Julian Sprung's SeaVeggies

[Melody]

Has anyone tried this food? It caught my eye, having tanks full of vegie lovers. 100% Seaweed, various types, no preservatives. From their site (http://www.twolittlefishies.com/tlf_prod_foods.html?lang_id=1):

"Our flakes don't need a list of ingredients. They're seaweed, period. The vitamins they contain are put there by mother nature. The flavors are natural. They're made from chopped natural seaweeds, nothing else. No fillers, just pure natural dried seaweed in tasty little flake-sized bits that your herbivores will devour."

They come in both sheets and flakes. Varieties include:

Green Seaweed (Porphyra yezoensis)
Red Seaweed (Palmaria palmata)
Purple Seaweed (Porphyra umbilicalis)
Mixed Flakes (Palmaria, Porphyra, and Ulva spp.)

I still have some studying to do on the individual varieties before I decide which ones I want. It would be fantastic for fish & inverts requiring good sources of vegetation, including Livebearers, certain Cichlid species, Herbivorous marine fish, Snails & Shrimp.

I'd like to use it primarily in my homemade foods (sheets), but would probably also combine the flakes with Omega One & HBH Vegie Flakes for a good mix to feed.

In Canada it is available at J&L Aquatics (http://www.jlaquatics.com/) (Canada-wide) and that's where I'll be purchasing it.

Any experiences with it?

[Melody]

"Many claims have been made for the effectiveness of seaweeds on human health. It has been suggested, amongst other things, that seaweeds have curative powers for tuberculosis, arthritis, colds and influenza, worm infestations, and may even improve one's attractiveness to the opposite sex."
~ http://www.safariseeds.com/Algae/seaweeds-algae.htm

Umm... hmmmm..... moving right along... :Blush:

Some species have more info than others, but the story is most easily told by color. Some are higher in one thing while another will be higher in something else, so I do think I'll go with a mix. Spirulina still seems to be one of the better choices all around.

Seaweed/algae as a group is considered to be very healthy and also has anti-viral and anti-inflammatory effects, among other things. It is a good source of iodine, vitamin C (highest in brown and green algae) and minerals (including calcium). Seaweeds contain a diverse collection of acids amongst the groups studied. All are a source of carotenoids in one form or another, with brown containing the most variety.

Red & Green Seaweed are the best source of protein amongst those studied, with some species of red being very high. Brown has the least protein. Spirulin(a) is the freshwater algae most frequently studied and its protein content is superior to all seaweeds commonly consumed.

Vitamins include B12 (highest in Spirulin), Vitamin A and brown algaes boast the highest amount of vitamin E.

The interesting conclusion is that it is completely feasible to supply everything required for herbivores/omnivores to increase color and encourage breeding through vegetation. Protein and carotenoids are available in high numbers, yet the color/breeding sales copy would have us believe that breeding condition and optimum coloration is only available through items such as Krill. Maybe these groups of fish are onto something with their wild diet, hmm? ;)

Am I ordering today? Nope. I want to check the grocery store prices. Porphyra yezoensis is also known as Nori and I should be able to track it down. Red Seaweed (Palmaria palmata) is good ol' Dulse. Most of the World's Dulse are supplied by Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, so finding those shouldn't be a prob for a fine Maritime girl like myself :smile: .

[hp10BII]

hmmm...think I have to add more to my human juvie's diets too. I used to add little tiny packets of roasted seaweed to their lunchboxes but they would go stale before I finished the package. Guess the grown-ups should help them out some.

[Melody]

They're used quite extensively in salads, on sandwiches, etc. Apparently children in Japan love little cold rice balls wrapped in... Nori I think it was. I sneak everything into italian dishes personally - nothing covers the taste quite like a good italian sauce. He never knows what hit him. I've even put pureed carrots in the sauce and he hasn't a clue - thickens it up nicely too.;)

It doesn't take much. One source summed it up as follows for Dulse (Red):

"handful” of sun-dried dulse contains…
>100% RDA of Vitamin B6, Flouride, and Iron
66% RDA of B12.
Low in sodium
High levels of protein, calcium, potassium, magnesium, iron, iodine, manganese, copper, chromium, zinc, and vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, C and E.
~ http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~bios336/Presentations_2006/FD1/NeemaA%20FD1.ppt (http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~bios336/Presentations_2006/FD1/NeemaA%20FD1.ppt)

Powerful stuff. My Father loved Dulse, as did we as kids - probably a Maritime thing.

I'm going to try to figure out a way to add it to my perfume :laugh: .

[Melody]

Three grocery stores down and every one of them gave me the "Huh?" look.

One replied "You want what? Is that popular in your home country or something?" to which I responded "This IS my home country, otherwise known as one of the top World suppliers of Dulse - what's YOUR home planet called?"

Oh no wait, I only said the first part outloud....lol.

If anyone knows where I can score some weed, let me know :laugh: .

[bettakim]

If you have a Superstore or larger Zehrs try there. Usually kept in the seafood section in the cooler with the store packaged fish. It says Dulse right on the package and is still in the leaf form - unless some kid has decided to play with the bag and then it's crumbs. Health food/Natural food stores carry it too.

I order ground dulse but the smallest amount you can buy is 18 kgs of it. Not a problem for me as I use it in my dog and cat foods but for most it is a bit too much. I have fed it to the fish and snails for something different/treat, they seemed to love it.

[Melody]

Thanks Kim! I did try Superstore but I suppose its not as popular in the West. I asked a kid who looked to be about 14...lol...so maybe I should ask a manager - they're at least 16 :laugh: . In the Grocery Stores' defence, I can only check out the stores within a mile or so because I don't drive, so there may be larger ones that have it.

I wondered about the health food stores as I know that some carry Spirulina, thanks for the tip, I'll check them next. We also have a Fruiticana - large vegetable/fruit strore, so I planned to check them. I get a lot of my greens from there as they also don't seem to be available in grocery stores.

The bulk sizes might be feasible for a group buy. I make a lot of my own foods and freeze them but not for long enough to use up 18kg's. I could repackage them I suppose. Is it an online source?

[Melody]

Well I'm almost out of flakes anyways, so I decided to order the Mixed & Purple SeaVegies. They'd better like it @ 7.95/30g (just over an ounce) plus tax & shipping. By comparison, I ordered 5.5 oz's of Ocean Nutrition Prime Reef Marine Flake Food for $12.95 + tax & shipping.

Shipping for all three products was $4.95 from J&L - that part is worth it for me because I don't drive and even if I did, it would cost more than that in gas from here to visit the store. For some reason I thought they offered free delivery in BC, but maybe that has changed or I imagined it.

I have fed the mixed sheets of seaweed before and they seemed to prefer purple, so that's why I went with that. The mixed will allow me to try three different types.

Now if I can just track down that fresh stuff, I'll be laughin'.:twitcy:

[Melody]

Well I certainly won't be sharing this stuff :wideeyed: . I was hoping that it would be so super light that the container would be bigger than what I pictured as an ounce of food, but its not. .23 cents/gram - OUCH! Very small containers. I had a beef with the packaging the minute I opened it - its not sealed.

So that's the downsides. There are upsides though! First, I ordered it from J&L (http://www.jlaquatics.com) as mentioned, late on Friday. I figured with ground shipping I would see it on Wednesday or later. The order was processed on Monday and I had it in my fish's tummies by Tuesday, otherwise known as today. Very good delivery time and its a good thing because I was about a day away from having to buy more to tide me over.

The plan is to mix the Sea Vegies with the vegie flake that I have on order, for a nice mix when I do the serving of vegetables. I am still exploring other options of obtaining seaweed and have a few price lists / leads. Its not cheap stuff, but there are definitly less expensive ways to get the very same product.

I found a store in Maine that had a wonderful selection of the stuff in various forms, but they charged an extra $10 on top of actual shipping if you ordered from outside of the US. I've never been charged that for filling out a customs form before, so I refused to purchase from them. Shipping is expensive enough, thank you very much.

The fish appear to love it, but I figured that would be the case, it being algae and them being algae-loving fish for the most part. The Ghost Cats gave me the same look that the kid gives me when I serve peas :laugh: , but otherwise it was popular.

Is it worth all of this trouble and expense? For me and my aquatic creatures, yes. Its 100% pure and the sources I'm looking at are also organic. Its very good for the fish and its a part of their natural diet to one degree or another. The further I can get away from these foods with arsenic/preservatives, additives, fillers, etc, the better off my fish will be. The immunity-building properties are exceptional. They can't help but benefit from it, the way I see it anyway.

[hp10BII]

When I die, I hope to be reincarnated as a speciman (any) in one of your tanks! :smile:

[Melody]

I'm not so sure you want that in writing...lol...I kill fish on a regular basis. I figure its by sheer volume, but I'd flush you without giving it a second thought if you went belly-up because I'm pretty much immune to it by now. :wideeyed: I might curse if you had cost a lot.

BUT you'd eat well and I'd talk to you. You'd be forced to listen to me too. Wow - what pure pleasure that would be.:rolleyes:

[hp10BII]

I wonder what a male black widow spider thinks about before approaching the liar of a female black widow...;)

[Melody]

What any guy thinks when he sees a woman designed to fry a man's brain...

"Man she is HOT!"

Probably the last coherent, albeit foohardy, thought he ever has :laugh: .

[CACAdmin]

I checked out Galloways today and they don't sell any fresh seaweed of course but they do carry the following:
Kombu
Wakame (http://vegetarian.about.com/od/glossary/g/Wakame.htm)
Dulse Powder

[Melody]

Where is that and how much more are these damn fish gonna cost me? :laugh:

[CACAdmin]

It's 3 blocks from my place. There is also one in Richmond. They do have on-line Shopping but they charge an arm and a leg ($14.00 to Surrey on a min. order of $50.00)... Ouch! Check out what they have on their site: http://www.gallowaysfoods.com/ I can always pick up anything you want & drop it off for you. (Not everything is in the store at all times, I guess, but I'm sure they can get anything in for me if I ask nicely). :yes:

[Melody]

That'd rock, thanks. I'll just have to convert it into Bottom Bites to send home with you for your trouble ;-).

$13 to Surrey? What is it, perishable? Has to be overnight shipped? I don't know why businesses kick themselves in the butt with these outrageous fees. Can they not see that they lose far more than they make that way?

[CACAdmin]

Bottom Bites? You said the magic words... if I didn't know better all heads in the tanks turned in my direction as I read that.:laugh: For those of you who haven't tried (well to be more specific, had their critters try) Melody's Bottom Bites, you don't know what you're missing. My fish & snails eat them like candy... a fierce shoving match ensues as everybody tries to get to them first. :laugh:

[Melody]

LOL I haven't sold them for awhile, but once I source more economical suppliers than the retail level they'll be back. Buying at retail I was at a point where I could either use cheap filler ingredients or stop selling them because its not worth it to buy the ingredients, put the time in, pay electricity, etc and resell, so I stopped. Premium food is the whole idea after all, so the quality can't come down. Just about there.:D

But to update the Seaweed experience, some do have a difficult time chomping it down - its tougher than flakes. They say to presoak it on the label. I think it will be much better for varying sizes of fish when I have it mixed with Vegie Flakes so some smaller, more easily 'chewed' food is mixed in for the smaller fish. The Electric Yellow Cichlid LOVES it, but she has teeth. :smile:

[Melody]

It is going to take me forever to find anything on that website...lol....so far all I've managed to find is Kelp, but I'll keep looking!

[CACAdmin]

Best way to find the seaweed is to go to the On line Catalog (http://www.businessvision.net/Edge/Main.asp?D=%7B10BA0CE2%2DF331%2D4245%2D8ACA%2D3325 74100BB7%7D&PageType=AboutStore) link in the text on the right side of their home page, then search for:
kelp
seaweed
dulse

I've put the link in here to make it easier than having to find it.;)

[Melody]

That was my mistake - I tried to search from their main site and got nadda. Then I went to their catalogue and started searching through it all. They list a lot by brand names - like I know who processes Nori? lol Thanks!

[CACAdmin]

You were just being way to logical.:laugh: