Fish eggs

[Delta1389]

Ive seen where some are purchasing fish eggs to feed to their fish. The bass are spawning here and I've been catching quite a few fish lately and their bellies are full of eggs. My question is do y'all think it would be safe to freeze these eggs and feed them to my fish?

 

[eatbreakfast]

They would be an excellent food source. Freeze them and use as needed.

 

[Delta1389]

Anything special should be done prior to feeding besides freezing?

 

[Tautog]

Absolutely, I put the row in ice cube trays, it makes defrosting easy

 

[Delta1389]

I'm thinking of blending to separate them from the egg sack really well then adding in some rodi water and freezing them that way.

 

[mcarroll]

Process minimally. I don't know what this stuff is like in the native form, but I'd go after it with some utensils...scissors maybe.

Leave plenty of the egg sack in what you freeze, but cut it up to nicer sizes.

 

[Tautog]

I'm thinking of blending to separate them from the egg sack really well then adding in some rodi water and freezing them that way.

That sounds good, but don't put your eggs in a blender, you will have egg salad. Use a chefs knife to chop, they break up very easy. Those juices are a major food source, and I don't waste any. Freezing the eggs, or any other food collected wild, will kill most of the bacteria your tank doesn't need.
I feed small fish, clams, octopus, squid, scallop guts, everybody loves scallops. But I always chop and freeze before feeding

 

[Delta1389]

Was having a hard time separating them so blended them just a little. Put them in a zip loc and going to freeze them flat so I can break off small thin pieces. If it doesn't work this way I'll try the other ways y'all suggested. I can always get more, it's not hard to come by.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

I would leave the sacs on, cut it in smaller manageable pieces and freeze them separately in vacuum freezer bags. Store in the freezer chest, if you have one. I would then slice off what I needed.

 

[Tautog]

That's perfect! The problem with blenders is the high speed. Too much speed and time will put air into your food. Use the pulse option. But it looks fine, just like all the food we buy . Saving a few bucks here and there helps to buy those really nice corals.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

http://www.larrysreefservices.com/lrs-fish-eggs.html

 

[Delta1389]

Good info. I'll keep them in the sacs next time.

 

[laga77]

I use LRS fish eggs and highly recommend them. Use kitchen shears or scissors to cut up sacs. LRS eggs are from SW fish. I think it is a guess at how good freshwater fish eggs are for SW fish. It all depends on what kind of fat is in the yolks and if the reef fish can use it.

 

[eatbreakfast]

I use LRS fish eggs and highly recommend them. Use kitchen shears or scissors to cut up sacs. LRS eggs are from SW fish. I think it is a guess at how good freshwater fish eggs are for SW fish. It all depends on what kind of fat is in the yolks and if the reef fish can use it.

It's not any kind of guess. Nutritional analyses have been done on most bass. They are a fine food for sw fish.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

I wouldn't allow this to be a bulk of the food offered. Then again, the same could be said of marine eggs. This is in addition to everything else you feed.

They generally have higher levels of n-6 PUFA than marine eggs.

 

[Delta1389]

The bulk of my fishes diet is nls pellets and PE mysis. I'm going to try feeding these eggs a few times a week as food for both my fish and coral. I can probably get access to redfish and speckled trout eggs as well once we start fishing for them.

 

[BluewaterLa]

I've always been on the path of thinking to limit the amount of freshwater fish or fish eggs to marine fish due to the types or differences in fat content among other nutrients
While the eggs are super nutritious for many critters
I would view this like feeding freshwater feeders to aggressive marine fish. It may be bad in large amounts over YEARs for their livers or other organs.

I agree with the others in that supplementing their diet with these eggs are nutritious and good for your fish and corals too.

Maybe I'm thinking of the days where folks fed gold fish to their aggressive marine fish as a staple diet
I am getting old and crusty haha

 

[PJS]

Don't know why but I'm suddenly in the mood for pancakes and eggs

 

[BluewaterLa]

Don't know why but I'm suddenly in the mood for pancakes and eggs

With a little bass roe jelly

 

[mcarroll]

Maybe I'm thinking of the days where folks fed gold fish to their aggressive marine fish as a staple diet
I am getting old and crusty haha

Plus, if they were poorly nourished (i.e. mostly flakes and pellets) where they were farmed they would make a poor source of nutrition.