Fry Food Option

[Melody]

Here's an option for your herbivore/omnivore fry. I've been trying it for awhile now and they love it. Powdered seaweed!

Seaweed is simply awesome for fish - builds immunity, packed with vitamins & veggie protein, minerals, color enhancing, etc. When you're raising herbivores/omnivores, including shrimp, snails & fish, it seems like a logical part of a fanastic diet for growing creatures.

I haven't tested it long enough to come to any solid conclusions in regards to growth rates and I doubt I ever will, since I feed so many types and forms of food. However, the fry that I feed it to are growing and healthy so it certainly isn't doing them any harm.

You can find seaweed powders in most health food stores and a little goes a very long way. I snapped this picture when Jay tracked it down & dropped it off one day. Dunno what I'd do without my fishy friends!


http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/MM-DulsePowder.jpg


What else do I feed them? Good ol' BBS (frozen), along with gut-loaded Microworms when I have them, in the frozen/live department. Otherwise I prefer crushed freeze-dried foods, followed by high quality flake like Omega One, Ocean Nutrition & some egg flakes. If I can figure out how to crush Dainichi fine enough then I'll feed that too, but overall pellets aren't the best choice, in my opinion, as they have to stay in the water too long to be soft enough for the fry to eat - that means a lot of lost vitamin content. Shrimp pellets soften quickly though, and I prefer the protein & vitamin content in Omega One shrimp pellets when I feed those. For vegies, pealed & quartered peas are the ticket for fry - nice & soft for them & also packed with vitamins & vegetable protein.

For the homemade foods I prefer fresh seaweed or seaweed flakes (such as Sea Veggies flakes), but I do add powder too, especially when I can't find the other forms.

As per usual, watch the amount - many, many more fish die from overfeeding than underfeeding. Lots of water changes are a must for good growth rates and overall health.

Have fun with those Spring babies, and be sure to let me know if you try the seaweed and how it went for you. Its important to document as many experiences as possible if we are to reach anything close to a reliable conclusion, regardless of what we discuss. That's the great part about forums!

[Melody]

Stage two for the snail Hatchlings - Flaked Seaweed:

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/MM-HatchlingsSeaVeggies.jpg


Doesn't exactly surprise me that they love it, but its nice to have it confirmed. :yes:

[Melody]

Shrimp love the seaweeds as well, incidentally, or any that I've tried it on anyway.

Since Naturose is also a seaweed, I thought I'd mention that here too as an alternative fry food if you need to feed powder consistency. I posted the Naturose info in another thread, so I'll just bring that into this one...

Naturose is a concentrated, processed form of the algae Haematococcus pluvialis, used primarily in the hobby for its colour enhancement. Colour improvement can be reportedly seen after only a few feedings. It is 85% Astaxanthin and it has been proven that naturally sourced Astaxanthin is much more beneficial and stable than synthetic Astaxanthin. It brings fatty acids and antioxidants with it as well. Its also more expensive, so most commercial products use synthetic Astaxanthin.

Studies have shown it to be anti-viral, anti-inflammatory and an immunity builder. It has improved fertility in males and is used in animal feeds to improve breeding and fertility. It has also been shown to improve growth rates in fish.

There is a good article about H. pluvialis here (http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/jun252006/1602.pdf).

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/Naturose.jpg

You can also purchase powdered Spirulina in many Health food stores and from some fish food suppliers.

The great thing about seaweed in regards to food processing (my latest pet peeve), is that most (if not all) is spray dried or freeze-dried. These methods preserve many more naturally sourced vitamins than the extreme heat processing used by the vast majority of fish food manufacturers.

[ChrissyFishy]

You just sprinkle some in like crushed flakes? Should I use less?

[Melody]

Much less, but then you shouldn't feed much of any food to fry at one feeding. They can only eat so much and utilize so much. Tiny, frequent feedings seem to be the ticket. Think of as much powder as would stick to the end of a wet toothpick and it will be about right. I dip a little wooden icecream spoon into powder, just the tip, and then tap whatever sticks to it into the tank. I usually do a powder mix of freeze-dried foods with the algae powders mixed in.

[Melody]

Added a pic of the Naturose in case anyone was curious.

The Livebearer fry have gone nuts over the seaweed powders and I raise baby snails in the same tanks so they get the leftovers. Growth rates have been fantastic, colour is exceptional and losses are minimal. I'll definitly be keeping this in their diet plan.

I'm sure algae-loving shrimp and baby BN Plecos would also love to do clean-up duty. The Naturose will colour up the Red Cherry Shrimp nicely too.:smile: