake I use as binders, but it's just always done very well for me.

[Eddie]

Its a mix, its supposed to come apart to some degree. You could always add cement to keep it solid. LOL

[ZX10R]

Its a mix, its supposed to come apart to some degree. You could always add cement to keep it solid. LOL

lol!! if that is what it takes

[Jennie]

ZX..don't feed this stuff till before a water change.. It's just better in long term of the day for water quality! give about an hour befor to give them time to eat then do a water change.. No matter the mix..it will muck up the water!

[Skip]

i have never used gelatin .. in any of the mixs i have made.. i don't have a problem with them falling apart.. ever.. in fact.. i kind of break them up some so my juvies can feed spread out in the tank.. beefheart mix (very simple 3 ingrediants), and eddie seafood.. i tried a cooked beefheart mix.. but i think it was WELL DONE :( that one looks/holds up like Concrete :))

[ZX10R]

ZX..don't feed this stuff till before a water change.. It's just better in long term of the day for water quality! give about an hour befor to give them time to eat then do a water change.. No matter the mix..it will muck up the water!

I only feed it once a day and only in the mornings first feeding. I was wondering if someone had come up with a mix that won't break up so much and muck up the water.

[Keith Perkins]

Except for my smallest juvies, beefheart mix is pretty much all I feed.

[Vern Archer]

If I may suggest first do not add water when processing if your processor can't handle the load then use smaller amount or get a heavier duty processor...I do recomend pregrinding all ingedients in this way you have uniformity in size within the processor and only run the process for a couple of minutes until you have the consitancy of crunchy peanut butter..and finally add one very ripe banana per kilo 2.2 lbs this will hold it together and stop from clouding the water..Gelatin has a low melting point thays why it doesn't work very well..hope this helps v

[ZX10R]

If I may suggest first do not add water when processing if your processor can't handle the load then use smaller amount or get a heavier duty processor...I do recomend pregrinding all ingedients in this way you have uniformity in size within the processor and only run the process for a couple of minutes until you have the consitancy of crunchy peanut butter..and finally add one very ripe banana per kilo 2.2 lbs this will hold it together and stop from clouding the water..Gelatin has a low melting point thays why it doesn't work very well..hope this helps v

Thanks I think I am going to invest in a grinder. This last batch I do believe I added to much water because my processor is one of those small 2 cup ones.

[ericatdallas]

i have never used gelatin .. in any of the mixs i have made.. i don't have a problem with them falling apart.. ever.. in fact.. i kind of break them up some so my juvies can feed spread out in the tank.. beefheart mix (very simple 3 ingrediants), and eddie seafood.. i tried a cooked beefheart mix.. but i think it was WELL DONE :( that one looks/holds up like Concrete :))

I actually like the gelatin for all the amino acids it has... it's almost all protein. Not sure how much of that is useable by fish, but it has almost all of them so at least it is useable and since it's a binder that's an additional plus.

[ZX10R]

I think I might still use gelatin in my mixes but make the ingredients a lot thicker and not so processed.

[Jhhnn]

I use Carol's salad shooter method- it's in the stickies at the top of the page. It's great for discus 4" and larger and is the cleanest food they get. It comes out as little strips of beefheart about the size of a housefly, which they devour eagerly...