SAE food

I noticed that the plecs and SAE's at my lfs are being fed babymarow.

My Sae seems to love it. Is there anything wrong with this? Except that my sae might stop eating algae which is why i got him in the first place


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Hi there
Unfortunately i cannot give any advice on the food. But i am battling to find SAE's which is your lfs - i see you in little falls - im in Northcliff.

 

Mikael

The new pet shop in retail crossing, moved from Cresta. Had Sae,s about a week ago.


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my Sae eats everything, flakes and even pleco foods , just feed enough food for your fish and the sae will eat algae when they are hungry, mine stopped eating algae when i was overfeeding my fish. once i corrected it never seen algae in my tank again @MikaelNaidoo check the pet shop in clearwater

 

@Hectorcl I make up a special treat for my SAEs, and plecos love it too.

I posted this recipe before, but I've refined it somewhat since then so I think it may be worth posting again.


Chuck a packet of baby marrow a cup of frozen green peas, a cup of chopped spinach and a clove of garlic into a blender. (The garlic helps prevent internal parasite infestation) Add some water (just enough to get the stuff roiling when you switch on, adjust quantity as needed)

Blend on high until you have a nice smooth goop.

Freeze it in batches of about 125ml each sealed in small zip-lock plastic bags.

Okay, here comes the interesting part. You can do a couple of things with this goop.

You can:

1. Defrost one bag at room temp in a small plastic bakkie (With lid!) Single sandwich size works well.

While you're waiting for the goop to defrost, place 2tsp plain gelatin in a cup. Add 25 ml cold (or luke warm) water to the gelatine. Stir well and let it sit till the goop has defrosted.

By the time the goop has defrosted, the gelatin should be dissolved. If it has set and is not runny, or is not completely disolved, don't panic, just microwave it for not more than 10 sec. (Trust me any longer, and you're going to have an almighty mess!)

At this point, if your fish are a bit run down, you might want to add about 3 drops of liquid multivitamins. I found some 'Brunel Multivit' syrup at the Pharmacy that's pretty good. No sugar, artificial favour, artificial colour or alcohol, plus it's cheap (Under R20 for 100ml) Please note: this is optional. One should be careful not to overdose with vitamins (This applies to Humans as well) as overdosing CAN become toxic.

Add the dissolved (liquid) gelatin to the goop. Cover with the lid, shake till well mixed and place in the fridge so set.

To feed your SAE or Pleco, simply cut off a slice of this jelly, and drop it into the tank.

Note: The reason for making up small batches is that this does NOT keep for long unless it's frozen. Maybe 5 days (even in the fridge) and then it gets mouldy. You can adjust your batch size according to your personal needs.

In my previous version, I added the gelatin to the goop before I froze it. That DOESN'T work! You can't freeze gelatin, it just gets all mushy when you defrost it.


I don't know about you guys, but my Pleco seems to poop twice his body mass every day. I have had to do a gravel vac twice a week to keep his tank clean. When he eats this goop (and he loves it), his poop FLOATS and it's easy to scoop out every day. Bonus!


2. You can make it into flakes! Simple!

Line a cookie baking tray with aluminum foil. Pour a little goop (without the gelatin) in the middle of the tray. Tilt and twist the tray till there is a THIN layer of goop spread evenly across it. Place the tray in a warm oven (under 100C) and leave the oven door slightly open, to dry out (about 15 min in my oven). Check frequently to make sure it doesn't burn. When it's dry, remove from the oven and allow to cool. You should have a tray of nice bright green flakes. If they're brown or discoloured, either your oven is too hot, or you left them in too long. Scoop up the flakes with a plastic spoon, and store in an airtight container. Repeat the procedure till you have enough flakes.

You might want to experiment a little yourself, using a fan (heated or not) instead of the oven. Just be careful that the fan doesn't blow your flakes away.

Note: Personaly, this seems like too much hard work for me, so I just go with the jellied goop. My SAEs, Pleco, and Cories are all thriving on it. Other fish like guppies and mollies also like to nibble at it.

On a cautious note, SAE's will tend to become lazy, and go for the goop instead of algae, but if you put them on short rations for a few days, they go back to eating algae.

It took a while for them to identify this stuff, but now that they recognise it as food, they're crazy about it. It always amuses me how my SAEs tackle it like a Rugby player diving for a ball, as soon as they catch sight of it dropping into the tank.

HTH

 

Thank for the info @Noodle


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