There are several key factors we consider when making
our fish food. Requirements:
1. It needs to be high in digestible
protein with complete amino acid profile.
2. It needs to be cheap.
3. Must be supplemented with
HUFA (Highly Unsaturated Fatty Acids), specifically Omega-3 fatty acids.
4. Must have vegetable matter
for digestive system health.
Taboo:
1. It should not have solid
fats, sinew or indigestible gristle (which is constipating).
2. It should not be more expensive
than the food I eat. (I can't see having my fish eat food more expensive
than I do)
Years ago (early 80's) when
we first started to make our own fish food, beef heart was the cheapest
lean meat on the market. For some unknown reason, this is no longer the
case. Beef heart takes a great deal of cutting to prepare, so we looked
for another type of heart. We can buy chicken hearts for $2.79 a pound.
Chicken hearts are easier to prepare, but approximately 1/3 is wasted which
drives up the cost.
Chicken breast is one of the
leaner meats available at approx. 7% fat. Depending on sales, it can be
purchased for $0.99 to $2.99 a pound. It is very easy to remove the skin,
most of the fat, and bone, especially after it has been cooked. We first
remove all fat and skin possible, then boil all our fresh meat before grinding
it. The boiling removes even more traces of fat and kills the unwanted
bacteria, especially sahnonelia.
The base meat of our fish food
is chicken breast. Other ingredients we pick and choose from for the main
course mixture include: - Canned clams, - Tuna - boil if fresh or frozen,
- whitefish such as Rockfish, sole, cod, or halibut, - frozen scallops,
- shelled jumbo shrimp (deveining is not required), - rehydrated
decapsulated brine shrimp (rehydrate first!), - spinach- I box of frozen
spinach per 4-5 pounds of chicken and - pureed baby food carrots. These
ingredients can be bound together by gelatin, about one package per pound
of mixture. Nutritional supplements can include: • Cod liver oil or
Menhaden
oil (source of Omega-3), • Spirulina powder and - vitamins (multiple, B,
and C).
Cook all raw meats and then allow them to cool. We use a meat grinder that
attaches to our Kitchen Center for mixing the main ingredients. Grind the
"main course" ingredients TWICE through a meat grinder.
We find it helpful to add unflavored-gelatin
to the food for the adults. Gelatin binds the n-iix together so the adults
can really take a bite out of it before it disassociates. To do this we
dissolve 5 packages unflavored gelatin in I cup boiling water for every
5 lbs of ingredients and then stir it in to the mixture. Baby Bettas
are
gape limited, so it's easier for them to eat the food without gelatin,
since it breaks in to smaller pieces.
Liquid vitamins are stirred
into the mixture after grinding and adding gelatin. If vitaniin tablets
are used, crush them in a blender and dissolve in a cup of cold water and
stir into the niix. You should not add the vitamins to a hot mixture as
heat denatures many vitamins, but gelatin will set quickly which is why
the cooked meats were previously cooled.
After the ingredients are thoroughly
mixed, we put I cup portions in quart freezer bags; pat smooth squeezing
out the air and freeze. That makes the sheets of food thin enough to be
able to break or cut off pieces easily for feeding.
When we make food, we usually
do 15-20 pounds at a time. As long as we're up to our elbows in the mess
it seems easier to do it in mass quantities. (We have a freezer shelf set
aside just for the fish food. J) I figure the cost is about $2.50 a pound.
This may be overwhelming for some people, but would make a great project
for a club to do together and split up. Of course, it can be scaled down
to any size. o
Flare!
13
January/February 2003