Frozen Paste Food

[ross]

I'm new to the forum here and not really sure what I'm doing but I wanted to post a recipe for a paste food that I use with my Killifish that I thought would be very good for Axolotls.
I make a paste food for my killifish out of equal parts of beef heart,
catfish, and frozen shrimp or crawfish (here in Louisiana). For the fish I
add some spirulina and some astaxanthin for color. Then I take some plain
gelatine (sure gel) and add that to the mix. I take a little and put it in a
ziplock lay it flat and freeze it. The sure gel binds the mix together and
it doesn't foul the water. I wanted to post the recipe on the forum to see
what the other members think about what could be added or subtracted to make
it better for axolotls. The threads for the Frozen Food catogory seems to be closed so I'm posting it here.}}

 

[edward]

The only concern (at the moment, as I am tired) I would have is that by using frozen/thawed fish as a major part of the diet you are risking thiamine deficency.

Ed

 

[sharn]

i have some special food for my axies that i use as their base food (only because nz is slack at stocking good foods!!) its mainly fish in it (frozen in cubes i cut up) but it has vitamins in it too, doesnt say which ones though. the brand is 'hot house' and it says it offers a complete diet bla bla bla 'recomended by axolotl keepers in nz' im on the look out for carnivore pellets to use as part of their base diet. so this food im feeding them now isnt good for them?!

 

[ross]

This is very true that freezing depletes the Thiamine and there is no way to add it afterwards. For reptiles like Iguanas you can make a batch of salad mix and freeze it in a ice cube tray and add brewers yeast after to replace the thiamine but there would be no way to add it in a aquatic situation. I make a lot of this paste food because I breed killifish and find they thrive on it. I also raise grindal and white worms for the more fussy feeders. I wouldn't rely on any one food totally.

 

[edward]

Freezing is not the concern. Fish contain thiaminase which degrades the thiamine content upon death. Frozen thawed fish are problimatic as the thawing process allows the thiaminase a lot of time to degrade the thiamine. This is a major cause of dietarily induced thiamine problems in amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals (for amphibians I refer you to the appropriate sections in Amphibian Medicine and Captive Husbandry, Krieger Press, 2000).
The vast majority of plants do not contain siginificant levels (or any) of thiaminase so the loss of thiamine is minimal when frozen so there is not as large need to supplement or avoid feeding as a sole diet. (Exceptions are bracken ferns and horsetail rushes).
If with amphibins, frozen fish will constitute a major part of the diet, the thiamine should be offerd at least several hours prior to the frozen fish to allow uptake and in a nonfish food item.

Ed

 

[sharn]

haha i dont know how id do that!! should i just half and half their base diet with pellets too? i just have trouble finding them (stupid nz) i feed it to them frozen but it defrosts pretty much as soon as it hits the water. they get blood worms, earth worms (when i find them very rarely) and sometimes a bit of steak or bacon when theyre not eating. does that give them all their basic nutritional requirements? i might actually get some pellets today if the money machine loves me haha

 

[edward]

If you can restrict to it to half their diet it should be fine. It is typically only a problem when it is the majority of the diet.

Ed