New Fish Food Company: Aquarium Provisions

[darkdep]

Hi Folks,

Based on the input and overwhealming responses I've received on the topic, my wife and I have decided to start a home business making fresh Fish Food.

We're going to be producing multiple formulas tuned for different types of fish, using all fresh, high-quality ingredients.  No "fish meal", flour, or any other fillers.  We're planning to use fresh shrimp, vegetables, beef heart, fish, and excellent vitamin rich supplements such as brewers yeast, fish oil, lecithin, etc.

Food will be prepared in bulk, and frozen in several different size flat packs for easy storage/serving.  Prices will be very low

At the moment we're going to be producing several African formulas, Discus formula, SA Cichlid formula, and based on response, several others.

We hope to be up and running with product available for the OVAS meeting on March 27th.  I should have everything available at that time, and will have small sample sizes of each formula available for you to try out and see how your fish like it.

After doing research into most manufactured food I was extremely unhappy with it; also after seeing the response of my fish to homemade food I decided I could do better.  A lot of people I've talked to would love to use fresh fish food (or use it now) but don't want to deal with the preparation.  We're basically gearing up to mass produce it so you can have fresh food without the hassle.

If anyone has any questions, or is interested, let me know!  I'll have more info as our production ramps up

Thanks folks, sorry for the plug.

[repeej]

Congrats....how can I place my order?

[darkdep]

I'll be setting up a web site for the company in time.  At the moment we're still ramping so I'm trying to drum up interest for the end of the month when we should have product available.  I'll post order info when ready.  Stay tuned.

[darkdep]

We will also be providing delivery to the Ottawa Area.

[Seanc]

I will be interested in some to

[Mettle]

If you need help with the goldfish recipe I'd be more than happy to pass along what I used to you. My mom's goldfish go NUTS for this stuff. It's really quite incredible.

The cories in the tank like it a lot as well.

I've actually seen an improvement in growth since this fresh food has been fed.

I agree with the dissatisfaction with most commercially available foods. Simply not up to par with the actual nutritional needs of the fish.

[Seanc]

I agree with the dissatisfaction with most commercially available foods. Simply not up to par with the actual nutritional needs of the fish.

plus it costs a heck of a lot!

[dannypd]

Just remember to actually use some REAL fish...fish are, afterall, omnivorious.

My suggestion:  dojo loaches  cheap, easy to breed...all you need is a 20-50 gallon bucket and a pump...literally, no filters or heater requirement.

[dannypd]

...oh yeah, I'd buy some off you, but I only use fish food to feed my snails/feeders..

[darkdep]

There will be real fish in several of the formulas.  My response to the mysterious "fish meal" that most manufacturer's use.

[pegasus]

My hat to you and your wife, and if you get too big for Ottawa..... there's always Montreal or Winnipeg.

[DARKPHREAK]

Congratz! Any plans for making something for SW fish?

[mseguin]

Also, do u have a name for the company yet :-)

[repeej]

McDarkdep's

[Nelson]

:lol:  :lol:  :lol:

[Nelson]

:lol:  :lol:  :lol:

[FishBuddy]

Congratulations DD...!!!!   We're certainly going to be your first customers :-)

[redbelly1]

i will be interested too if your gonna be wiiling to make food for piranhas!!!!!  :lol:    

[DARKPHREAK]

McDarkdep's

So you mean my fish will get sick and puke everywhere if they eat your food?

[repeej]

McDarkdep's

So you mean my fish will get sick and puke everywhere if they eat your food?

Only if you Super Size your order.

[neon]

I'd definately be interested also.  I have mostly livebearers.

[babblefish1960]

i will be interested too if your gonna be wiiling to make food for piranhas!!!!!  :lol:    

:shock: Don't you feed your piranha live food, such as the neighbours kids or in-laws? :shock:

mssr. darkdep, I am intrigued by your enterprise, and applaud your obviously compassionate wife, who, clearly not from scarborough, is willing to get her kitchen messy for the sake of the fish we love.

Kudos, good luck, and may I be included in any possible orders for fish food you scare up.

Is there a free coconut cave with orders over ten pounds? :wink:

[repeej]

and applaud your obviously compassionate wife, who, clearly not from scarborough,

Guess again...

[darkdep]

We don't have a company name at the moment; IMHO at this stage it's not important (but it will be).  Once we have our formulas finalized we'll do that.  It won't be McDarkDep's.  

And my wife is from Halifax; not from anywhere near Scarborough.  

[babblefish1960]

No wonder she's helping, she is from the land of hard work and  sea air.

How about Christopher's fancy five fathom fine foods, for the flavour of the wild, without all the mess, for the discerning fish connoisseur

[Aiglos]

Good for you Darkdep !  See you at the meeting

[gonna_b_no_1]

is there anything for livebearers yet???

[apistome]

I will definitely try your SA cichlid food!

[darkdep]

Ok folks, still early but some progress has been made.  Already have interest from several stores and a couple distributors.  Looks like this food is a viable product

Right now the following products will be available at our launch:

- African Mbuna Cichlid formula (high vegetable content)
- Discus formula (high in protein; lots of beefheart, liver, whitefish, shrimp)
- South American Dwarf Cichlid formula

Still being considered/developed:

- Goldfish formula
- Livebearer formula
- Oscar formula
- SW formulas (not for a while, tho)

Gearing up suppliers at the moment; things are coming together well and moving fast.  I really am rather surprised as to the demand for this stuff (and looking forward to supplying it!)

Anyone have any contacts with any packaging companies?  Looking to do flatpack zipper bags in a few different sizes.  Still calling around at this point but if anyone has a contact who's willing to work with me I'd love a pm on it.

[Mettle]

Glad to see this taking off so well for you! I'll hit you up with that goldfish recipe tomorrow. (When I'm not so dang tired, heh.)

[babblefish1960]

Darkdep
Check out this company for packaging.  They do the coffee bags for the company I work with, The Great Northwest Coffee Company, amazing coffee by the way(shameless plug--available at Ottawa Bagel) Good pricing, quick delivery, versatile, they do frozen food packaging as well. They also print on foil, etc., these are the lowest prices we've come across in Canada, as well as California.
http://www.lynnpak.com/
It's in Gormley, Ontario. (905)888-9707.  Ask for Greg.

[apistome]

also I do not know what demand would be like, or the production cost, but I would be very interested in an organic fish food as well if you were considering making one.

[darkdep]

Ok folks, I'm having trouble coming up with a company name.  So, I'm gonna have a little contest.  I'm open to suggestions, and will award a free pack of food of your choice to the person who comes up with a name I end up using

And no, McDarkDep's won't fly :lol:

[Mila]

NFF- Natural Fish Food

[pegasus]

NFF- Natural Fish Food

May not be acurate.... HMFF would... Home Made.. :lol: but that stink!

[apistome]

How about Pro-Visions?  
or Incredible Aqua-Edibles?

[mseguin]

Ottawa Valley Aquatic Nutrition

[Aiglos]

Ottawa Valley Aquatic Nutrition

Only if he honors the OVAS discount and sells to stores in the valley aswell ! :-)  

Or makes delivery trips to Pet

[darkdep]

Thinking about "Aquatic Provisions" at this point...(thanks apistome for 'pro-visions'!).  The word 'Provisions' technically leaves room if for some reason we ever come up with something else to sell.

What d'ya think?  Man, this is the hardest part of this enterprise...

[Quatro]

I was thinking Fish-a-licious but it turns out that it already exists.

Mike S

[james]

Hi D
You should look at Pings ad today. The ingredients he is advertising are good additive for your food. The spirilina powder and the astraxanthin.Great for fish colour and immune system.
As for a name how about  "Natural Goumet Fish Food"

James

[darkdep]

james:  Already in talks with him

Man, you think they look at you weird when you ask for beef heart.  Go ask for 25-50 lbs of it and see how they look at you

[Seanc]

Man, you think they look at you weird when you ask for beef heart.  Go ask for 25-50 lbs of it and see how they look at you

yeah I can't imagin, I got so many weird looks from  people when I was looking for it. If you are still thinking about going into goldfish food, I will be interested in it. also discus, and SA food.

[Plum]

I would sure be interested in some food for my Jack Dempsey's

[apistome]

"Aqua Teen Hunger Force":)

[mseguin]

I think darkdep's wife at least is past the teen stage (I dunno about darkdep himself :-) ) So it would have to be Aqua Young Adult Hunger Force

[darkdep]

I am FAR older than I look actually.    I will make no comments on my wife's age because of risk of death.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force is funny...HBH actually makes a food called "African Cichlid Attack!" which I thought was hilarious when I bought some.

Another update...things are moving fast...I've got suppliers for everything lined up except the packaging, which should be arranged today.  I expect we'll begin production this week and will have food available for those attending the OVAS meeting.  I hope to have it in stores next week sometime if everything works out.

Looks like we'll have these for launch day:

- African Herbivore Formula (Lots of veggie roughage)
- High Protein Growth Formula (for Discus, etc; lots of beefheart, liver, fish protein)
- Protein Formula (for SA Cichlids and other smaller carnivores)
- Goldfish Formula (still fairly high protein, but will use more vegetable protein sources instead of animal/fish protein).

All the other formula ideas are in research/development.

All ingredients are human-grade; no "fish meal" or any other questionable substance.  All packages will have their exact ingredients listed so you will know exactly what is going into your fish.

Thanks for all the support folks!

[Plum]

Will we be able to purchase some of this food at the Meeting?

Have you come up with prices?

and, if so, where would the meeting be, as I will be a rookie.

[zippity]

Go DD Go, I took business in school and with the amount of people in this forum and all knowledgeable fish hobbyists in Ottawa alone, you can sure rack up the business. Congrats to you and your wife for sitting down and thinking this all through, well at least the start of it. i will grab some food too at the meeting, see ya there!!!

[Seanc]

Could I just buy a small amount at first, I wan't to make sure that the fish like it(i'm almost certin they will, but just to be on the safe side)? or will you have small samples? I hope this works out, I think we all need a cheep, high quality fish food.
Plum, check on the front page, their are directions, and an adress for the meetings.

[darkdep]

Plum:  Yes you will be able to purchase at the meeting.  I'll be there with product in the cooler

zippity:  Thanks for the kind words, it's getting fun!  My way of contributing to the hobby.  We have our business name at this point, registering with the province and getting web presence at the moment.  Packaging and beefheart supplier hooked up today.  Just need to finalize my supplier of fish (food fish, heh) and wait for a few things to show up and it's production time!

Seanc:  I'll be using a 6"x9" ziplock bag as the food size for now.  I'll possibly go into a larger/smaller size as demand warrants.  6x9 is a good size that will last a little while, but isn't so much that you'll end up with a ton if your fish don't like it (which, if they don't, I'll do my best to correct).

[Plum]

Looking forward to it,

Thank you

[darkdep]

A small update:

Production has begun!  Here's a pic of our first batch of one of the recipes.  More information tonight/tommorow

[Seanc]

cool. how did you figure out the fat and protine?

[Aiglos]

Darkdep: I thought you were going to have them break into even blocks?  

It looks like a big frozen block of food, how do you feed this to your fish ? just break little pieces off by smashing them against your counter top ? or is it on the other side with the "markers"  

I dont know if I am asking this right.  ?  Cant wait to hear more details so I know what to order.

[Julie]

Nice work on the labels - professional looking.  

Aiglos, I shave the food off the top of the block with a sharp knife.

[Aiglos]

Julie: I never thought about that good idea. :-)  Im all good.

[gkilla]

If you ever get SW formulas going, I'll be the first in line!

[Quatro]

Hey dark,  do you have a price list yet.  I'll take a package of SA food at the next meeting.  Just wondering how much to bring.

Mike S

[darkdep]

Ok folks, first production day is done (holy moly, this is another full time job!!).  I'm going to post a pic of each food and some details.

At the moment the food only comes in a single size; this is a 6" x 9" heavy ziplock bag with the food flatpacked and frozen.  The package is about 1/2" thick.  It is thin enough to either shave off pieces with a sharp knife, or to break up with your hands.  

Each package contains roughly 1lb of food.

[babblefish1960]

Sounds good, have you decided on pricing as yet? We would be looking for discus food and south american cichlid food, and something else that suits my fancy insofar as the different species we tend to as well.

Good luck, congratulations on another full-time job, and we both send our felicitations as per your collective success in this new joint venture.

[darkdep]

Green Energy Formula

This food is designed mainly for African Herbivorous Cichlids and other mainly herbivorous fish.  It is a simple formula that provides lots of vegetable matter, spirulina, vitamins, and a controlled level of protein.


Omni-Pro Formula

This food has a variety of protein and vegetable sources including beef heart, whole shrimp, kale, zucchini, and more.  It emphasizes a balanced level of nutrients, protein, and vegetable matter that will be enjoyed by SA/CA Cichlids and most Catfish, and can also be fed to many Livebearers, Tetra's, Danios, and other omnivores.


Meat Lovers High Protein Growth Formula

A food extremely high in protein, optimized for carnivores such as Discus and Angelfish.  This food contains a very high amount of beef heart, and complements with large percentages of whitefish, beef liver, whole shrimp, eggs, and spirulina.  Just enough vegetable matter is present to provide a balanced diet.


Goldfish Formula

Optimized for the special nutritional needs of Goldfish.  Goldfish require a high amount of vegetable matter in their diet and protein from vegetable sources.  At 16.9%, this formula is our highest veggie-protein food and includes many different vegetable types for a tasty and nutritious meal for all goldfish.

[darkdep]

Pricing is forthcoming.  It's 3am and I can't figure it out right now :lol:

[Aquafish]

I would like to try some of the meat lovers high protein formula... Please let me know how much when you figure out the price.

thanks

[discusFans]

Congratulation to darkdep, first of all..and me 2..wanna try out the meat lovers high protein formula when u have the price confirmed..and also wondering, what selling channel do u have other than through the OVAS meeting?

[zippity]

well DD, it looks like i would need a bag of each, since i have all kinds of species to feed. As many others here, i too await for your pricing.

[Seanc]

man I better get to the metting fast, sound like your going to sell out fast.

[Plum]

Yes, I would sure like to get my hands on a couple of the Omni-Pro for my SA's.

Guess I will have to show up early to get my hands on some.

Wonder what the price is?   :lol:  :lol:  :lol:

[darkdep]

Sorry for the delay in pricing folks; I've been putting off the paperwork as making the food was important!  I've been at it all weekend long and now have some stock on all the formulas.

As you know we're just starting up; so pricing may change as I get better supply lines of ingredients, or as it ends up on store shelves.  For the OVAS meeting tonight, I'll be offering food at the following prices:


Aquarium Provisions - Price Sheet for March 27
- Green Energy Formula: $5.00 / bag
- Goldfish Formula: $5.00 / bag
- Omni-Pro Formula: $8.00 / bag
- Meat Lovers High Protein Growth Formula: $8.00 / bag


As mentioned before you are receiving approximately 1 pound of food.  Compared to even the lowest-priced commercial food (where you'll pay this much for only a few oz) I feel this is an excellent deal.

A little more information on the ingredients:

Every batch of food is made with human grade fresh and frozen vegetables, shrimp, and fish.  Beef Heart and Liver is used in the meatier formulas, and is all fresh.  Tons of vitamins and minerals are added through the use of natural ingredients such as Spirulina, Paprika, Cod Liver Oil, and Lecithin.  I do not use anything ambiguous such as "fish meal", no fillers, no preservatives.  I have carefully calculated the amounts of animal and vegetable protein, fat, and roughage for each formula and posted those percentages on each label.

In my opinion, these formulas will be the best general fish diets on the market.  Based on feedback from tonight, I hope to have these formulas in Ottawa stores this week.

Speaking of feedback, I will VERY MUCH appreciate it from everyone who buys some of my food.  I will pay attention to all suggestions and requests for formula modifications, additions, or new recipe ideas!

I will be bringing all formulas in a cooler to the meeting tonight.  If you are interested in some, it would help if you could let me know how many you'd like (and of which type) so I can make sure I bring the right proportions.  It's not necessary of course (I'll bring extra) but at this point it would help me in knowing which formulas are going to be more interesting to people.

BTW, Thank you so much for all the support (from all of you).  My wife and I appreciate it, and wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't for all of you.

[apistome]

1 bag of the Omni formula please

[Mila]

DD, I'll take 1 green formula, one meet formula and 2 Omni formula.

[Laura]

1 bag of goldfish formula for me please.

[Quatro]

DD, I'll take 1 Omni-Pro.  Thanks

Mike S

[squeeker]

One goldfish for me, please!!

[darkdep]

Orders noted, keep em coming!  

[Aiglos]

DarkDep: mark down for 1 Omni Pro for me please.

See you tonight.

[Plum]

Did you say that the fish food is human grade?

Put me down for five pounds of the Omni-Pro.

See you there!

[Shouganai]

I would like 1 bag of the Omni-Pro. See you tonight!

[darkdep]

Furthur orders noted!

Yes, Human grade.  In other words, all the ingredients are the same level as would be sold in a grocery store for human consumption.

Now, the blends might not taste all that great for a human, but there are no "dog food grade" ingredients.  This is high-quality stuff.

[SnowJob]

where can I get this food? other then at the meeting?

Thanks!

[darkdep]

I will post a list of stores carrying it as they are established.  Getting the food at the meeting may be only a one-time thing as my goal is to sell the product through the LFS's.

[SnowJob]

excellent, thank you.

[charlie]

Hey  DD , 1 Omni & 1 Goldfish. pick up @ the meeting.
Regards

[FishBuddy]

Hi DD....  I'll have 1 Omni-Pro...  Thanks...

[az]

hey Dark, dont forget to incorporate your company and have enough liability insurance, regards!

[babblefish1960]

I took home some omni-pro, and some meat-lovers food after the meeting, I put a wee bit in each of the tanks for all of my fish, and every single one of them went ape over the stuff. That is all they were waiting for, some really good food.

Well done darkdep, and kudos to you for keeping it all together(I'm certain the down-easter girl has a lot to do with it) so congratulations to the both of you.

Good luck flogging it about on friday, it is, in my opinion, a worthy product that will hopefully become a mainstay in the local pet industry.

[lucky777]

from outside ottawa and like the sound of the product.  Travel up to Ottawa every second weekend and would like to know where I can pick some up!!!  Let me know, I have never been able to make it up to your meeting in ottawa.  

You should try and get some of your food in to some Cornwall stores to.  Everyone down here travels to Ottawa to buy their frozen food at big als.

Last time I traveled up there I bought food for 5 friends and we would all like to see a local product in our stores down here,

[darkdep]

Small update:

Product will be available at Pet Circus (Bank St.) starting Friday of this week.  Everyone who would like to purchase any will definetly be able to obtain it there.  

lucky777:  PM me some information on stores in the Cornwall area, and I'll contact them about making this food available down there.

Thanks again to all of you for your support.  I hope everyone is happy with the food purchased at the OVAS meeting.

[squeeker]

Fed some to my goldfish today, and they loved it!  

Only suggestion I have is to maybe make the sheets of food thinner... I had a hard time breaking it into manageable sized chunks without putting holes in the bag.  It's pretty solid when it's frozen.

Other than that... no complaints!  Any talks with SP about selling the food there?  Lemme know if I can help...

[apistome]

Thanks Darkdep, Omni formula went over great with the  SA community!!

[Aiglos]

Just have a few people phone super pet looking for it,  tell them they found it at pet circus haha.  they will contact YOU soon enough.

[darkdep]

squeeker:  Noted on the thickness.  It is pretty hard to break apart when frozen.  I drop mine on my concrete basement floor to break it up :lol:  Will look to possibly making it thinner.

[pegasus]

Thickness was also my concern last night.... ok for shaving I guess.
Then there's the air pockets at the top, fine if you use it right away but will cause freezer burns later.

Two/three tips if you don't mind:
-Use a roller to flatten
-Use a meat tenderizer to imprint the stuff, making it easier the break later on when frozen.
-Use cookie sheets for the  first hours of freezing.

Did I say .. I liked your product?

[darkdep]

Well, you're supposed to squeeze air out of the bags before you reseal them

The flattening process is being refined; they will in the future be stored in plywood racks while they are setting/freezing so they will be more uniform.  I am looking for a good way to imprint it, but nothing perfect has come up yet.

Having them thinner would also make the packs cheaper, and that can't be bad

[zippity]

my goldfish loved theirs, my communities loved their omni food and my malawi were confused............at first they went crazy on it, then they settled in like they didn't care for it at all, then they bounced on it all again after a minute or so, my tanganyikans loved it. I look forward to seeing what they will do with this food after a week, but first signs are extremely promising.

[darkdep]

Some fish take a feeding or two to get used to any new food, they will warm up to it

[pegasus]

Well, you're supposed to squeeze air out of the bags before you reseal them

Before freezing

The flattening process is being refined; they will in the future be stored in plywood racks while they are setting/freezing so they will be more uniform.  I am looking for a good way to imprint it, but nothing perfect has come up yet.

As simple as a small eggcrate (just a touch)

:lol: Having them thinner would also make the packs cheaper, and that can't be bad

:lol: or the bag could be bigger.

[zippity]

i say same size of protion and a bigger bag to make it easier to break off and pull out.

[repeej]

i say same size of protion and a bigger bag to make it easier to break off and pull out.

The more you "break off" the bigger the bag will seem and the easier it will be to pull out.   :wink:

[zippity]

yes that is so true but i mean in the initial beginnin gof bag, but if that is all i would have to comment about, i would say that is an awesome start

[babblefish1960]

I found very little in the way of trouble using this green food, I don't know about the neighbour's thoughts on it yet, but I used a two and a half pound club hammer on an oak floor. Great service from the steel hammer, but a bit loud.

[Aquafish]

My Discus enjoyed the High Protein Formula...my angels found it okay which is suprising as my angels go crazy for everything else!

Thanks Chris!

[darkdep]

Some fish may need a day or two to adjust to the new food; but this is pretty common with any food change.

[darkdep]

Hi Folks, it's been a bit since you all got the food, I'm wondering if after a couple weeks what your thoughts are?  Positive and Negative please...I am looking to keep improving them.

[Aiglos]

My only problem is getting the pieces broke apart.  

If you had it setup so that they would break off into little squares it would be great.

My Oscar loves it.  The livebearers like it and ive even fed it to my cherry shrimp and they thrive on it aswell.

[darkdep]

I'm trying to figure out whether I should go the route of making the packs thinner (I've made a few thinner ones and the food is very easy to break apart) or trying to score it somehow.

[BigDaddy]

I'm sure just scoring it would probably help.

Who is selling it now darkdep?  I noticed aquanourriplus has it, have any of the local stores picked it up too?

[Mila]

Omni is best. all fish like it.
I need some kind of frozen Fry food.

[Aiglos]

Frozen fry food would ROCK ! ! !

Culture large amount of daphnia / VE ? and freeze them ? haha  im sure that wouldnt suffice.

[darkdep]

The Omni is getting the best reviews from everyone so far.  

Right now, Aquanourriplus and Pet Circus is selling it.  I'm in discussions with the chains but I've decided to get feedback and finalize the packaging before going any furthur.  The biggest thing right now seems to be to make it easier to break up.  At the moment I'm a little lost on how I can actually do that.  I've tried setting the food, pre-frozen, on a grate in the freezer and it comes out with a nice grid on it...that may be the way.

[darkdep]

Frozen Fry food I'd love to do next

[squeeker]

Chris,

One thing I've noticed is that you don't use gelatin.

I also make my own food, and it's gelatin-based.  After it's set, I cut it up into week-size chunks (about a 2"x2"x3/4" square) and put it into a baggie.  That way, when I need to take more out of the freezer, even if it's frozen together it's very easy to break along the seams.  Then, I can thaw a week's portion in the fridge and break it up as I need it.

The problem with your food is that it's difficult to break into appropriate-sized chunks.  If the chunks are too big, they melt into a blob and when I put that in the water it breaks apart into a million tiny pieces and goes everywhere.  Because the food I make has gelatin in it, this doesn't happen nearly as much.

However, my goldfish LOVE the food you made!  Not knocking the formula at all!  If the food was packaged thinner, that would be a plus (I've said that before) and in my personal preference I prefer the gelatin foods.  I do realize that using gelatin would probably significantly increase the cost.

[darkdep]

Actually, squeeker, I DO use gelatin (It's the only ingredient that isn't on the current label).  However, based on your comments, it is my opinion that I'm not using enough.  That is something I plan to remedy.

Right now I'd like to focus on ease of use, and binding the food better.

[squeeker]

there IS gelatin?  Wow.  LOL, obviously not enough!    I think I use a package of gelatin for 3/4 cups of food mix...

It won't take long until you've got it perfect!  It's so close!

[cichlidsforme]

i can provide hosting for free

[darkdep]

Keep in mind that this stuff is currently being made in like, 15 Litre batches at a time at the moment...The gelatin equation isn't so easy :lol:  But very good to know, I appreciate the feedback.

[squeeker]

Heh, never thought of the sheer quantity!

[cichlidsforme]

how can i learn to make fish food?

[pegasus]

Actually, squeeker, I DO use gelatin (It's the only ingredient that isn't on the current label).  However, based on your comments, it is my opinion that I'm not using enough.  That is something I plan to remedy.

Right now I'd like to focus on ease of use, and binding the food better.

Can you have some, gelatin FREE? (without gelatin or ash)

[Underwater]

I just thought of an idea for making it easily breakable.

Take a big piece of plywood and drill holes into it, but not all the way through. Make the holes as densely spaced as possible.

Sandwich the raw food between the holey plywood and a flat piece, leaving a little food between the layers, then freeze the "sandwich".

This way you will have little "plugs" of food with a thinner piece separating them.  The thinner piece should make it easier to break the plugs apart.

[cichlidsforme]

how would you stop bits of plywood getting into the food , good idea though for sure

[Underwater]

sanding and varnish

[cichlidsforme]

very thoughtfull idea

[darkdep]

Right now I put the food in the bags and let the gelatine set while they are flat packed.  I could use something like that to sandwich the bags, which would give the same effect except the bags would have the pattern too...not sure if that would look ok or not (or if I'm just being dumb )

I was thinking of using Eggcrate; that would give a similar effect and not require me to make anything

Pegasus:  why would you want it without Gelatine?  (Not that I'm opposed, just wondering?)

[babblefish1960]

Hey there darkdep,

You asked for it, so here it is,

We are thoroughly enjoying the meat lovers formula, as well as the omni-pro, the fish like it too , and this represents a disparate array of species as well.:wink:

The singular criticism we seemingly share with a host of others, is that with the present thickness and solidity of the blocks, I continually annoy the neighbours with my steel club hammer.

If you would like my humble opinion as to which way to go with this, I am in agreement that using an egg crate grill would be the cat's meow. This would enable the end user to chunk off meal sized bits rather easily and use more cubes if they so desired.

For at present, it requires a lot of bashing to get a small enough portion to feed the fish appropriately.

I noticed that Pet Circus has the growth and meat lovers, and for only $9.99, a fair price when you compare to hikari et alii.

[damarech]

The food is great.
BUT
Yes it is hard to get it to the right size.
Maybe try using those mini ice cube trays or even candy molds.

[darkdep]

Thank you for the feedback guys, making the food easier to use is my top priority.

[lucky777]

Hey guys just cut pieces off with steak knife, it's not very hard.


By the way any luck contacting the stores in cornwall???

[darkdep]

Soon...this was a paperwork week.  Spent so much time making food that I didn't do much getting registrations, etc done.  

[pegasus]

Fine Gelatin is use as a food binder.... but it too much of a belly stuffer. When I do mine, I found food combinations, their water content, etc to be very important to get the right consistency, also my Africans prefers their meat partly frozen, it never reach the bottom of the tank.

The rest is easy and do not require any special tool. I put the right amount of food in the zip lock bag making sure it fills the bottom. Flat on a table, I press the food outward, expulsing all air bubble. I use my hand or a roller to push it up with the desired thickness. All extra food is return to the batch; the idea is to not have any air space in the bag.

Next the molding... nothing special, with the back of a knife I'll just make faint lines over the zip lock bag. Commercially, I would put the bags on a cookie sheet and very slightly press with an egg crate, freeze for 2 hours then move and stack normally. (I would indent the pack on the reverse side of your packaging).

How do I know all this? Well I use to make it for other OVAS members but could not do it to all their specific needs. To do so, I would have probably end up using gelatin.

[gc]

Darkdep,
let us know when you start selling at SuperPet, I'd love to buy some food but I don't go to the meetings. Are you still making that website you were talking about at the beginning of this thread?

[darkdep]

Yep everything is still in the works.  I've been very sick the last couple week so things kinda ground to a halt temporarily.  

[Underwater]

Sorry to bump an old thread, but I'm curious as how the website is coming along?

[darkdep]

An update for those who are interested:

It's been a very educational couple of months as we grasped with establishing relationships with suppliers, packaging companies, and so much more.  As of now, the Aquarium Provisions web site is up in fairly basic form (www.aquariumprovisions.com).  We're currently producing the 1lb packages, 1/2lb packages (Same size but much thinner, so the food is much easier to break up) and we will soon have a smaller 4oz (1/4lb) size available as soon as we receive the bags from our packaging supplier.

Arrangements are being made with suppliers to get this food into more stores.  I hope to have an arrangement with Big Als within the next few weeks, but it doesn't look like the food will be available at Super Pet anytime soon.  Right now your best bet is Pet Circus on Bank St, or Aquanourriplus. 

OVAS Banner Ads are going up shortly as well   Although I won't be selling the food directly (because of the relationships I'm trying to establish with the stores), I will be contributing food to the OVAS meetings for prizes.

I'd like to set up a "Testimonials" section on my site with some of your comments; if you'd allow me to use any you've made, please PM me and just give me your permission to do so.  I'd also, as always, be interested in any further comments from those who have been using the food for some time now.

Thanks to all for their support in this endeavour.  I appreciate it!