What veggies do YOU want in the LRS HERBIVORE BLEND?

[ReefFrenzy]

Hello Friends on RS,

As many of you know we are developing a new blend which we hope to start shipping my December 2012. We have had many requests from saltwater and freshwater hobbyists asking for a blend with about 50% protein and the rest veggies.

So we have been researching various land based vegetables and their ability to be used in a marine aquarium frozen food product. It dawned on me that since we are producing this food for YOU the consumer, I should solicit your decades of experience and listen to your advice.

If you have any suggestions on what has worked when your club made food, or what did not I would love to hear it! Have you had any bad experiences freezing and thawing certain veggies?

We are looking at creating a Herbivore blend that is all natural with no preservatives or fillers, and with organic pesticide free veggies.

So far I have heard from others that I should add the following to the Herbivore blend:

Frozen peas, shelled if I can find them
Frozen spinach ( what if I blanched fresh spinach, cooled it, then froze....sounds better to me)
Dried Nori (red and green)
Red Romaine lettuce
Collard Greens (blanched)
Slivers of zucchini skin (blanched)
Slivers of carrots (blanched)
Broccoli tops (blanched)

Your feedback is appreciated....

Larry

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[steved13]

Sounds good to me. I read somewhere that "Ocean veggies" are the best. When it's ready I'll be ordering some.

[foxsavage]

I've used kelp powder with excellent results

[ReefFrenzy]

Foxsavage,

Please tell me more....how do you keep the powder from just disbursing into the water column if you simply add the powder to the frozen food mix?

[foxsavage]

I mix all the ingredients together in the blender then I make a batch of agar and wait for it to cool enough so it won't cook it, then mix it together and put in the refrigerator to gel before freezing. You can put a small amount in a ziploc and cool it for a few minutes in the freezer first to make sure it gels properly if not add more agar. Once you get the ratio down it works every time. After it's frozen I usually cut it into cubes to make it easier to use. When feeding I just thaw a cube in some rodi and break it up and feed.

[ReefFrenzy]

Thanks for the clarification. I'm not familiar with agar, except that it is a food grade "jello" used to bind foods and powders into a gelatinous form. I am determined to not add any such products into our foods, but I am sure they are harmless and they worked well for your needs. I'm sort of searching for what results people have had feeding say spinach to a sea dwelling tang, who never would experience that food in the wild.

I know other marine foods have added land based greens, so I am not discovering a new planet here, but I was curious what everyone thought about the subject.

[foxsavage]

Agar is used as a gelatin substitute, it's made from red algae. The only other greens I've used are nori, they work well but are much more expensive, for tangs they're better as a whole food that they can graze on.

[reefin101]

a mix of different nori and brocolli!

Probably whatever the herbivore based fish diets in general consit of....

[ReefFrenzy]

Thanks Reefin101!

I have those to items covered . I am experimenting with the freeze/thaw of fresh spinach, collard greens, baby peas, carrots and zucchini rinds. A lot of these have been added to foods before, I just want to make sure there are no negative effects. We want to release a product that is unlike any other on the market to offer your herbivores a nutritious mix of veggies and some clean protein, as well as HUFA.

Larry


Larry

[steved13]

Larry, I'm not sure if you've seen these threads, or if it's more info than you're looking for, but some very good reading.

Macro Algae for Marine Fishes

How To Feed Macro Alage to Marine Fishes

Different Forms of Marine Fish Foods

[ReefFrenzy]

Awesome Steve!

Thanks..I will get to reading........

Larry

[steved13]

Thank me by letting me know when it comes out so I can buy some.