Share Your Gel Food Recipes For Floaters

[Captain Findus Goldfish 272]

You should google it. I think those strings need to be cooked a lot longer to be able to fully dissolve.

[IsabellaG 37]

Thought so, google here I come,

thanks CFG :-)

[dnalex 13,633]

Just thought I would add another recipe that's confirmed not to cause floating. This one I like even better than the original, and it has done away with Pro-Gold

Alex's No-Float Yummy Agar Gel Recipe, Part II:

- 8.1 oz low-sodium bagged tuna (3 bags of 2.7 oz each).

- 2 jars (8 oz) Gerbers baby food. For this recipe, I use 1 jar of peas and 1 jar of green beans.

- three eggs

- blend this together until you get a nice purée consistency.

- 4 Tablespoons of toasted (raw is OK, too) wheat germ

- 1/2 teaspoon garlic

- 1/2 teaspoon koi clay

- 1 multivitamin

- 1 probiotic packet

- crush pellets etc. to a powder, add a small amount of water, and mix together. Set aside.

- in a pot with lid, add 3 tablespoons of agar to 2 cups distilled spring/distilled water and turn heat on high

- when the water starts to boil, turn down heat to medium, add puree, wheat germ, koi clay, garlic and stir slowly but well. If you have a whisk, use that.

- cover with lid, turn heat on high again, and let mixture come to a boil

- once boiling, occasionally lift lid to stir mixture, and let boil for about 2 minutes.

- remove from heat

- in about 5-10 minutes, when mixture has not yet congealed and is warm but touchable, add probiotic/vitamin mixture and stir slowly but well. I actually use a meat thermometer to check on the temp of the mix prior to adding this. The temp should be below 110F, so that your vitamins don't get degraded and the probiotics don't get killed.

Pour into pan, let set at room temp first and then transfer to fridge for a few hours. Cut into 1 inch cubes, and freeze. Done

[koko 14,333]

Very nice Alex

[rdoyle225 1]

I made some last night. I got to 2 jars of babie food. one was peas are carrots the other was green beans and zucciane( not sure on spelling). can of drain tuna 1 1/2 cups of water. 1 multivitamin 1 probiotic packet 4 table spoons for pro gold fish food. 3 packs of the knotc geltine (could not find agr agr) I dont have flooters. the only think I boil was the water to do the geltine took it off the fire want to add the mix. For the Mix I dump both jars of food into a bowl added everthing into the bowl and let it sit while the the water was boiling and cooling. I used my meat gun to see how hot it was when it got back down to 100 I added the mix. I did not purée consistency, but I broken down the tuna by hand. Gave my fish that after it was geled and they LOVE IT.

I was it inportant to add Egg. I for got about the Egg? Is it going to hurt my fish with out it?

[Golden fishy 10]

I need to try these recipes!

[dnalex 13,633]

The egg is not necessary. It's just to add more proteins etc to the mix, which is already pretty high in protein

[MissColonel 256]

Just thought I would add another recipe that's confirmed not to cause floating. This one I like even better than the original, and it has done away with Pro-Gold

Alex's No-Float Yummy Agar Gel Recipe, Part II:

- 8.1 oz low-sodium bagged tuna (3 bags of 2.7 oz each).

- 2 jars (8 oz) Gerbers baby food. For this recipe, I use 1 jar of peas and 1 jar of green beans.

- three eggs

- blend this together until you get a nice purée consistency.

- 4 Tablespoons of toasted (raw is OK, too) wheat germ

- 1/2 teaspoon garlic

- 1/2 teaspoon koi clay

- 1 multivitamin

- 1 probiotic packet

- crush pellets etc. to a powder, add a small amount of water, and mix together. Set aside.

- in a pot with lid, add 3 tablespoons of agar to 2 cups distilled spring/distilled water and turn heat on high

- when the water starts to boil, turn down heat to medium, add puree, wheat germ, koi clay, garlic and stir slowly but well. If you have a whisk, use that.

- cover with lid, turn heat on high again, and let mixture come to a boil

- once boiling, occasionally lift lid to stir mixture, and let boil for about 2 minutes.

- remove from heat

- in about 5-10 minutes, when mixture has not yet congealed and is warm but touchable, add probiotic/vitamin mixture and stir slowly but well. I actually use a meat thermometer to check on the temp of the mix prior to adding this. The temp should be below 110F, so that your vitamins don't get degraded and the probiotics don't get killed.

Pour into pan, let set at room temp first and then transfer to fridge for a few hours. Cut into 1 inch cubes, and freeze. Done

I really want to try this ^_^

[dnalex 13,633]

You should, Karen!

[MissColonel 256]

I will go to my local co-op tomorrow to see if they have agar if not i will order it ^_^. Thank you!

[MissColonel 256]

- 1 multivitamin

- 1 probiotic packet

- crush pellets etc. to a powder, add a small amount of water, and mix together. Set aside.

I did have a question about this though, the multivitamin what kind is it? Also what do you use for the probiotic packet? The crush pellets are just normal any kind of goldfish pellets? Sorry about that I just want to make sure I pick up the right thing Thank you

[dnalex 13,633]

- 1 multivitamin

- 1 probiotic packet

- crush pellets etc. to a powder, add a small amount of water, and mix together. Set aside.

I did have a question about this though, the multivitamin what kind is it? Also what do you use for the probiotic packet? The crush pellets are just normal any kind of goldfish pellets? Sorry about that I just want to make sure I pick up the right thing Thank you

I just use the regular multivitamin for humans.

This is the probiotic packet I use

I don't really use crushed up pellets anymore, but toasted wheat germ.

[MissColonel 256]

Perfect!!! thank you I just wanted to be safe than sorry

[dnalex 13,633]

Haha! Ask away. I prefer you asking than guessing

[MissColonel 256]

Thank you Alex!!! I will deffinately if i need more help (probley will lol)

[GoldfishLover! 4]

Thanks for all the recipes. Never done it myself before. This is a great help. Thanks again.

[Jennie 1]

I used tithra's recipe (roughly) and made gel food a few months ago. My tele, Mr. Moto, tends to be floaty, and the gel food seemed to help a lot. Well, I ran out a few days ago (it lasted a loooooong time!) but I was too lazy to make more, so I started feeding Haki Sakari sinking pellets again. Mr. Moto was fine, right? and pellets are easy.

Mistake. Mr. Moto quickly got sick again - it was heartbreaking to see him floating tail up or even belly-up in the tank and struggling to reach the bottom of the tank. Peas didn't help much. So I whipped up a batch of gel food. (OMG it is so foul smelling! GAK!)

That was yesterday. Mr. Moto is fine today - swimming easily and beautifully in all zones of the tank. Thanks, dnalex and tithra! Agar gel food really helps Mr. Moto! And the pearlies love it too.

[tithra 4,917]

I am so glad the gel food helped Mr. Moto! Floaty issues are such a pain

[StarSapphire22 230]

I made a gel food just a couple days ago, so I have yet to see if it helps with the floaties yet, but it was improvised off of a lot of your guys' recipes and a couple other online resources I found, so hopefully it works! I had to use gelatin though, we didn't have agar agar locally.

Here's my recipe:

1 cup API pellets

1/2 cup Hikari daphnia

1/4 cup Nutrafin spirulina flakes

2 sheets of Sally's Seaweed Salad (Natural dried poryphyra yezoensis seaweed)

1 cup romaine lettuce

1 cup kale

1 cup spinach

4 containers of Gerber Garden Vegetables baby food (carrots, peas, water, spinach)

2 containers of Gerber Squash baby food (squash, water)

3 tbsp canned pumpkin (100% natural pumpkin)

1 tablespoon minced garlic (organic garlic, water)

1 tsp basil (organic basil, water)

unflavored gelatin

I soaked the pellets, daphnia, spirulina flakes, and ripped up pieces of seaweed in 2 cups of water for about 45 minutes, then added it to the other ingredients that had been chopped and mixed up, and pureed it all together. Then I set it with the gelatin, poured it into a glass cake pan, let chill for 8 hours (I went to bed, lol). I then cut it into small cubes, and spread it on a cookie sheet and froze it for 2 hours. Afterwards, I put it in a ziploc bag, and stuck it back in the freezer.

This is a site I used that helped me a lot when picking ingredients for nutritional value: http://www.allnaturalpetcare.com/Formulating_DIY_Homemade_Tropical_Fish_Food_Nutrition.html

[dnalex 13,633]

The recipe looks pretty good. Let us know how it works out!

[Akari_32 18]

I'm curious to know what you guys would reccomend for outdoor fish? I have both fancies and single tails in my ponds

[dnalex 13,633]

During normal times, I don't think it's really too different. Because they are pond fish and have plenty of algae etc to nibble on all day, you can feed them floating foods and not really have to worry about them being particularly floaty. You can still feed them sinking pellets and gel foods if you like. During colder weather, you will have to decide of whether to feed or just to feed wheat germ-based foods when it's cooler. Shakaho says that her single tails are smart enough to know when they should not eat, while the fancies have no such disinclination.

This thread is focused on foods to help goldfish that are particularly prone to floatiness. Do you have any outside fish that are being floaty?

[Akari_32 18]

During normal times, I don't think it's really too different. Because they are pond fish and have plenty of algae etc to nibble on all day, you can feed them floating foods and not really have to worry about them being particularly floaty. You can still feed them sinking pellets and gel foods if you like. During colder weather, you will have to decide of whether to feed or just to feed wheat germ-based foods when it's cooler. Shakaho says that her single tails are smart enough to know when they should not eat, while the fancies have no such disinclination.

This thread is focused on foods to help goldfish that are particularly prone to floatiness. Do you have any outside fish that are being floaty?

My Ryukin, Swimmy, gets floaty only when she poops, and floats head down. Looks rather pathetic lol

[dnalex 13,633]

Only floaty when she poops? I'm confused.

Anyway, if there are issues, you should start a thread. Otherwise, I would recommend any of these recipes, Repashy Gel food, or any other diet that lacks starchy fillers.

The other strong possibility is that you are overfeeding.

[Akari_32 18]

Yeah, I dunno. Strange little fish...

I was asking because I wasn't sure, since they are out side, if there would be any ingredients I wouldn't need to add (i know too much of something can be bad) or would need more of, or something extra.

I'll give these a try and see how they help Swimmy