# To those of you who use DIY Gelatin.



## Hater (Apr 21, 2006)

Ok guys the time has come to make the DIY gelatin. Girlfriend is complaining there is not room in the freezer with all the stuff I have in there.

I'm going to ask the people who use this to honestly tell me if this gelatin has improved their fishes color and going to ask for a little help on how to make it. But first, here are the ingredients I'm going to use:

1-Catfish Fillet
2-Tilapia Fillet
3-Octopus
4-Cuttle fish-Squid
5-Smelt
6-Sardines
7-Two different type of fishes I buy at my local asian market.
8-Shrimp with shell of course
9-Carrots
10-Peas?
11-Algae Wafers
12-Shrimp Pellet
13-Hikari Carnivorious Pellets
14-Hikari gold floating pellets
15-Hikari Discus red enhancing pellets
16-Zoe Freshwater vitamin
17-Blood worm
18-Calcium supplement
19-Maybe I'll get krills
20-Steak to add smell but only a little bit.

Is there anything I'm forgetting guys if so please feel free to add.

Now I want this done right the first time cause I will be using a lot of ingredients so is there anything I need to watch out for? How much Gelatin should I use? will a lot of gelatin make the final product more solid or would you guys say use less Gelatin? When I'm blending the ingredient should I use a lot of water?

Taylor would really appreciate your input on this and any input from anyone who uses the gelating.

Hater


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## UNIQUE (Sep 16, 2006)

Thanks for asking hater... im would like to hear the input as well...

hey where did you find gelatin?
i can;t find any at my grocery store...


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## Hater (Apr 21, 2006)

UNIQUE said:


> Thanks for asking hater... im would like to hear the input as well...
> 
> hey where did you find gelatin?
> i can;t find any at my grocery store...


Local supermarket.

Hater


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## zack-199 (Aug 10, 2006)

its usually in the cake stuff


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## Guest (Oct 13, 2006)

nice, add peas; people say good for digestion or somethin and not to many sardines other then that it looks very good


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## Azog (Jun 2, 2006)

get some spirulina and it will be perfect. But yeah not to many sardines they damn oily


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## Ægir (Jan 21, 2006)

Hater said:


> Ok guys the time has come to make the DIY gelatin. Girlfriend is complaining there is not room in the freezer with all the stuff I have in there.
> 
> I'm going to ask the people who use this to honestly tell me if this gelatin has improved their fishes color and going to ask for a little help on how to make it. But first, here are the ingredients I'm going to use:
> 
> ...


i used almost that EXACT recipie... but now heres where i had problems... i bought a box of 20 gelatin packets, and used like 8 and only 3 cups of water... my batch didnt stay solid in the tank for long... and my puree of perfect food became a hazard to my waterquality... had to restock the freezer







and i am sketched to try it again cause of the $$ untill i find somebodys EXACT recipie cups of food, cups of hot or cold wather, and packets of gelatin (cpecify brand, and size of packets) THANKS FOR THE TOPIC!!!


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## Hater (Apr 21, 2006)

> i used almost that EXACT recipie... but now heres where i had problems... i bought a box of 20 gelatin packets, and used like 8 and only 3 cups of water... my batch didnt stay solid in the tank for long... and my puree of perfect food became a hazard to my waterquality... had to restock the freezer and i am sketched to try it again cause of the $$ untill i find somebodys EXACT recipie cups of food, cups of hot or cold wather, and packets of gelatin (cpecify brand, and size of packets) THANKS FOR THE TOPIC!!!


This is exactly what I'm afraid of, that I spend all this $$ on this thing and it doesn't come out well. Anybody who has had success can you please reply.

How much Gelatin should be used? 
What brand? 
How warm should the water be?
Do you dice the fish up before putting it in the blender?
Is there an order that should be follow when blending all this stuff? 
Do you feed the gelatin frozen to the fishes so it doesn't make a mess in the tank?

Hater


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## Mattones (Jul 9, 2006)

Dont use hot water when doing it use WARM. first time around i used hot as the package said..ad the P's didn't eat it. All sounds good. Talipia is great.


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## Ægir (Jan 21, 2006)

Hater said:


> > i used almost that EXACT recipie... but now heres where i had problems... i bought a box of 20 gelatin packets, and used like 8 and only 3 cups of water... my batch didnt stay solid in the tank for long... and my puree of perfect food became a hazard to my waterquality... had to restock the freezer and i am sketched to try it again cause of the $$ untill i find somebodys EXACT recipie cups of food, cups of hot or cold wather, and packets of gelatin (cpecify brand, and size of packets) THANKS FOR THE TOPIC!!!
> 
> 
> This is exactly what I'm afraid of, that I spend all this $$ on this thing and it doesn't come out well. Anybody who has had success can you please reply.
> ...


i diced everything before blending, and blended till theres no chunks... youll prob have to add some water... maybe soak the pellets first? cause they dry the mix out
i cut it in cubes after refrigerating, and froze the cubes in foil... thawed slightly but still fell apart in 2 seconds either way...


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## Hater (Apr 21, 2006)

> i diced everything before blending, and blended till theres no chunks... youll prob have to add some water... maybe soak the pellets first? cause they dry the mix out
> i cut it in cubes after refrigerating, and froze the cubes in foil... thawed slightly but still fell apart in 2 seconds either way...


Would I be better off dicing the mixture very small so that the pygos can swallow it whole instead of tearing it up? There was something with your mixture Bud that was not done right. I pm several members of the forum that have had success with their Gelatin hopefully they will come in and help.



> get some spirulina and it will be perfect. But yeah not to many sardines they damn oily


Ok, I added spirulina to my order and will reduce the amount of sardine or maybe just not add any to the mixture. I will keep the sardines around and give it to them as a special treat. The Sardines I have are very small and my pygos usually just swallow the whole thing so I don't get that messy oil.

Hater


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## AE Aquatics (Alex) (Jan 15, 2006)

I used most of ur list but added mussels, beef liver, chicken gizards, krill and whiting. Get the knox brand. Bring the water up to a boil and turn off the flame and add ur gelatine. Poor it into containers and let cool in the fridge. If u notice it wasn't enough gelatin just reheat some water and repeat until u reach what ur looking for. After is forms, cut into pieces and freeze individually on a platter and after that just put the cubes in zip lock bags and refreeze. When u feed cut into bite size pieces. Call me at AS tommorrow if u have any other questions


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## nick007x (Sep 9, 2005)

i had the same problem with stuff separating the first time around, and had to throw that batch out at well. i tried it again a week ago however, with great results. i cut all my ingredients into small pieces (just let things like krill and silversides thaw in water, then drained the water). I packed all the ingredients into two square aluminum pie/baking pans, not more than an inch to an inch and a half deep in any one spot. Then I heated about 2-3 cups of water to a boil, took it off the burner and waited for it to stop boiling, added to a bowl where I had 16 packets of gelatin powder (I bought a box of 32 packs for $4).

after stirring it up, I poured enoug into the pie plates so that the liquid gelatin soaked through everything, but not really over the level of the ingridients, just right up to it. this method has worked great for me, because there's so much gelatin it immediately gets thick, allowing you to stir it up for an even distribution. and the best thing is that when you throw a piece in the tank, as the gelatin dissolves, instead of dissolving into a pre-made paste that fouls the water, it dissolves into harmless gelatin, if there's anything they didn't eat, its left sitting on the bottom in a whole piece thats easy to pick up w/ a grabber, like any other uneaten food.

one more thing--I take a few pieces out of my freezer and put them in a bag in my fridge a day before, thus unthawing it. the food in the fridge i feed to the fish replacing it with frozen pieces to feed the next day. that way, you're not feeding frozen food, and you don't have to wait a half an hour for it to thaw each time


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## JustJoshinYa (Mar 25, 2006)

Maybe another ingredient should be garlic guard? that way it would entice the Ps to eat it before it had a chance to dissolve and foul your water up.







just a thought IMO


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## taylorhedrich (Mar 2, 2005)

First of all, that's a VERY good list of ingredients!









The first time I did this, I used Sure-Jell, which is used to make jelly and such. Don't use this, it won't come out right and it will have the consistency of jam. I had to blend it all back together again and then use Knox brand gelatin. I can't tell you how much to use, because it all depends on the size of your batch. We over dosed it by about a box, just to be sure, but it doesn't hurt anything....it's just gelatin.

I advise not adding extra water to the mix. We just poured in the water that we mixed the gelatin in, and it turned out just fine that way. Don't get discouraged if it doesn't set right. All you have to do is stick it back in the blender and add some more gelatin, so it won't harm the food in any way.

If your fish will eat chunks of fish fillet before they hit the bottom of the tank, chances are they will gobble up the DIY food as soon as it hits the water (after they've tasted it and realize it tastes good). I wouldn't recommend this food for fish that are too shy and let the food fall onto the gravel until you walk out of the room or something. As for Pygos, it works good if you cut it into small pieces so they don't have to tear apart one huge piece, since that can make a pretty big mess sometimes.

I hope that helps Hater. If you have any more questions, please ask. Oh, and good luck!








~Taylor~


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## cueball (May 24, 2005)

yes i found i had problems with my fish not eating it ,,, i think if i would have put that garlic thats suposed to make them eat better it would have worked out better. i would say as long as ya have a narly pack of reds you shouldnt have a problem,,, NOT RECOMENDED for rhoms or fussy eaters,,,,,, just my 2 cents worth hater,,


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## Hater (Apr 21, 2006)

I want to thank everybody that contributed to this thread. Your input is very greatly appreciated.

I will start on my Gelatin as soon as I get some of the ingredients I ordered online. I will let everyone know how it went.

Hater


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## Guest (Oct 14, 2006)

oh instead of the garlic guard u can just use some garlic (i remeber some used it)


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## shredder_fury (Aug 25, 2006)

piranhaseeker said:


> oh instead of the garlic guard u can just use some garlic (i remeber some used it)


 that sounds like a perfect batch that will mix well, light on the oily fish though,, I used the knox original gelatine unflavored,,, I just blended everything frozen in my mixer,,,6-cup capasity,,added just enough water to blend all ingred,,used hot tap water for the gel 1cup per pac,,,used 4 cups water to five packs jelatine,stirred until blended let stand for five min,,after blending poured into 9x12 cake pan,poured jel over it all sturred until well mixed,,,,set in fridge until the next day, flipped glass pan over to drop ingred,,,,out cut into 1x1x1 cubs on tinfoil set in freezer,,after they froze used ziplock bags to store them in,,,must of did something right on mixture cause even when thawed they don't fall apart in the tank, my fish are about 4-5inches long now,,,,i just get a cube out of the freezer put on plate let stand for about 3 mins,so it's not to be to frozen when cutting, cut cube into 3 equal parts then down the middle then back into three's let stand for about 4mins then drop into tank one at a time so nothing falls to the bottom,,,after they get there fill they'll let you know cause they will bit it swim away then drop it so the last piece i'll just pick out then later do the same prosses over when feeding time comes around again!!!! caution i noticed that my nitrate was creeping up,,,found out that i was over feeding them with my cubs((((((cause realistically i'm pretty new at this gelatine my self))) but now i think i have it under control cause my nitrate stays at about 10-30ppm with two water changes weekly @25% i hope this sortta helps ya a bit!!!!! but i'll tell you one thing,,this concept of feeding is great and i'm sticking with it,,so much easier((for me that is)) good luck!!


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## Hater (Apr 21, 2006)

Ok guys a little confused here. I was going to put the blended mixture and gelatin all together in a buch and stir it and then drop it into the baking pans or should I pour the blnded mixture into the baking pan first and then add the gelatin?

Hater


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## shredder_fury (Aug 25, 2006)

Hater said:


> Ok guys a little confused here. I was going to put the blended mixture and gelatin all together in a buch and stir it and then drop it into the baking pans or should I pour the blnded mixture into the baking pan first and then add the gelatin?
> 
> Hater


 it really does'nt matter at that point when u have both mixtures u can mix all together then pour or just pour the mixture in pan first then add the gelatine then mix well


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## jeepman784 (Jan 8, 2004)

i did a small scale trial of this method and it works very well.. i used warm water only enogh to dissolve the gelatin powder, then add the paste of whatever you chose to feed them and add small amounts of water until you have a pourable liquid, then find a container for it (i lined mine with syran wrap) and pour it in, sets in fridge rather quickly, score and feed


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## taylorhedrich (Mar 2, 2005)

How did it turn out Hater?


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## mcmurrayjl (Oct 13, 2006)

Thank You!!!!


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## Doddridge (Aug 7, 2006)

did wonders for my oscars, they got CRAZY good color and azog can attest to that


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## RB 32 (Mar 2, 2005)

Gelatin IS no good!!


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## assclown (Dec 12, 2005)

hater........

i used this type of food and it messed up my water badly......i followed it to the tee and it sucks (no offense to those who invented this) but a varied diet is better, plus you can control how much and what they eat.......sorry guys, not a fan of this food


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## RB 32 (Mar 2, 2005)

SO SORRY,

YOU WILL GET NO WERE FEEDING THIS GELATIN FOOD.


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## Hater (Apr 21, 2006)

taylorhedrich said:


> SO SORRY,
> 
> YOU WILL GET NO WERE FEEDING THIS GELATIN FOOD.


RB_32 I'm sorry but I have to disagree with you. How can you not get anywhere with a mixture that contains all the essentials in a fish diets. There is nothing you can feed you Piranhas that is more complete then this gelatin mixture. Look at the list of food I used to create this mixture.

Maybe if I added a little salmon, it would have met your standard. Next mixture I promise you I will.

Hater


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## assclown (Dec 12, 2005)

gelitain is great protein for anything living, however, p's dont eat gelitain
i made it pretty stiff and still came apart in the water and clouded up.

im not sold on the idea man....you can find all of those benifits in pellets and 
frozen fish that wont cloud the water, just a thought


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## Hater (Apr 21, 2006)

assclown said:


> gelitain is great protein for anything living, however, p's dont eat gelitain
> i made it pretty stiff and still came apart in the water and clouded up.
> 
> im not sold on the idea man....you can find all of those benifits in pellets and
> frozen fish that wont cloud the water, just a thought


Like I said in my previous thread assclown. Your gelatin was not done correctly because mines does not fall apart and it stays together for more then 5 minutes.

You cannot find all those benefits in pellets(although pellets are great) and I have 6 different fishes in the mixture. Assclown, that means that everytime I feed the gelatin to my fishes, I'm feeding 6 different type of fishes, octopus, calamari,shrimp, krill, pellets, vitamin supplement, calcium, algae, spirulina and several more things every time.

You could feed the fishes all this individually but you cannot feed them all of this at one time. I really beleive that the gelatin (because of all the ingredient) is far better then anything you could feed a piranha individually.

The positive feedback that I get from people who have sucsesfully used the gelatin with their fishes far outweights the negative so I'm going to stick to it and I will post the result. If you are correct assclown I will be the fist one to admitt so but till then.

Hater

P.S. I hope the gelatin is not harmfull to the fishes.


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## cueball (May 24, 2005)

what makes gellaten????????? i aint got a clue


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## assclown (Dec 12, 2005)

gelitain used to be horse hooves, i think they still make it out of that
not sure, but should not harm your p's


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## Brian5150 (Oct 17, 2006)

I know this is an old thread but I need to know if after this recipe has been completed and jelled is it easy to slice? Just asking because i need to hang my food for my P to take it so I'd be slicing thin and hanging these pieces in my tank. Thanks


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## taylorhedrich (Mar 2, 2005)

Brian5150 said:


> I know this is an old thread but I need to know if after this recipe has been completed and jelled is it easy to slice? Just asking because i need to hang my food for my P to take it so I'd be slicing thin and hanging these pieces in my tank. Thanks


Well, it has a consistency of Jello almost, so no, I do not think that would work very well.


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