How To Make Fish Food

Why make your own fish food when you can buy it already made, Because fish generally do better when their diets are supplemented with fresh foods than on a steady diet of processed prepared foods. Making your own fish food is also a great way to add natural color enhancers to your fish’s diet. I’m not inclined to measure ingredients, either when I cook for people or when I make food for fish.

I’ll often go with what looks good at the supermarket, or with whatever I happened to have on hand in the kitchen. So I won’t give you a fish food recipe. But I do want to provide you with some general guidelines to keep in mind when you make food for the fish that you keep.

If you’re someone who does needs to follow a recipe, then you might want to try the one developed by Kurt Johnston of the Lancaster Aquarium Society, over on the Guitarfish blog. Most fish are omnivores, so any good fishfood should begin with a combination of animal and vegetable foods.

Fish filet and bell peppers are a good start. In general, I combine fresh ingredients like fish or beefheart and fresh vegetables with dry ingredients like ground seaweed and paprika. I also add binding agents, such as gelatin and agar, to the mix. I blend all the ingredients together in a food processor, then spread the mix into a shallow baking pan and wait for it to solidify.

When it’s all done, I’ll cut it into squares, which I store individually in small plastic bags, and thaw as I need it. With very few exceptions, most fish are omnivores needing a mix of animal and plant foods to thrive. So I like to combine some sources of animal protein with some greens or other vegetable component.

For the animal fare, I like to start with a pound of filet from a sea-going fish, or a pound or so of beef heart, trimmed of fat and gristle. Fish living in the wild probably don’t come upon fat very often, so the dense saturated fat on beef heart or other meats might be hard for them to digest.

Fish filets are naturally lean and don’t need to be trimmed. I usually go with whichever fish happens to be least expensive at the time I buy it. If price isn’t much of a concern, salmon is a good choice, because it contains color-enhancing carotenoids. I like to use sea-going fish to lessen the chance that the flesh might contain a bacteria or other organism that might be passed on to my fish.

My reasoning is that a saltwater infectious organism would have a hard time adapting to the freshwater conditions in my tanks. For the vegetable component, I usually add some chopped bell pepper, de-seeded, and with the stem removed. Dried ingredients absorb the water in fresh ingredients, helping to keep the water from fouling.

Dried ingredients also may be sources of concentrated carotenoids. I combine the meat and vegetables with dry ingredients to soak up the excess water. I buy dried shrimp from the Asian grocery store near my house, and grind some up in a coffee grinder. Dried seaweed—also available at Asian grocery stores—is another of my favorite dry ingredients. It comes in either pressed sheets, or stalks and leaves, either of which can be ground into a fine powder. And I nearly always add a couple of tablespoons (or more) of paprika—again, for the carotenoids.