Seafood Mix Pat Style

[Second Hand Pat]

I created a slightly different seafood mix then I had in the past. Instead of adding carrots, apples and pears (Dale Jordan's recipe) I used all berries. I used raspberries, strawberries and blueberries with lightly streamed spinach. Also added a small amount of squash and one banana for the vegetable side of the mix.

For the seafood side I used salmon, shrimp, mussels and Public's seafood medley. I mixed the fruits/vegetables together in the food processor first and then mixed the meats. I then hand mixed it all together and added two drops of baby vitamins. Once mixed it still seemed a little "wet" so added in a couple handfuls of Ken's spirulina flake food.

Tonight we shall see what the fishes think :)

[nwehrman]

Keep us posted...I'm making a seafood mix soon.


Nicole

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[brianyam]

Good mix, may try it one day, as I got allot of plecos too. I add dried krill and dried small anchovy to my seafood mix. You can usually get them at an asian store. fish love it, and it is pretty close to what they would eat in the wild. Pretty cheap too. Usually a few dollars for a pack of dried krill.

[Mrylln]

Sounds good. They are detritivores according to the stomach content analysis. We work so hard to get them big and thick like some of those show fish...I think that sometimes we're just pushing against the wind, because every fish does not have the genes for super size me. I'm looking hard at the wilds, and nobody force fed them, but still they have the same diameter as any of the fish in the show. Many of the fish that we grow out at home just don't get that big, and there was nothing lacking in their rearing. (Nobody takes care like a Discus Mama.) It seems to be related to the easy life they have. No one chasing them (well, hopefully), no predators (hopefully; make that cat stop looking at my fish!), limited exercise in the small space of an aquarium.
Hope your new fish are doing great! I think I have a video of your new "girl." (Do we know yet?)
Wild thing,
Mary

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi Mary, I still suspect the little show Tefe is a girl. She is still in QT with a couple of Tefe sub adults and she is still learning to compete for food. She is not as quick as the others. She definitely has brighten up being with other fish and holds herself fully inflated now so will take that for now. At some point she will be added to the Tefe shoal in a 230 with a breeding female, four other females and three males. Maybe then we can get a better idea as to gender. You have a video?
Pat

[Carolina discus]

Pat
Sounds interesting...if you have any issues with clouding try adding Metamucil to the mix...(if you can find the original not the orange flavor)...it is a great binder and helps when they overeat...old trick I got from Shaifullah Yeng years ago...
All the best!

[Second Hand Pat]

Thanks Eric, the tank "dryruns" start tonight :). The horses hate the orange favored Metamucil also.

[Carolina discus]

The fish do too!!!! I cant find it locally where I live anymore so I am using other binders....it worked really well when you almost made a puree of BH mix for young fry weaning off BBS and parents...

How are those awesome tefe's doing????? May need to talk with you in the near future on some fry.....

[Second Hand Pat]

We can certain do that. :) Still have 38 of Batch A (five months old) ranging from 2.5 to 3 1/4 inches, so growing but slow which is expected. Showing lots of color potential and three or four of the larger ones are even showing spotting which is two months early from what I have been told. My plan is to try the outdoor pool with the half the batch and if they do well I will move the entire batch to the pool until the fall.

[johnnathan]

Interesting seafood mix..

[Second Hand Pat]

Interesting seafood mix..

We will let the fish be the judge :)

[Second Hand Pat]

The seafood mix was a roaring success with all the adult fish :D

[Trier20]

Cool that you put berries in Pat. I'm wondering if you uses one color of berry if it could help with coloration such as reds and blues? Might be on to something here :)

[Disgirl]

Pat, your mixes, with all the veg and fruit plus the seafood sound good enough for all of us to eat too! I am going to add more fruits and veg to my next frozen seafood mix. So far I have just used ripe banana, spinach/or collard greens. Point of interest: my Koi in the backyard pond are feasting on watermelon slices and romaine lettuce along with their pellets!
Barb

[Second Hand Pat]

Cool that you put berries in Pat. I'm wondering if you uses one color of berry if it could help with coloration such as reds and blues? Might be on to something here :)

Brandon, I really was not thinking of it from that aspect but could be a side benefit. :) One of the drivers for the berries was this thread.

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?86305-Edible-Greens-For-Wilds&highlight=wilds+greens

which is sort of an interesting read and should have read it before making up this seafood batch as I see some changes which should be made :)

[Second Hand Pat]

Pat, your mixes, with all the veg and fruit plus the seafood sound good enough for all of us to eat too! I am going to add more fruits and veg to my next frozen seafood mix. So far I have just used ripe banana, spinach/or collard greens. Point of interest: my Koi in the backyard pond are feasting on watermelon slices and romaine lettuce along with their pellets!
Barb

Barb, after I mixed all the berries with the veggies it had a wonderful smell, like a planet smoothy drink. :)

[Sasha]

Pat - thanks for sharing. Do you then freeze this mix into cubes? And when you process the food, do you mix it to the point of it being pureed like baby food? I'm wondering how this food stays together in the tank vs simply emulsifying info the water? I've never made my own seafood mix so sorry for the naive questions.

[Second Hand Pat]

Sasha, I take the one gallon ziplock bag and pour enough so once you close the bag and lay it flat you have a thin layer of food that is fairly even across the surface of the bag. A 1/2 inch of food is more then enough. Once frozen you can then break it up into smaller pieces. I beat mine with a wooden mallet while it is still in the bag.

I will thaw a piece in a small cup of water and use a plastic spoon to break it up into smaller pieces or even puree it a little for the small juvies. It will hold together somewhat it you do not break it apart.

[Sasha]

Thanks, Pat!

[Second Hand Pat]

I created a slightly different seafood mix then I had in the past. Instead of adding carrots, apples and pears (Dale Jordan's recipe) I used all berries. I used raspberries, strawberries and blueberries with lightly streamed spinach. Also added a small amount of squash and one banana for the vegetable side of the mix.

For the seafood side I used salmon, shrimp, mussels and Public's seafood medley. I mixed the fruits/vegetables together in the food processor first and then mixed the meats. I then hand mixed it all together and added two drops of baby vitamins. Once mixed it still seemed a little "wet" so added in a couple handfuls of Ken's spirulina flake food.

Tonight we shall see what the fishes think :)

Making this again tonight with a few changes. Using mango's instead of strawberries. I forget the banana and added more shrimp and white fish instead of the seafood medley.

[Mrylln]

Hi Pat,
I've been making a similar, seafood-based food, and the fish have gone bonkers for it. I had one sad experience, though. One female ate so much over days (hiding, and making her spawning site) that she developed dropsy and dropped a few days later.
Otherwise, even stunted specimens that were so sick a couple of years ago, are thick and acting like real discus.
This food has really made a nice addition to the fish diet here.
Cheers,
Mary

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi Mary,

My guys are loving it too. Sorry to hear about the one female.

Pat