Easy Masstick for anemones and LPS? Will gobies take it?

[Tired]

So, Easy Masstick is a gluten-free, pre-prepared fish food that doesn't require any refrigeration. As far as I can tell, I should be able to keep it next to the tank and pop some in whenever I want to feed something. I need it to be gluten-free because of allergies in the family- gluten can't come in the house. I like pre-prepared foods where I can just feed right away, and don't have to go downstairs to thaw something frozen or mix it up or anything. 

 

Has anyone used this stuff reasonably long-term? I know it's a relatively new product. 

 

Do anemones and LPS like if you put a bit of it on them? 

 

Will gobies and other fish that don't necessarily pick at the rockwork taste it? Would I have to offer the goby tiny, non-stuck bits? I have a trimma goby and will get a shrimpgoby. The videos of the food usually show fish like wrasses that like to peck, not sit-and-wait gobies.

[jservedio]

50 minutes ago, Tired said:

So, Easy Masstick is a gluten-free, pre-prepared fish food that doesn't require any refrigeration. As far as I can tell, I should be able to keep it next to the tank and pop some in whenever I want to feed something. I need it to be gluten-free because of allergies in the family- gluten can't come in the house. I like pre-prepared foods where I can just feed right away, and don't have to go downstairs to thaw something frozen or mix it up or anything. 

 

Has anyone used this stuff reasonably long-term? I know it's a relatively new product. 

 

Do anemones and LPS like if you put a bit of it on them? 

 

Will gobies and other fish that don't necessarily pick at the rockwork taste it? Would I have to offer the goby tiny, non-stuck bits? I have a trimma goby and will get a shrimpgoby. The videos of the food usually show fish like wrasses that like to peck, not sit-and-wait gobies.

I've literally never heard of a gluten containing fish food...have you been trying to feed your fish Olive Garden leftovers or something?

[Tired]

Every flake and pellet I can find contains wheat as a binder. It doesn't hurt fish, assuming the food contains enough of the things they actually need, and it's what keeps things held together. The gluten-free fish foods are generally ones that are frozen or freeze-dried, things that are literally just "we caught some small animals and froze them, maybe threw in some seaweed". 

 

I'm looking for something akin to a pellet, something I can keep next to the tank and just drop in. I can't get freeze-dried to sink enough for my anemones to get a good grip on it, and forget feeding the hermit crabs without it floating up, so this stuff looks pretty good as an alternative. 

[mcarroll]

I think freeze-dried is one of your best bets, but not perfect...some soaking is highly recommended for reasons that are apparent.  😉. That does decrease the immediacy somewhat, but just make it a morning thing to soak one days' worth of freeze dried...and then it's available to drop in all day once it's soaked.  👍

[Tired]

I've tried freeze-dried, and the stuff won't sink. I leave it in water for hours and it stays floating. I try crunching it up, and it still floats. I think the mysis shells trap the air well enough that soaking can't do much. 

[mcarroll]

http://sustainableaquatics.com/feeds/prepared-feeds/sa-dry-hatchery-diet-32-oz-0-8mm/

 

Has only wheat gluten like most, most at least doesn't include wheat flour...not sure that helps tho.

 

Glycerol is the ingredient you'd want to try from the product you mentioned, gives things that ever-moist consistency....though personally I wouldn't eat it by choice and would consider it a dubious ingredient per se.  For experimentation at least, consider just grinding up some of your freeze dried and making a paste out of it with some glycerol.

 

It has many interesting uses, but I'd have to place "food additive" among the least of them.

[Gaze]

1 hour ago, Tired said:

I've tried freeze-dried, and the stuff won't sink. I leave it in water for hours and it stays floating. I try crunching it up, and it still floats. I think the mysis shells trap the air well enough that soaking can't do much. 

Maybe a feeding ring would help? Right above the nem, allows it to soak in the moisture and fall? You can find off-brands with suction cups on Amazon for less than 10$

[Tired]

Thanks for the suggestion, but gluten is the problem. It's in a lot of things because it's a great binder- in fact, it's a lot of how bread is able to get that nice texture. It's why pizza doughs are so stretchy. 

 

A feeding ring is an interesting idea, but if it did ever sink (which I wonder if it would), it would just get blown around by the current before it reached them. 

 

How do people feed freeze-dried normally? Am I missing something about this, or is it just for things that'll go up and get it from the top of the water? I can't get the dang stuff down. 

[Gaze]

14 minutes ago, Tired said:

Thanks for the suggestion, but gluten is the problem. It's in a lot of things because it's a great binder- in fact, it's a lot of how bread is able to get that nice texture. It's why pizza doughs are so stretchy. 

 

A feeding ring is an interesting idea, but if it did ever sink (which I wonder if it would), it would just get blown around by the current before it reached them. 

 

How do people feed freeze-dried normally? Am I missing something about this, or is it just for things that'll go up and get it from the top of the water? I can't get the dang stuff down. 

I would also set everything to feed mode so hopefully itll soak and sink in the ~10mins

 

[mcarroll]

16 minutes ago, Tired said:

How do people feed freeze-dried normally?

Not too many people do, I think.  And there are reputed to be some problems with it as a staple food item...I suspect related to the aspects about it that you've noted.  Most critters count on getting water from their food even more than we do, so makes some sense to me that there could be an issue.

[Tired]

41 minutes ago, reefsenpai said:

I would also set everything to feed mode so hopefully itll soak and sink in the ~10mins

 

I don't have a feed mode, and, like I said, it doesn't sink. I've soaked freeze-dried food for hours and not had it sink. I've left it in a cup of water OVERNIGHT. If you have a way to make freeze-dried mysis shrimp sink in less than 10 minutes, I'm convinced you're dabbling in witchcraft, and I'd like to also dabble as well. 

 

Would dehydration really be an issue for marine creatures? I know I'd wondered about the "soak it in RO water" thing I see a lot- I don't know if things can intake too much water that way. I know marine creatures are designed to remove excess salt from their bodies, not excess water. 

 

I guess I'll stick with frozen for now. I can't find much on Easy Masstick as a staple food long-term, though the fact that butterflyfish will eat it is definitely a point in its favor. Clearly it at least tastes good. 

[mcarroll]

2 minutes ago, Tired said:

I know marine creatures are designed to remove excess salt from their bodies, not excess water.

Yup.  "All that water and not a drop to drink." means that marine creatures need to get their water from their food.  Dried food could be a problem.  Too much water is unlikely to be an issue since we're facing the opposite problem.  😃  (I'm not sure "too much" is even a potential problem within our context.)

[Tired]

Oh, wait. I just realized that soaking freeze-dried food in RO water basically undoes the freeze-drying. Drying something removes only water from it, not salts. Which seems to make soaking in saltwater, which would add more salt, a bad idea. 

[mcarroll]

I think osmosis and the balance of elements in the animal carcass would make it work out so that H2O was mostly all that is absorbed from seawater vs other elements....but RO may actually work better.  Hard to predict, actually....sounds like some parts must actually become hydrophobic once dehydrated.

[Tired]

I think some of it does go hydrophobic. It feels like trying to rehydrate peat moss, only peat moss, you can squeeze the air out of. I can't really squeeze the air out of mysis. I've tried. I think their shells trap some of the air, too. 

 

I've successfully fed freeze-dried mysis to my hermits, but only by physically giving the hermit the mysis with some tongs, and waiting for them to grab it. If they let go, vwoop, up to the surface it goes. Frozen is much easier to give them. Either way, it's cute. I know most people keep them as cleanup, but I don't feed enough for them to need to clean anything, I just have them as pets. They're catching on pretty quick to the tongs being a good thing. 

 

Sidenote, I might try a different freeze-dried food, just as a treat. I have some cat treats that are dried hunks of whitefish, and I think the individual strands would rehydrate pretty easily. Maybe my goby would like some. I know meat alone isn't an appropriate food, you need the organs and so on, but it makes a decent treat. 

(The cats love it, too. And it doesn't stink too horribly!)

[Tamberav]

I use easy and normal masstick and I like it a lot although I prefer the one I mix myself as it has bigger bits in it.

 

I don't see any reason a nem would not take a peice of it.

 

I don't know if a goby will learn to peck at it off the glass. Well a green banded goby probably would....those guys try to eat anything...

 

The corals seem to love the stuff...they get super fluffy and feeding frenzy mode when the fish are pecking it off the glass since small particles make it into the water as the fish eat.

 

Definitely be sure to rip off smaller pieces to feed. I only feed half of one of the balls to my 80g. 

 

Maybe you can target feed the fish until they get excited enough to try and eat it off the glass...not sure...some gobies are pretty shy/cryptic.