A
selection of useful tidbits of information for the aquarist.
Readers are encouraged to send their tips to
terry@advancedaquarist.com or to post them to our Hot
Tips sticky in the Reefs.org General Reefkeeping Discussion forum for possible
publication. Next month's Hot Tip theme will be "Refugium
Tips".
Reef
Food Recipes:
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My basic food
recipe.
The seafood
put it right in the freezer when I get home from the store,
and when I am ready to make the food I let it sit on the
counter for a little while so it gets partially thawed,
I find it works better in the food processor that way.
The seafood I get from the grocery store.
Add to food
processor equal parts (about a small handful) of:
Raw shrimp (peel most of the shell off as my fish won't
eat that, I used to try and make them eat it by blending
it in but it makes the food extra gooey and the shells
still make a mess in the tank)
Raw
squid. This MUST be partially frozen, it will not chop
for me in the cuisanart if fully thawed.
Raw
salmon, about equal part to the other seafoods, cut
into cubes.
Pulse the
food processor until you have a mash with little chunks
dispersed within.
Add one sheet
of nori, torn into little pieces, a quarter teaspoon of
golden pearls, and a squirt of Selcon, then pulse a few
more times.
Spoon into
small ziplock baggies, and squash flat and thin, squeezing
any air out. Freeze flat. If you do not squash the bags
thin enough it will be tough to break off an appropriate
size piece.
--
"Laura D"
Here
is my list of ingredients and recipe:
One
large fish fillet. I personally don't use salmon as I
find it fatty.
10-15 very large raw saltwater shrimps pealed
One large packet of thawed krill. Drain the water before
adding.
1-3 larger packets of thawed mysid shrimp. Drain the water
before adding.
Large amounts of 2-3 different flake foods.
4-8 oz of frozen cyclopeeze.
3-4 large sheets fo nori
3-4 table spoons of minced garlic
A few squirts of children's multivitamins
A few squirts of selcon
A few frozen food packets like squid, bloodworms etc.
Thawed and drained.
Mix in a blender until it is like thick mud. Then, pour
in smaller ziplock bags and freeze it while flat. When I
feed, I take parts of the block and thaw it by itself (no
added water). Then, I add the chunks to the tank.
What
I have learned:
I
don't add the water from the frozen foods because it tends
to make the mix too watery.
I don't add pellet foods because it tends to make the
mix very powdery and wastefull when feeding.
I don't add mollusks like clams, mussels, oysters, etc
because I find them to have a larger content of heavy
metals.
This food is incredibly concentrated and should be treated
as such. You can pollute the heck out of a tank with it
if not feed appropriately. Start slow and with very little
and work your way up. Only add what the fish will actually
eat.
Your blender will only last 1-2 sittings of this food.
I guarantee you it will die on you.
~1/2
c. Uncooked, frozen "white" fish (any type of
non-fatty, white ocean fish is good... flounder, whitefish,
etc)
~1/2 c. Uncooked, fresh mussel or clam or oyster or combination
1 full sheet Nori (unsalted, unspiced, dried)
1 tsp Selcon (Selco)
1 tsp lemon juice (to preserve and provide vitamin C)
Many other items can be thrown in for variety. A mixture
of prepared retail foods is common, brine shrimp, greenwater,
vitamins, etc. Just be certain to use high quality foods.
To prepare
the food, keep out ~1/2 c of the shrimp, combine all others
except nori in a blender. Add fresh saltwater (or microwave
(to boiling) some tank water to use) and blend until smooth.
Add nori, chop, but don't completely blend into oblivion.
Chop remaining shrimp into small pieces by hand, ~1-4mm
in size, add to the mash and combine, but don't blend thoroughly.
If the blend is too thick, add more salt water. Another
option is to add concentrated phytoplankton (such as DTs).
Spoon/pour the
mash into individual ziplock baggies (usually 4-6 of them)
and lay flat in the freezer (I use a baking pan until they
are semi-solid to prevent them from being really thick in
spots). Be careful not to make it too thick in the baggies
as its hard to break apart later. This keeps it in a few
batches that should last if well sealed.
To use the food:
Break off (typically can snip off pieces, if its not too
thick, by hand) and defrost the food in a cupful of tank
water. You can either leave it whole and let the fish tear
it apart or do as I do and create a snowstorm out of it
by allowing it to defrost and then using a turkey baster
to break it all apart in the cup. All of the various particle
sizes allow all of your animals (corals and detritivores)
to feed.
