# A Few Novice Questions...Patience Required.



## Cheffish (Jul 1, 2009)

Hello again. I have a few questions so please hang in there

1. Can I make my own fish food? I'm a Chef by trade so getting raw fresh ingredients isn't a problem. If so, is there a cookbook for fish food?
2. I came home yesterday and my 80 gallon tank was without light (worked late and it was dark for a while) so I turned on the tank light and my kissing fish was like paralyzed with no movement at the bottom of the tank (not on its side but not moving. The tinfoil barbs were actively trying to play with him to sort of "get him moving" but he was simply moving like he was a zombie. Checked water conditions and it was ok and did do a slight water change with about 5-6 gallons and he came around and was back to normal. Was he sleeping? in shock from the lights going back on?
3. I bought a few bamboo plants at Petco and have since put them in. My question is are these underwater plants real underwater plants that are helpful or simply house plants that potentially could harm the fish? They were sold to me from being underwater.
4. I have a Lamprologus (black with yellow stripes) - what is the common name for this fish? I just found out what it was - it's inmy avatar picture too.

My tank is a week old with 2 tinfoil barbs, 2 bala sharks, 1 kissing fish, 1 six inch needle fish. I'm in the process of aquascaping it and clearign a little more room for the runners.

Great site and thanks in advance for your expert advice.

Cheffish


----------



## Oldman (May 25, 2009)

1. The fish food can be done home made and people on other forums actually discuss how they make it. I am not that ambitious so I usually just go with commercial foods and live or frozen foods. 

2. Fish do sleep at night, or do something that looks like sleeping. When the room lights came on, it sounds like the tinfoil barbs woke up faster is all. 

3. Bamboo plants are useful in removing nitrogen from your tank water but are house plants and need at least part of the plant to stick out above the water.


----------



## JIM (May 27, 2009)

*I agree with all mentioned by Oldman, Ive heard of making your own frozen food in a blender then freezing the mixture for later use, However...i think this would be a mess, and would foul your tank pretty quickly, if not fed spareingly. I also would stick with prepared commercial food.*


----------



## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

I make my own food all the time. But as said you have to be careful in not over feeding as it will spoil the tank pretty fast. 

One of my recipes is;

1 foil package of salmon
12 shrimp cooked 
1 cup each 
spinach, squash, green beens
2 packages of knox gelatin mix

boil veggies and reserve 1 1/2 cup water, drain the rest. Add fish, shrimp and veggies in blender and blend till its basically smooth. Heat reserved water to boiling add 2 packages of gelatin and mix well. add to fish and veggie mixture and mix. Pour onto a cookie sheet or pan of simular size and freeze. Cut into bite size pieces and put into baggies. take out what is needed for feeding.

I use those mini ice trays for this as they are small enough for what I am feeding.


----------



## Cheffish (Jul 1, 2009)

*w3 Great stuff! Thanks


----------

