Feeding catfish

[novafishy]

Hey guys, with the conitunuous feeding of a variety of veges to my catfish - BNs, OS, whiptails etc... the cost of feeding these veges start to add up. cucumbers and zuchinnis are constantly $3.99 -$6.99 p/kg - which is bloody expensive if you ask me. i buy about 4-5 cucumbers/zuchinnis a week, so it does add up in the long run.

How do you guys over come this problem? do you make friends with your local grocery shop owner to get a discount? if only the owner kept fish too...then you could do a swap.

where have you guys found the cheapest place for these vegies around my area?

Would love to hear from you guys. thanks!

[OziOscar]

I'm not sure how close it is to you, but the vegie market at the corner of Windsor Rd and Campbell St (1 block north of James Ruse Drive) is quite cheap.

I haven't done it there, but at other fruiterers and the like, if you try to find the boss and just tell them what you are doing, you can get non-premium produce for very little or nothing (eg could be not quite fresh or part of the item isn't very aesthetically pleasing).

HTH.

Cheers - OziOscar.

EDIT: Fixed poor spelling. Bad day. Alcohol involved. My excuse and sticking to it.

[Ducksta]

1. Take ozioscars advice

2. When you manage to get something cheap, whatever particular vege it happens to be that week, buy alot, and utilise freezer space

3. Be thankful it is not algae disks you are buying a kilo a week of.

[novafishy]

i read somewhere that freezing veges will affect the cells in them, causing some sort of degrading...

is this true? or am i hearing things?

so its definitely safe to freeze cucumbers/zuchinnis?

for how long would be the max freezing period?

[timmy2422]

G'day mate. Out here we dont buy things like "zuchinnis", we grow 'em. I suggest you try this at the correct time of year if you have the room in your "city" backyards. Good Luck Mate.

[OziOscar]

Forgot - when you see sales on at Asian food joints, go looking for 'Nori'. It's roast Japanese seaweed for making sushi. In short, it's giant algae in flat sheet form. Most fish love it.

If you can get the ones marked as "Made In Japan" you're going to be safer than the ones made elsewhere because Japanese are very touchy about additives in their food. It's just pulled out of the sea, washed and pressed between hot rollers to make it flat. The ones from elsewhere are OK for people, but don't taste as good, and I would be suss about giving it to the fish.

A pack about an inch thick (2.5 cm for those of you that talk the new money) runs about $5 on sale or about $7.50 normally (Chatswood prices here - definitely cheaper elsewhere like Hurstville, Cabramatta, etc).

Either tear it up and sprinkle it the same way as you would flakes, else give it five minutes in some fresh water so it gets wet and bulkier and sinks.

Cheap. Cheerful. Healthy.

Cheers - OziOscar.

PS - And you don't wanna know what I do with whole frozen Tilapia at $4.50 a kilo.

[OziOscar]

Hey Nova

Yes, freezing is reputed to reduce the nutritional value of food somewhat. No one has been able to present empirical evidence that I have seen, so far. However, I'm reasonably sure that a month or two in ye olde deepe freeze won't do anything detrimental to your livestock, as part of a varied and balanced diet.

Cheers - OziOscar.

[novafishy]

thanks for that tip V!

I thought that the nori sheets have got some salt content in it...will this affect the water parameters in anyway? what other additives are there in the nori sheets that should be taken into consideration?

btw, what DO you do with whole frozen Tilapia at $4.50 a kilo?

[OziOscar]

Hey Nova

The cheap nori from China has only-God-knows-what in it. I'm sure that some of the makers there are purists like the Japanese, but I can't read Chinese and my gf will get ticked with me if I ask her to read every packet to find out what brand is pure enough for the fish. Just don't buy it from a regular supermarket - the price is extortion - like $10 for enough sheets for one maki-sushi making session (5 or 6 rather than about 100).

In most cases, a little salt isn't an issue. For most livestock, it's relatively beneficial <<insert disclaimer here!>>.

And the frozen Tilapia get defrosted and grilled with chilli, ginger and some shallots and served with a soy sauce and Chinese cooking wine and... Oh - you mean for the fish? Defrost, strip the carcass, blend it, add a little gelatine and some nori, lay it flat on a tray and let it dry out (freezer is good). Crack it into blocks / flakes / fragments and feed it to your non-herbivorous fish. They love it and it's nice and high in protein that they can easily absorb. Reasonably close to a natural diet for a predator.

Cheers - OziOscar.

PS - V? How you know my name?

[novafishy]

Yeh I will look out for the nori sheets next time. thanks!

PS - V? How you know my name?

ah hah!!! I'm psychic.

[Red Tail Shark]

Hey Nova

I feed my bristlenose prawns, zucchini, brocolli and any other suitable vegie i can find especially if the wife is going to throw them out cause there not quite up to standard from sitting in fridge to long throw them all in the blender with a bit of gelatine then wack that into ice cube trays and freeze them the bristlenose seem to love it so do my mystery snails, guppies, electric yellows i ve been feeding them this for a 2-3 months now and no ill effects seem to have come from freezing the food

Cheers Cal

[OziOscar]

Yeh I will look out for the nori sheets next time. thanks!

PS - V? How you know my name?

ah hah!!! I'm psychic.

←

And I'm and amnesiac...

How embarrassment... Sorry dude. Crap day.

Cheers - OziOscar aka 'V'.

[teflon]

Worst thing that can happen to a vege in the freezer is "Freezer burn" i suggest cutting into portions and filling the lunch box full of water and freezing.

My Cats get:

Broccoli

Zucchini

Celery

Algae discs

Protein pellets

Sera Flora

Pumpkin

Lettuce (Iceberg only because I don't eat cos )

When I am cooking pumpkin,zucchini,broccoli or other veges I keep a little aside (or use scraps) and freeze until i use them, Saves me going to the Fruit market just to get catfish food and you arent clogging up your bin with rotten scraps

And when i dont use them for catfish the scraps go under the Passionfruit vine

[carlos]

there u go nova... i'm sure brandon can help you out with free... i mean cheap nori sheets!

Parklea markets has a pretty dirt cheap fruits and veg section

[Alan]

An often asked question!!!!

Pumpkin is just about the staple in my catfish tanks. The Jap or 'Kent' variety is favourite and I don't even peel it. The lot gets sliced and par boiled so it will sink and it is cosistantly under $1 /kg here.

I only use other veg like zuchinni when cheap or left overs from the kitchen.

When my breeders are in full spate I use a kilo or more a day.

Alan.

[novafishy]

thanks for the replies guys.

Alan - can pumpkin be a staple diet along with the algae wafers and shrimp pellets?

What other varieties of pumpkin are there? apparently the Jap variety is the softest. Is this the best one to use?

thanks!

[xinguinsis]

Whole pumpkins also store quite well if you come across a bargain and you have enough fish to justify buying them.

[gianniz]

you don't have to give fresh vegies for diet all the time.

just go get yourself the medium sized sinking pellets you get from cichlid society.

my catfish love that stuff. (and its cheap)

once in a while give them fresh vegies.

[Alan]

Yeah, pumpkin is pretty much the staple for my ancistrus and plecos. Of course it is seasonal, other veg is just as cheap some times.

They also get 'barra pellets' , snacks and tid bits of what ever is going, wafers once or twice a week, and what ever the dither fish in the tank miss on the way down like flake and krill.

Alan.

[novafishy]

What are barra pallets alan?

[Ducksta]

Wes they are a high protein bulk fish food that farmed fish (barra, trout, etc) get raised on.

Gianniz, what are the bulk pellets that are cheaper than fresh vege??

If your using a kilo of vege a week, and you replace it with pellets, your going to need somwhere close to 600 grams to provide the same bulk (remembering most bege's have a much higher water content than pellets.

Vege's are the cheap option - make no mistake.

[novafishy]

Ok, i bought some zuchinnis for cheap and put them in the freezer. took them out a few days later and left them in the fridge to thaw out slowly.

came back several hours later and they've got all soggy and virtually useless!

so i took another zuchinni from the freezer and put it in the fridge for only an hour.

came back and cut it up while it was still semi-frozen. put it in the tank at 25 degrees and it became soggy and mushy after about 5 minutes!

whats the deal? am i defrosting it wrongly?

[Colfish]

i bought some zuchinnis for cheap

were they already soft when ya bought them?

it became soggy and mushy after about 5 minutes!

←

don't worry about it, they still love 'em, just be ready for a quick clean up

[TropheusQueen]

Hey hey,

You are not defrosting incorrectly Any food product with a high water content such as fruit and veges, do not freeze well ie when thawed they rarely resemble the original product.

As Col said the fish will love them anyway - just a bit messy for you .

Cheers

Aline

[Ducksta]

Yea, should have been more specific, sorry mate.

They will be a bit softer, but my guys go through a whole large zucchini in an hour or 2 so there isn't much to worry about. Also I don't defrost it, just cut and sink it.

What I do find is that some vege's freeze better generally (ie pumpkin better than cucumber which is better than zucchini) but also the quality of the produce before freezing plays a major part.

If the zucchini is already too soft I wouldn't freeze it, I'd probably whack it in the blender with other vege's and some white fish and make a frozen food with it.

ps. Now is the time to plant zucchini vines to grow wild all spring/summer. They are mad producers!!! And way cheaper than buying them every week