Best frozen food

[ajremington68]

Hey, so I have used regular rods and my fish loved it, switched to reef frenzy and my fish love it. I ran out and wonder what to buy next. I have 2 clowns, 2 purple tangs, melanarus wrasse, and yellow watchmen goby. What type of frozen is a like bullet proof option and freshest option? I am setting up a new tank and want to stick with one frozen, but my thing is my fish love the food but everyone who opens my fridge hates it. I thaw out a chunk and use it for like 3-4 days and it STINKS my fridge up, is this normal should I only be thawing for feeding for the day? If so is there a good clean option for cubes?

 

[Malcontent]

I thaw everything the morning of the day I expect to feed it in little deli cups of water. You might want to check your fridge temperatures, too.

 

[TokenReefer]

Pretty smelly to me as soon as it thaws. Days 3...and 4...i can't imagine. Why not just thaw and serve?

 

[MoshJosh]

I have had terrible luck with Rod's (I know people who love it though). I have heard LRS is the better option but I can't get it locally. Given all that I like to feed SFB frozen cubes. Most recently I have been using a combo of Emerald Entrée, Marine Cuisine, and Coral Cuisine.

That said I thaw and feed same day, I would not recommend thawing and leaving in the fridge for days at a time. Not just for smell, but may cause other issues as well?

 

[exnisstech]

Rods, LRS, and PE mysis here. I quit buying the blister pack cubes because they have too much water. I thaw food out and they are still cubes of frozen water when everything else is thawed. I like to make my own mix but no longer have a local source for ingredients.

EDIT : Often I will thaw enough for two days and refrigerate with no issues.

 

[dwest]

I buy LRS online once a year from premium aquatics. I cut into cubes, store in a freezer, and thaw the cube in a small cup of tank water for about 15 minutes, then feed the fish.

 

[Bj’s Reef]

You should only thaw out what you need for a single feeding. Just break off what you need. Thaw it out in a little cup of di water and feed it to the fish. Or you can thaw it out in a little bit of tank water and feed the fish. I don’t blame your family for hating the smell. Follow our directions and the complaint’s and odor will go away.

 

[ajremington68]

Pretty smelly to me as soon as it thaws. Days 3...and 4...i can't imagine. Why not just thaw and serve?

On weekends I work 12 hours so I have 20 minute breaks so got to run home feed and scoot back to work no time to wait

 

[ajremington68]

Rods, LRS, and PE mysis here. I quit buying the blister pack cubes because they have too much water. I thaw food out and they are still cubes of frozen water when everything else is thawed. I like to make my own mix but no longer have a local source for ingredients.

EDIT : Often I will thaw enough for two days and refrigerate with no issues.

With rods and everything? No smell? I do want to comment it’s not like a rotting smell it’s just a fishy smell with it being thaw squid oyster and stufff

 

[ajremington68]

Does anybody know the best frozen food for the picky eaters like say copperbands? I have heard and I skim read, that a lot of the reason they die is because they get pulled from the ocean where they have premium fresh food always and then the stuff we feed in the tank isn’t the best. So in this case if you had a say copperband what is the freshest best frozen to feed? I think I read a type of mysis but there is quite a few from what I also read

 

[Bj’s Reef]

I have had my copperband for years now. He eats anything frozen thawed. There’s no one food that you can feed and it’s all you will need. The key is to feed a variety of different things. If time is a issue just break off a piece of frozen food. Toss it in the tank and off you go. It will thaw out in minutes. In the meantime your fish will get exercise and mental stimulation as they eat the thawing food. It works for me.

 

[exnisstech]

With rods and everything? No smell? I do want to comment it’s not like a rotting smell it’s just a fishy smell with it being thaw squid oyster and stufff

It doesn't smell like anything I would eat but isn't like rotten shrimp which smells much worse than rotten fish. I just thaw it in very small Tupperware containers with lids. I do not thaw in water and I do not rinse. A few times a week I'll add selcon and vitachem. I'll also mix some quality pellets in often.
I keep a CBB and he eats everything except the pellets. They can be difficult but there are plenty of post about that already.

This is from yesterday and I'll feed the rest tonight. Been doing it this way for years. Heck I watch my fish eat each others poop all the time and IMO this is way healthier lol

 

[ajremington68]

I have had my copperband for years now. He eats anything frozen thawed. There’s no one food that you can feed and it’s all you will need. The key is to feed a variety of different things. If time is an issue just break off a piece of frozen food. Toss it in the tank and off you go. It will thaw out in minutes. In the meantime your fish will get exercise and mental stimulation as they eat the thawing food. It works for me.

Hmmm I never thought about this… it doesn’t matter it being super cold?

 

[ajremington68]

I have had my copperband for years now. He eats anything frozen thawed. There’s no one food that you can feed and it’s all you will need. The key is to feed a variety of different things. If time is a issue just break off a piece of frozen food. Toss it in the tank and off you go. It will thaw out in minutes. In the meantime your fish will get exercise and mental stimulation as they eat the thawing food. It works for me.

Also where did you get copper band from?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I thaw my food right when I need it, that way its the freshest. Even frozen it stinks, so I can't imagine the smell if it was thawed and in the fridge lol.

I just cut off a half or quarter cube, or scrape off some reef frenzy, put it in a glass of rodi water, and into the tank it goes right away.

 

[Hawaii hobbyist]

I have had terrible luck with Rod's (I know people who love it though). I have heard LRS is the better option but I can't get it locally. Given all that I like to feed SFB frozen cubes. Most recently I have been using a combo of Emerald Entrée, Marine Cuisine, and Coral Cuisine.

That said I thaw and feed same day, I would not recommend thawing and leaving in the fridge for days at a time. Not just for smell, but may cause other issues as well?

You’re right in your suspicions that this is a bad husbandry practice. You should only thaw enough to feed for the day. Anything beyond this is inviting trouble

 

[UMALUM]

You’re right in your suspicions that this is a bad husbandry practice. You should only thaw enough to feed for the day. Anything beyond this is inviting trouble

Why?

Just wondering if you know something that all of us don't?

 

[Hawaii hobbyist]

Why?

Just wondering if you know something that all of us don't?

It’s been my experience that food sitting around can cultivate bad bacteria that can and will transfer to your fish and make them sick.

 

[EricR]

I don't actually get the point (effort) of thawing frozen food.
Personally, I just crunch up a frozen chunk (usually LRS) with a knife, quick mix in little cup of tank water, and dump it in.
*maybe I'm missing something

 

[UMALUM]

It’s been my experience that food sitting around can cultivate bad bacteria that can and will transfer to your fish and make them sick.

Interesting as I've never seen a study stating non mammals being susceptible to food / airborne bacteria. Not exactly sure what your definition of sit around means? It's an interesting topic that has come up several times over the years not only here but on rc as well. I defrost 15 cubes at a time "3 days worth" and it's kept air tight at 38 in the fridge. Never once have I had a problem. I've been using the SFB emerald entrée and marine cuisine for 20 years now and it smells a lot better than the ballyhoo I use to catch dolphin.