Confused?

Hi there Professor !

Been reading allot of threads in this section, thanks for all the great info!

Just one thing, you say that making your own food is a waste of time as we can not get the balance right that is required by fish. But then again you make your own "plant food" ? Would it not be better to use the imported stuff for this aswel? I know that you formulate it to the local water specifically, but how big a difference does this make?

Thanks for the reply in advance !

 

Hi Nimsy,

Thanks for your question and perhaps this issue needs clarification.

With regard to the preparation of food, the main reason why I do not prepare my own food or advise that you prepare your own food is because this is very complex. You need to know what the percentage of proteins and other nutrients of each ingredient must be in order to get this balanced in your final mixture. To prepare a ration or a diet dieticians use computer programs nowadays. Without this you would have a variation in the food you would prepare from one batch to another and you would not know if you would be creating a critical shortage of some of the nutrients which may be very detrimental for your fishes. Then there are two other important things to consider. The first is that steroids additives are used for feeding beef in South Africa and there is no proper control over this. I know this because my brother is a vet. These steroids concentrate in the heart and other internal organs and can sterilize male discus. In Europe the controls over what cows are fed are very tight and thus European beefheart mixtures do not have this problem. The second major problem is that you need to bind all of the components in a mix together so they should not just fall apart and pollute the water, and they can pollute the water massively if they do fall apart, with disastrous consequences with all of the fishes in an aquarium. You need to add a critical amount of agar to bind the food together and this is not so easy and best left to the professionals. Other disadvantages are cost because the components you need would be expensive (shrimps, beefheart from which all fat and membrane are cut off, vitamin tablets, etc), and preparing them in your kitchen is a huge mess (my wife used to have a fit when I used to prepare my mixes.....)

Then, with regard to the plant ferts, we do have drastically different water conditions in South Africa compared to European and USA conditions for which the overseas ferts are formulated. They have very hard water rich in Calcium, magnesium and carbonates. We have very soft water with no calcium, magnesium or carbonates in the Western Cape and the Durban areas and slightly harder water in the Eastern Cape and the Gauteng areas. This requires a completely different approach to ferts in South Africa, overseas ferts just do not work and it is for this reason that I have formulated my own ferts.

I hope this clarifies the issue, but if you have more questions, please feel free to ask.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

I understand now, thanks alot for in-depth explenation!