DIY Fishfood: please advice

[ckarta]

Hi,
I am a newbie on this site, and sorry if posted this in the wrong spot.

I have read much on this matter on the internet before posting this.

first i have made fish food from chicken lungs and beef heart also, with some veg matter in both. now i read it is not good to feed higher animal flesh to fish. in a few articles i have read that good quality fish food does not have fish meal in the contents. what can I do then?

i came with a recipe but it seems to supply only about 35% protein.

soybean floor 1 cup
1 egg
spinach and carrot: 1 cup cooked paste.

i will cook this on a pan without oil and then freeze it. The egg holds everything together as per my experience, so no need of Gelatin.

making this food for neon tetras, and bettas if possible who are big time choosy (they generally do not eat anything other than guppy fry...)

can I use fish meal or not advisable?
cant use lotta blood worms or shrimps, dont have that much money.
can add chicken, mutton, beef beefheart if advisable.

Thanks a lot!
__________________

Moderators, please move this thread if it is in the wrong spot.

[gzeiger]

I would not advise chicken or mutton. Generally you want something that is as close as possible to a complete diet, so pure muscle tissue (meat) isn't really it. Heart muscle is better, as you noted, and liver also has a lot of good things in it as a staple.

If you're willing to catch them, insect meal is probably the best thing. Really any insect you can catch will do fine, just chop it up and mix it in. That way you get a good mix of everything.

Really I think the recipe you described is probably fine. I don't know of anything wrong with fishmeal, but there might be.

[ckarta]

Thanks a lot gzeiger!

[epsolon77]

Originally Posted by gzeiger

I would not advise chicken or mutton. Generally you want something that is as close as possible to a complete diet, so pure muscle tissue (meat) isn't really it. Heart muscle is better, as you noted, and liver also has a lot of good things in it as a staple.

If you're willing to catch them, insect meal is probably the best thing. Really any insect you can catch will do fine, just chop it up and mix it in. That way you get a good mix of everything.

Really I think the recipe you described is probably fine. I don't know of anything wrong with fishmeal, but there might be.

This is an interesting topic. I wonder if insects like bee's and wasps and spiders would be an issue becuase of their venom? Any thoughts?

[ckarta]

Originally Posted by epsolon77

This is an interesting topic. I wonder if insects like bee's and wasps and spiders would be an issue becuase of their venom? Any thoughts?

Some fish may have the tolerance to the venom, as Archerfish are known to eat such insects. I have once seen my Guppy female pull in a bee that was collecting water from my pond. the guppies killed the bee and then ate it. but don'y know if they ate the poison glands too or the poison was diluted into water therefore could make no evident harm to guppies.

[epsolon77]

I never realized guppies were such cool creatures. I love em more and more every day! Thankfully my wife now has a purple guppy, so she's happy.

[gzeiger]

Wasps and bees don't really have poison, it's just acid. It's fairly painful in the blood, but I don't think there's anything actually toxic in it, and stomach linings are made to handle acid. The actual stinger would concern me more.

[joy13]

I know you are talking about making food, live food is something you can raise your own. This link has a lot of great ideas Live Foods - The Best Natural Food for Fish! - Compilation

[Trisomy21]

Originally Posted by gzeiger

Wasps and bees don't really have poison, it's just acid. It's fairly painful in the blood, but I don't think there's anything actually toxic in it, and stomach linings are made to handle acid. The actual stinger would concern me more.

It's actually venom, while it is acidic some of the components are dopamine, histamine and some kind of neurotoxin. For their size, bees pack a decent punch, against a fish I'd be concerned.