i read once how to make a gel food. i cant find that resource again, and i really would like to blend some of the foods together, so that i can give more than one kind at a time.

anyone care to enlighten me again?

The webpage you are looking for is www.geocities.com/Tokyo/4468/recipes.html
Kroshinsky Gelatin Food Recipe
2 lb. Smelts
24 oz. Frozen Peas
3 Large Red Bell Peppers
2 to 3 12 oz. pkg Frozen Chopped Spinach
16 oz. Plain Wheat Germ
5 tsp. Powdered Vitamins
32 envelopes Plain Powdered Gelatin
Water
Liquefy first 4 ingredients in a blender, adding sufficient water for blender operation. Place in large pot, add wheat germ, and heat until warm stirring continuously. When warm, add the gelatin gradually, stirring continuously to avoid lumps. Stir in vitamin powder, then cool and refrigerate. Once solid and rubbery, cut into 3/16th inch thick sheets and freeze.

Defrost sheets as needed, cutting into 1/4th inch cubes prior to feeding.

Makes about 2 gallons.

I haven't tried it. It'd be useful if you could post the results

those are really helpful. my idea is to make a gel, including flaoting foods that i have trouble getting to sink. I.E. sun dried baby shrimp, tubiflex and blood worms, and certain flakes and pellets(mainly bio gold by hikari). i was wondering about the gelitin mix however. i just didnt want to dive in with some lime jello.


OOOH, and fruit too. i can never get that to sink in the tank, no matter how long i soak it.

Here is an easy gel food recipe that I use for my fish. They love it, and it is really good to feed to fish that having floating problems Especially the one with 1/2 peas as the vegetable component.
Valerie

GEL FOOD

1 cup lightly cooked vegetables (I used a half cup frozen peas, then the
next half cup was a mixture of frozen spinach, frozen green beans, green
pepper, & parsley, but you can use other things such as asparagus, mustard
greens, broccoli, carrots, whatever you have on hand) If you use frozen
vegetables, you don't have to cook them, since they are already blanched.

1/2 can tuna or shrimp

- liquefy the veggies and the tuna or shrimp in a blender,

- dissolve 2 packets of unflavoured gelatin in half a cup of warm water,
microwave till clear, and stir into the veggie mix.

Pour into a standard oblong cake pan that is lined with saran wrap and
chill.

Once set, cut into bite sized pieces with the dull side of a knife. Remove
enough for a week, then freeze the rest. When it is frozen, you can use the
saran wrap to lift the whole slab right out of the pan, double wrap it, and
return to the freezer. It will easily break along the cuts that you have
made. Just break off a chunk of the frozen food, and let thaw a bit, then
feed. It thaws very quickly. You can keep a few days worth, unthawed, in the fridge wrapped in saran.

There is also another very easy gel food that is made with a small can of
tomato paste, a couple of peeled, lightly cooked, chopped carrots, 1/2 can
tuna or shrimp, 2 packets unflavoured gelatin dissolved in half cup warm
water and heated till clear. This mixture is then liquefied in the blender
and treated the same way as above for freezing. This is high in vitamin A
and C :-)

The fish love these and these recipes make a huge batch, so it lasts a long
time.

i sort of used my own recipe, with tips from those others that were posted.

i crushed equal amounts of

baby sun dried shrimp
krill
tubiflex
bloodworms
hikari biogold(it floats, no matter how long i soak it)
spirulina 20
peas, diced and mashed
canteloupe and apricots

then i mixed it in distilled water, and added the gelatin stuff. the krill, shrimp, and tubiflex have all been assosiated with good growth rates. bloodworms seems to give colors a boost, as does the canteloupe and apricots. peas so the dont get bound up, and spirulina just had here, and they didnt seem to like it by its self. the hikari, i just cant get it to sink, and so many people have told me its a good food, i wanted to work it into the program.

they seem to love it, and we will see if it jumpstarts thier growth and color.

The gel food recipe that I sent makes enough to fit in the bottom of a oblong cake pan, about 9"x12" or something like that.

This recipe freezes very well, so you can keep it in the freezer and just break off a bit at a time, so none goes to waste.

You could cut the recipe in half if you wanted to

I thought I pin this one up here, since a lot of us make their own food, including me, and its always nice to see some variations fast without searching through the whole section....

I'm gonna try making a gel food with my dried bloodworms. My fish can never get them when I sprinkle them in the tank because they're so small and go everywhere. I love feeding them a varied diet!

Thats a great idea! I put some frozen bloodworms into my food too, since my fish have a hard time catching them, especially the big ones. Koi and bloodworms, not in your life time!

Well I gave it a shot.

Progold crushed
Krill
spirulina
Tuna
Garlic


Oh and I just had to taste it and EWW!

Koko, are you sure you got the whole concept of the gel food thing? Its the fish who are supposed to eat it, not YOU!

.......Well I had to make sure that it was good for them. You know like a mom that make sure that the food is safe for the babie......I guess I go over board

Actually, I do that sometimes too, but I use Kroshinsky's receipe, and its all natural ingredients there, anything I woul eat anyway, well, except for the dog vitamins....
You should see my cats going nuts when I feed the fish....They follow me around until they get a piece as well!

Actually hubby dared me to do it. So I tasted it but I didnt swallow it wasnt that great.......

HA - I bet Ric didn't take one bite, did he now?

Oh no he didnt he said EWW..... but I told him I can do it but he said I dont swallow so it didnt count........

How long does it usually take for a gel food to set?

I used touchofsky's recipe.

Albert , I use the same one. I usually make my food in the afternoon, just because its the only free time I have. I let it cool down on the countertop an hour, and then put it in the fridge over night....I always make 2 gallon of that stuff, since I have quite a few fish, and with that huge amount it takes about 4-5 hours to set. With less food, it will take less time....

I thought I would share my recipe with everyone:

Goldfish Gel Food Recipe

Ingredients:
1 c. frozen peas and carrots, thawed.
1/3 cup spirulina flakes
1 3 oz. can of tuna
¼ c. Pro Gold sinking pellet food
5 cubes frozen brine shrimp (Hikari)
2 dog vitamins (Pet Tab), crushed into fine powder
2 packets unflavored gelatin powder
Approximately 2 c. water


Directions:

Add peas and carrots, tuna, and ½ c. water to blender, and blend until smooth. Add spirulina flakes and ½ c water into blender, and blend until smooth again. Add Pro Gold and blend. Dissolve 5 cubes of brine shrimp into about a tablespoon of water. When dissolved, add to the mixture and blend. Lastly, add vitamins to the mixture and blend. Dissolve gelatin packets into ½ c. cold water, and stir well. Microwave for about 1-2 minutes, until clear, stirring occasionally. Add to the mixture and blend once more.

Pour mixture into long casserole dish lined in saran wrap. Place into the refrigerator for several hours, until completely gelatinous. Using a dull knife (i.e. a butter knife), cut into tiny squares. Keep enough for about a week in refrigerator in separate Tupperware container. Freeze the remainder.

Doe4s this stuff float or sink? How do the fish like it??

It sinks. My fish really seem to like it!

Aqua

you know my fish love this food more than bought foods.....Its easy and if you have a fish that needs more special needs you can make it for them

I just found this topic. I should really give this one a try, since I can't seem to get my fish to eat any veggies other than peas. Perhaps if I mix in carrots and such into this gel, they won't be so finicky!

Does anyone alter their gel food mix to reduce the protein during the winter? I would think that this would help with preparing to spawn. Just and idea I had.

Tim

Well, you can leave things like bloodworms and seafood out of the receipe for the winter, that cuts down on the protein intake...

Here's my newest version of gel food. I took some elements from Izaak Kroschinski (sorry if I spelled that wrong) and added some stuff to increase ease of assembly and aid in digestion. The fish love it. Let me know what you think.

(3) cans salmon
(1) small bag frozen peas and carrots, thawed
12 0z. Wheat germ
(2) red bell peppers, seeds and core removed
(2) med sized orange
(1) cup guinea pig pellets
3 oz. dog vitamin
( 5) tblsp mince garlic
(16) packages of unflavored gelatin
(4) cups water

Liquefy each ingredient, adding water if needed.
Mix together in large bowl.
Pour 4 cups water into large sauce pan
heat to boiling
Add gelatin to water
Add to bowl with other ingredients
Mix thoroughly
Pour into pans to a ½ depth
Chill.
Slice into ½ inch pieces
Bag each piece separately and freeze

Tim

With the salmon, you should be fine on the Omega 3 fatty acids (linolenic and linoleic acids). You should also have the essential amino acids covered as well. Given the ingredients, it looks like it may be very high in protein. Here's a good summary of Goldfish Nutrition that recommends (based on dry weight):


You can pull down the nutritional info for most of your ingredients from the USDA Nutrient Database. I'm currently working on a spreadsheet that should make doing the nutritional analysis of gel food easier.

Your recipe may also be fairly high in simple sugars (orange is 76% of calories from simple sugars, red pepper is 54% of calories from simple sugars, peas 27% calories from simple sugars). From my reading so far, it appears that simple sugars may induce high blood sugar in carp. I haven't been able to find much info that specific to goldies, so I assume that would also hold for goldies. Also carp can't digest some carbs unless they are heat treated (e.g. corn and wheat). See Carbohydrates

The carrots and red pepper provide carotene (essential for the orange color pigments in goldies).

What's in the guinea pig pellets?

I'm a bit iffy about using vitamins in the gel. The water soluable vitamins shouldn't be an issue, but fat soluable vitamins can be overdosed. gotta do some more reading on it.

I recently worked up the nutritional composition of my last batch of gel, and I was shocked at the amount of protein in it.
1 can tuna (6 ounces)
1 cup broccoli
1.5 cup brussel sprouts
1 cup turnip greens
3 packs of gel
2 cups water

Based on total grams of protein, fat, ash and carbs in the gel, it came out to:
66% Protein (1.1 grams per ounce)
6% Fat (0.1 grams per ounce)
6% Ash (0.1 grams per ounce)
6% Complex carbs (0.1 grams per ounce)
11% Fiber (0.2 grams per ounce)
5% Sugars (0.1 grams per ounce)

note 29 of the 69 grams of protein came from the veggies.

That's higher in protein than I would like and lower in fat. Tuna doesn't provide much of the essential Omega 3 fatty acids, so I'll probably use sardines or salmon and maybe add flaxseed oil next time. Since my ryunkin is turning white, I'm also going to add paprika since it's high in carotene to see if that'll help him get back his coloration.

Betty

The guinea pig pellets are just rabbit pellets with vitamin C added. I chose that because of the extra vitamin C as well as alfalfa, which I've read repeatedly aids in digestion. I went with the salmon sprecifically because of the omega fatty acids. I'll try to work out the percentages later when my brain is functioning a little more efficiently. So far, I'm very impressed with the condition and growth of my fish. I was planning on cutting the salmon in half for the winter months. All of my fish are within a year (a couple might be approaching two). I'll keep that in mind as they get older though. I can tell you that my small goldfish are growing like crazy with this. Vibrant colors too all the way around. Thank you for all the information!

Tim

What is with all the expense in these fish food? salmon, tuna using those only adds glistering coats and is the same effect of blood worms, aint it?

Lol im gonna try gel for once... i use to just blend the stuff dehydrate it, add ALOT of raw egg yolk on a string and the powder of the dehydrants bake it then freeze... alot of work, but lemme try it on gel now...
35%soy bean
20%peas
25%egg yolk
10%seaweed
10%gelatin
a blender to mix and crush all of the above
add water equivalent to the total of the all the other ingredients above.
High in protein and vitamins with a bit of sea salt, no bloating too!

I think I'm going to have a good mix this time. It's closer to the essential amino acid profile supposedly good for carp and, higher in omega 3 fatty acids than my last batch with tuna. This batch also focuses on veggies that have more beta carotene for color. It's a little high in protein, but a lot of that is plant protein that may not be digested as well as the fish proteins. Also, a little more fat than I would like, but gotta make sure you have enough omega 3's and 6's since fish can't make those. A little more simple sugars than I'd like with the paprika, pumpkin and red pepper for carotene (color pigments).

3 packs gel
2 cups water dechlorinated (spring? distilled?)
3 T paprika (Very high in beta carotenes, B complex, folate, calcium, vitamins A, C & E, Potassium, and fiber, higher than the veggies in simple sugars.)
5 ounces red bell pepper (High in beta carotenes, Vitamin C, vitamin A, not as high in simple sugars as peas or paprika)
1/2 cup pumpkin (High in beta carotene, Vitamin A & C, not as high in simple sugars as peas or paprika)
1/2 cup spinach (High in beta carotene (not as much as the above), calcium, vitamin A & K, omega 3 fatty acids, not much simple sugars)
1/2 cup mustard greens (High in beta carotene (not as much as the above), calcium, vitamin A & K, low in simple sugars)
5 ounces Kale (High in calcium, vitamin A, C & K, no simple sugars)
1/2 cup green beans (Not particularly high in anything relatively, no simple sugars)
1/2 cup Salmon (has Omega 3 fatty acids, calcium, Phosphorus, Potassium, sodium, Vitamin D, and a decent amino acid profile)
1 t flaxseed oil (for omega 3 fatty acids)
5.9 Calories per 10 g food

per 10 grams food
49% Protein (0.8 grams)
14% Fat (0.22 grams)
8% Ash (0.1 grams)
30% Carbohydrate (0.5 grams) [15% fiber (0.2 grams), 8% Sugars (0.1 grams), 7% Complex (0.1 grams))

per 10 grams food
Minerals
10.1 mg Calcium, Ca
0.1 mg Iron, Fe
3 mg Magnesium, Mg
10.5 mg Phosphorus, P
28.7 mg Potassium, K
13.7 mg Sodium, Na
0 mg Zinc, Zn
0.01 mg Copper, Cu
0.03 mg Manganese, Mn
0.8 mcg Selenium, Se

Vitamins
2.6 mg Vitamin C
0.01 mg Thiamin
0.01 mg Riboflavin
0.2 mg Niacin
0.03 mg Pantothenic acid
0.02 mg Vitamin B-6
3.5 mcg Folate, total
0.1 mcg Vitamin B-12
600.9 IU Vitamin A, IU
0.1 mcg Vitamin E
13.8 IU Vitamin D
8.3 mcg Vitamin K

Fats (* = essential)
0.05 g Saturated Fats
0.05 g Unsaturated fats
0.07 g Omega 3 linolenic acid *
0.03 g Omega 6 linoleic acid
1.2 mg Cholesterol

Amino Acids (* = essential)
0.01 g Tryptophan *
0.02 g Threonine *
0.03 g Isoleucine *
0.04 g Leucine *
0.05 g Lysine *
0.01 g Methionine *
0.01 g Cystine
0.02 g Phenylalanine *
0.02 g Tyrosine
0.03 g Valine *
0.03 g Arginine *
0.02 g Histidine *
0.03 g Alanine
0.06 g Aspartic acid
0.08 g Glutamic acid
0.03 g Glycine
0.02 g Proline
0.02 g Serine

Other
259.4 mcg Beta Carotene
39.5 mcg Cryptoxanthin, beta
196.3 mcg Lutein + zeaxanthin

I'd still like to add vitamins. Found an updated verion of Steven Meyer's article on goldfish nutrition that does have info on the fat soluable vitamins. Maybe I'll look for some today.

Betty

Found out spinach is high in oxalic acid which inhibits absorption of calcium and iron, so I replaced the spinach with more broccoli. plus I was spazzing on how much veggies/fish per amount of water/gel. Here's the revised recipe. It should make about 3 cups of gel food that's fairly high in carotines for color.

3 packs gel
2 cups bottled water
3 T paprika (Very high in beta carotenes, B complex, folate, calcium, vitamins A, C & E, Potassium, and fiber, higher than the veggies in simple sugars.)
5 ounces red bell pepper (High in beta carotenes, Vitamin A & C, not as high in simple sugars as peas or paprika)
1/2 cup pumpkin (High in beta carotene, Vitamin A & C, not as high in simple sugars as peas or paprika)
1/2 cup mustard greens (High in beta carotene (not as much as the above), calcium, vitamin A & K, low in simple sugars)
3/4 cup broccoli (High in potassium, vitamin C & K, folate, low in simple sugars)
5 ounces Kale (High in calcium, vitamin A, C & K, no simple sugars)
1/2 cup Salmon (has Omega 3 fatty acids, calcium, Phosphorus, Potassium, sodium, Vitamin D, and a decent amino acid profile)
1/2 t flaxseed oil (for omega 3 fatty acids)

The paprika, broccoli and kale provide the most fiber.
The paprika (highest), pumpkin, mustard and red peppers provide the most carotene.

per 10 grams food
51% Protein (0.9 grams)
13% Fat (0.24 grams)
7% Ash (0.1 grams)
28% Carbohydrate (0.5 grams) [14% fiber (0.2 grams), 8% Sugars (0.1 grams), 5% Complex (0.1 grams)

6.3 Calories per 10 g food

Minerals
10.2 mg Calcium, Ca
0.1 mg Iron, Fe
2.5 mg Magnesium, Mg
11.8 mg Phosphorus, P
28.8 mg Potassium, K
16.1 mg Sodium, Na
0.05 mg Zinc, Zn
0.01 mg Copper, Cu
0.02 mg Manganese, Mn
1 mcg Selenium, Se

Vitamins
2.8 mg Vitamin C
0.01 mg Thiamin
0.01 mg Riboflavin
0.3 mg Niacin
0.03 mg Pantothenic acid
0.02 mg Vitamin B-6
2.8 mcg Folate, total
0.1 mcg Vitamin B-12
595 IU Vitamin A, IU
0.1 mcg Vitamin E
16.5 IU Vitamin D
4.2 mcg Vitamin K

Fats (*=essential)
0.05 g Saturated Fats
0.06 g Unsaturated fats
0.06 g Omega 3 linolenic acid *
0.03 g Omega 6 linoleic acid
1.5 mg Cholesterol

Amino Acids (*=essential)
0.01 g Tryptophan *
0.03 g Threonine *
0.03 g Isoleucine *
0.05 g Leucine *
0.06 g Lysine *
0.02 g Methionine *
0.01 g Cystine
0.03 g Phenylalanine *
0.02 g Tyrosine
0.03 g Valine *
0.04 g Arginine *
0.02 g Histidine *
0.04 g Alanine
0.06 g Aspartic acid
0.09 g Glutamic acid
0.03 g Glycine
0.02 g Proline
0.03 g Serine

Other
235.6 mcg Beta Carotene
47.4 mcg Cryptoxanthin, beta
103.5 mcg Lutein + zeaxanthin

plus, I'm planning to add a tab of acidophilus and 1 T reptile vitamins/amino acids Not sure of the vitamin content on the reptile vitamins because of the way it's labeled, but I'm adding about a half of the dose they recommend per pound of food.

Hi all,

I whipped up a couple of new gel recipes for my goldies: Color Enhancing Gel and Gel food.

Could you take a look and let me know what you think of their nutritional content? I think I have all the bases covered now. They seem a bit high in protein, but a fair amount of that protein is coming from plant sources and will be less digestable.

Thanks,
Betty

Isn't the gelatin high in sugar content?

Spinach does that to fish? YIKES! Guess I'm not giving them that as a treat anymore. Strangely, they like romaine better anyway.

Anyway, is this also good for maturing fish? In the spring my fish should be ready to breed. Should I keep the protein in or cut it out?

hmmm i wonder if i can use V8 in my gel food...

the vitamin drink

No, it's unflavored gelatine, no sugar added.

V8. that's interesting. maybe use it instead of some of the water?

I don't know much about breeding, but it seems like I remember reading to get them ready, you feed a higher protein diet.

I decided to use V8 in a soy, spinach, carrot, and peas mix with a cup of V8 which has 100%vita A 80% in beta carotene form! if i can i'll tell you if i see any significant change to the goldies color.

I made it with V8 as a substitute for the usual amount of water.

Interesting.
If you'll post how much of each ingedient, I'll work up the nutritional breakout.

I did it by chef "part measuring" which means it was in a ratio and it was like...
2 part soy
1 part peas
3 part spinach
2 part canned carrots
2-1 part V8 (not SPLASH)

i made around like 1 third of a gallon.
I hope this isnt overdose LoL.

So how much water and how many gel packets?

That time i used like 4 envelopes of gel and no water just a bit from the defrosting peas.

My goldies just suffered from the anchor worms so I can't really update about the color on the side but i do notice the bottom is becoming red where it was white-yellow

The size has no significant chage yet.

The gel recipees will all sink or float depending on how you do the last steps. Firt time I tried making gel, I added the dissolved gel mimxture to the blender and blended it in with the other stuff, then poured it in the pan to set. It floated cuz of the trapped air bubbles. If you stir the gel in the gel sinks.

Hey maniacholic, what kind of soy did you use? There's like a billion foods from soy in the USDA food databse.

As I'm reading all these different gel recipes I wanted to ask if sodium was a consideration. I know some foods are high in sodium, such as V8.

I've been wondering that myself. I haven't seen any guidelines for sodium so far.

Goldies are really resistant to sodium then to other fresh water fishes so i think it'll be okay, not to mention i used low sodium(sorry if i forgot to mention that), the soy i used was the fresh ones listed as edamame

Sorry if you where waiting for a reply i was studying for the midterms. Dual majoring IS TOUGH!

I have a question. How do you feed the fish the gel food?

just drop it in the tank

It's pretty neat. When you make the gel food and it sets in the fridge, you put some aside to freeze and keep some out for a week's feeding.

I cut all the food in little squares and I just cut little pieces off with my fingernails and drop them in.

Great stuff!