Wal-Mart reef tank food?

[kupadupapupa]

I would like to try and make some home made food to feed my fish but all recipes that I see call for fresh seafood from Asian markets. The only store I have around is Wal-Mart so I was wondering if anyone can tell me if there is a good frozen seafood medley that I can buy and just puree? I know they also sell some seafood but I'm not sure how fresh it is.

[uny2bld]

Originally Posted by kupadupapupa

The only store I have around is Wal-Mart

ok - thats depressing... Just my opinion but I avoid WalMart like the plauge... I'd drive further just to get to a real grocery store

as far as fish food goes, that totally depends on your livestock...

[kupadupapupa]

Yeah it sucks. The closest market that probably would sell fresh fish is in Cleveland which is a 2 hour drive. We do have a Hawkins and Buehlers but they have even less of a selection then Wal-Mart so they aren't even worth going to.

[TimeConsumer]

Originally Posted by kupadupapupa

Yeah it sucks. The closest market that probably would sell fresh fish is in Cleveland which is a 2 hour drive. We do have a Hawkins and Buehlers but they have even less of a selection then Wal-Mart so they aren't even worth going to.

Wow, I guess I take for granted the availability of seafood here in New Orleans. I can go catch live finger mullet, shrimp, and crabs 10 minutes from my house. It sounds like your best option would be to drive out to where you can find decent seafood and buy enough to make the trip worth it (split it with friends perhaps?).

[LobsterOfJustice]

Buy a bag of frozen cocktail shrimp and run them over a cheese grater. Instant uniform bite size shrimp pieces. I've never had luck with pureeing anything in a blender.

[kissman]

they have medly mix in a small bag that has several different types of fish, crab, etc... I used it worked great. I did rinse good to get any PO4 off that I could.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Aqua-Star-...14-oz/16627963

[sirreal63]

Whole Foods...no preservatives or additives, you can get enough to last a year or more easily.
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/list

[CliftonArbogast]

Walmart seafood is what i use, they are the experts at freezing and its gonna be frozen after i blend it anyway. My secret is to blend it frozen in small batched to the right size, i find this gives me a good range of sizes and I add fish oil and dried seaweed to the mix to make it a little more variety.

[BigAl2007]

Originally Posted by sirreal63

Whole Foods...no preservatives or additives, you can get enough to last a year or more easily.
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/list

It's wild because the first one on that page was just right up the road from me. I had no idea....

GreenLife Grocery of Asheville

[sirreal63]

I have been using Whole Foods for a long time, their seafood is awesome. Tell them what you are doing and that you need a little of this and a little of that. Get a wide variety, take home and wash lightly, put 1/4 of ingredients in blender and puree to a very fine mush, this is for the tank, (my sps extend polyps when I feed, so I am sure they are taking in some, but it has to be puree'd to be small enough) take the rest and chop finely for the fish. I also add PE Mysis and a variety of frozen foods including Cyclop-eeze frozen, Nori or whatever you can find, variety is a good thing. Mix all into a large bowl, put into zip lock baggies, enough to just cover the baggie laying flat, then stick into freezer laying flat. At feeding time just break off what you need and put into a cup with tank water. Watch your fish go nuts over it.

I usually make enough to last a year or so, and when you do the math, it is a bargain and is excellent for feeding.

[apw63]

Originally Posted by kissman

they have medly mix in a small bag that has several different types of fish, crab, etc... I used it worked great. I did rinse good to get any PO4 off that I could.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Aqua-Star-...14-oz/16627963

Kissman do you put that in a blender then freeze in to cubes? Do you add anything else to it?

Andy

[badonkadonk]

The last batch of frozen mixed seafood I bought for my reef was either from Costco or Trader Joes, and prominently on the label it said did not contain polyphosphate, like they were appealing to the natural or organic market. So you might want to look on the ingredients list for what they have at WalMart for any sign of phosphate/polyphosphate. Though if you thaw and rinse well you'll probably remove nearly all of it anyway. As for blending it, you tend to get some mush and bigger chunks. The mush makes the water cloudy for a while, but the coral polyps really come out for it, so I think mush is fine. Also, when I make my own frozen food, I find it hardly knocks down the skimmer foam like the pre-packaged foods (Rods, Hikari, H20 Life etc.). I have a Philipine fish market near my work, so get all sorts of good stuff there now and don't use the frozen seafood mixes any longer. But I'm sure the WalMart stuff is fine, just thaw, soak and rinse well to be on the safe side.

[badonkadonk]

I can also add that when I make my own food I pour it out of the blender into 1 gallon ziplock freezer bags and spread it out about 3/8" thick, put it on a pan and freeze flat. That makes nice bricks that I can easily snap off pieces for feeding. I snap off a chunk that will last 3 days and thaw that out in a cup, sometimes with some added water, and pour into the tank twice a day or when I remember. I used to use eggcrate to make cubes but found that to be a hassle compared to the bags.

[kupadupapupa]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

[kupadupapupa]

Originally Posted by badonkadonk

The last batch of frozen mixed seafood I bought for my reef was either from Costco or Trader Joes, and prominently on the label it said did not contain polyphosphate, like they were appealing to the natural or organic market. So you might want to look on the ingredients list for what they have at WalMart for any sign of phosphate/polyphosphate. Though if you thaw and rinse well you'll probably remove nearly all of it anyway. As for blending it, you tend to get some mush and bigger chunks. The mush makes the water cloudy for a while, but the coral polyps really come out for it, so I think mush is fine. Also, when I make my own frozen food, I find it hardly knocks down the skimmer foam like the pre-packaged foods (Rods, Hikari, H20 Life etc.). I have a Philipine fish market near my work, so get all sorts of good stuff there now and don't use the frozen seafood mixes any longer. But I'm sure the WalMart stuff is fine, just thaw, soak and rinse well to be on the safe side.

Do you by any chance remember what the mix from costco was called? Or was it just a generic label that just says frozen seafood or something of that nature?

[badonkadonk]

I happen to have a package in my freezer (for us, not the tank): Premium Seafood Medley, Item no. 38593, $6/pound - $14.99 for the package I bought. If you have a bait shop around, you might be able to find some live small fish there which you can freeze (a humane way to kill fish supposedly) and then chop 'em up in a processor or blender. The whole items that still have the guts are more nutritious. The mussels are the only whole item in the frozen mix package - everything else has been cleaned. You could also add some nori (wonder if they have that at Walmart?) for vegetable matter and freeze dried cyclops or zooplankton if you have smaller fish and corals.

[mkoop]

We dont always realize how nice it is to have things closely available... I lived in a town that the closest Walmart was about 45 minutes. That was a long few years to say the least.

[degibson84]

Originally Posted by kupadupapupa

Yeah it sucks. The closest market that probably would sell fresh fish is in Cleveland which is a 2 hour drive. We do have a Hawkins and Buehlers but they have even less of a selection then Wal-Mart so they aren't even worth going to.

This can't be possible i live an hour from cleveland and i have tons of stores around me

[kupadupapupa]

Originally Posted by badonkadonk

I happen to have a package in my freezer (for us, not the tank): Premium Seafood Medley, Item no. 38593, $6/pound - $14.99 for the package I bought. If you have a bait shop around, you might be able to find some live small fish there which you can freeze (a humane way to kill fish supposedly) and then chop 'em up in a processor or blender. The whole items that still have the guts are more nutritious. The mussels are the only whole item in the frozen mix package - everything else has been cleaned. You could also add some nori (wonder if they have that at Walmart?) for vegetable matter and freeze dried cyclops or zooplankton if you have smaller fish and corals.

Thanks for that. I will have to give that a try next time we take a trip out to costco. Did you still soak and rinse that frozen stuff?

[badonkadonk]

No, I never rinsed the Costco or Trader Joes mix since I didn't suspect phosphate (the ingredients never listed anything other than the seafood), just thawed and drained any juice before blending.

[donald altman]

I often go fishing.. sometimes I have extra bait left over that becomes reef food. (live shrimp, small live bait fish ect.) If I catch big fish I will save the trimmings and will usually get the roe when cleaning the fish, the small size is ideal for coral.
I take the blended trimmings and add some flake, some garlic, and some krill mix it all up and into a zip lock flat like mentioned by badonkadonk.

I've also fed small red wiggler worms left over from pond fishing.
The anemones and fish seem to like them.

[Reeferz412]

clams (recommended by Paul B), tetra jumbo krill that has been thrown into a food processor(recommended by sk8tr), and I mix ocean nutrition flakes with the krill. works awesome. I picked up the clams at my grocery store.