The last batch I made cost about $15 in seafood and there's enough there to last a solid year. It varies a little from batch to batch depending on what's to be had, but mostly the same
In step-by-step form:
Day 1
1. Buy fresh seafood. My last batch was
- 4 - fresh tiger shrimp
- 6 - littleneck clams
- 6 - mussels
- 6 - oysters
- 6 - scallops
- 1 - small filet of Red Snapper
- 1 - sheet of Nori
- a handful of Dulse (a red seaweed)
- 1 - chunk of frozen cyclopeeze (about 2"x2"x1")
- 3 - T sea urchin roe
- 3 - cloves of garlic (pressed/very finely minced - juice included)
- 1/2 t golden pearls
- the contents of 4 amino acid supplement caplets (pierce the tablet and squeeze out the goo).
- 8 oz. bottle of Kent Zoe
You also need:- food processor
- ziplock bags (sandwich and large freezer size).
2.) Peel/deshell/skin everything, fill 2 bowls with RO water. Put the fish chunks in one and everything else (hereafter referred to as "seafood") in another (seaweeds are added on day 2). Let the stuff soak for 5 -10 minutes. Rinse and repeat. Even fresh fish and seafood is minimally preserved and this usually contains phosphate. We want to get rid of that.
3.) Dice the fish into small-ish cubes (don't worry, it will get processed later) and cut up the shrimp, cut the rest up as desired. It will also get processed later. Right now, the main goal is to get enough contact with the food and the vitamins/supplements you add later. Again, fish meat in one bowl, misc seafood in another - free of as much "juice" as possible. Rinse it again. Then add enough Zoe (or whatever vitamin supplement(s) you use) to coat everything in the bowls. I also add the cyclopeeze, GPs, aminos and garlic at this time - usually just in the seafood bowl. Mix well.
4.) Cover the bowls and put it in the fridge overnight. I like to shake the bowls up a few times during the basting process to increase vitamin absorption.
Day 2
1.) Get your seaweed(s) and let them soak until rehydrated. Drain and set aside.
2.) Get your food processor - not needed, but better than finely mincing everything you have in the bowls.
You should find that your food has soaked up most all of the vitamin you put in there. Using Zoe, my food is basically a very bright green when I process it.
3.) Get the fish bowl and drain off excess vitamins/juice, mix it up real good and spoon it into the processor. Chop the fish until it turns into a nice thick paste. This is why you want to minimize the amount of liquid put into the processor. Amazingly, it's kind of the "gel" in the mix and will not just disappear into small bits when added to the tank. Take the fish out and set in a bowl.
3.) Slice up the seaweed into smaller strips and add to the seafood (non-fish). Chop away. The reason I use two bowls and do the fish separately is becasue the seafood takes less chopping than the fish. Process the seafood to desired consistency. Take into account the size of the mouths of the fish you're targeting.
4.) Mix it all together.
5.) Get the ziplock sandwich bags and make about 3 double bags. Spoon in about 1/3 of this mix into a bag. Lay it flat, spread it flat and push as much air out as you can. The food should be pretty thick, not runny. Seal the bag until one little corner is still open and get the remaining air out. Seal both sandwich bags. Repeat for the rest of the food.
6.) Put all this food into one or two larger zip bags and lay flat in the freezer. If you spread it flat enough, you can break off what you need for feeding. I actually have a small paring knife I use only for cutting off a chunk of food.
7.) I thaw this food in RO again, stir it up to separate it and pour through a brine shrimp net. The food is still green when I feed it to the tank. It will smell like fishy garlic.
Only use one bag at a time. If you keep the others sealed in their bags with minimal air, they won't burn. I've made batches that have lasted over 2 years without going "bad". I may add that I have yet to loose a fish to something other than carpet surfing or an errant powerhead visit. That tells me they're eating OK.
Everything eats it.
I feed this mix 2 days and then a day of mysis, then 2 days of the mix, then a day of mysis....etc. That's it!
Hope you find this useful...
