enough protein in gel food?

[jessfish]

How do I know if I am feeding enough protein to my goldies with homemade gel food.

I am trying something new & I made gel food with green bean (baby food) & 2 sardines. So far my swim bladder issues fish (who i started this for) is doing well which might get me to continue feeding this way...

But I am just guessing that 2 sardines is enough protein for the young goldies.

What I made has:
1 pack gelatin
1/2 cup water
1 jar green bean baby food
2 sardines

this is enough food for a month - which is why i didnt follow a recipe - most for meaty gel food are really large amounts.

[KatzeSlaugen]

i do believe that goldfish need very little protien. that need good vegitable matter more.

ide say that your probably fine with whats in there

[Spardas]

One of my many variation of homemade frozen food:

1 lb raw tuna
1 lb raw cod
10 shrimps
1 tbsp ground pellets
2 crushed vitamin pill (Centrum is fine)
2 bags of spinach boiled
2 crushed garlic clove
1/4 tsp paprika
1 tsp astaxathin
1 tsp pro growth
2 ripe bananas
Leftover flakes or pellets or algae sheets

I like cod the best because it has high protein and low fat. The important thing of any homemade recipe is to keep it simple and make sure it doesn't break easily upon submersion in the water.

You can probably build on your recipe and check out nutritional data sites. The particular recipe I used above was fortified with vitamins and ingredients that would naturally enhance red colors of fishes. It also has great carbs and proteins balance and the fish just gulps it down in no time. Sometimes I mix thing up for different fishes that prefer a more green diet, etc.

But I also make sure to feed them other food as well. I think maybe you can switch to tuna or cod. I think they'll be better choices. You can also put in more veggies in the mix. Garlic is also good and some vitamins.

[Cliff]

If they are store bought sardines there should be some type of label that lists the nutrient properties, at least in Canada that is required by law here. I would then factor in the additional volume of the other ingredients and you should be able to calculate the protein percentage form there.

If you’re worried about your fish getting enough protein, a quick comparison to you homemade food and good quality store bought gold fish food like NLS or Omega one should tell you if there is enough protein

[jessfish]

thanks, i've read that young fancy goldfish with wen's or should be wen's need a higher protein diet. So i'm trying to keep a good variation of veg & protein.

& my one oranda doesn't seem to be able to tolerate store bought food.

I will try cod, I had sardines so I tried that for this round. & i'm sure cod is better for them anyway...from what i just read i think there is less fat lol

what should the consistency be? I kind of mush the food in my fingers so its in little bits but i've notices with the sardine batch there ends up being a lot of small particles that i am sure are just going into my prefilter & filter...not good!
with the veg batch it seems good breaks up in my fingers but doesn't have the same 'cloud' effect.

[Spardas]

Cod definitely have high protein and low fat as compared to sardines which should have about 50/50.

My mix gel together pretty well but the fish attack it like steak as soon as it hit water. I freeze the slab and then take it out and cut it into cubes and toss it in. I go put food back into fridge and come back up and nothing's left, lol. What kind of prefilter are you using?

The important thing is to feed only what your fish can consume as these kind of food can quickly foul your water. I also feed them my mixture right before a water change.

[jessfish]

thanks for that info...I have 2 eheim filters & 2 eheim prefilters in the tank (they have the little white pad).

I might have to start feeding this daily as it seems to be the only thing one of my fish can tolerate...

& my other issues is i have 2 older goldies who's mouth is the size of the younger ones faces...so i've been squishing the food into small bits so everyone gets some...i dont know if i freeze it & put a cube in if tey would all get food...this squish method will probably mess with my filter faster?