Is there proof that soaking frozen food works?
 

I started a thread today about a fish I got that has always been a dream of mine earlier today. The survival of this fish over a long period of time by any keeper that I have heard has been 2 years at the most. So I wonder if any of those supplements, (i.e selcon, garlic etc.) are actually being absorbed by the frozen foods we add them to? I personally can't see a viable amount of lets say selcon being absorbed by a thawed out silverside. When feeding predatory fish we're always told to stay away from live foods (parasites etc). Maybe that's where we are going wrong when feeding marine predatory fish, and not feeding live foods. If we feed live food to our predatory fish and have fed "food" with high quality nutrition; then this will undoubtedly be passed onto the fish that is being fed. Sorry for being long winded. So any proof that frozen food actually "soak up" all these expensive supplements? Regards Tim

Well it is not proven that all of these supplements actually do anything so that point may be academic. In your previous thread, I recommend feeding only live MARINE food. In the wild, the fish consumed by Rhinopias species are NOT soaked in garlic or selcon.

I setup a ten gallon and going to have saltwater mollies in there. He already took one of the damsels out and is eyeing the other ones. Thanks for your input. Anyone else know of any proof these additives work? Thanks Tim

no direct evidence or proof, but i am confident that it does more good than harm to soak your food. it would be best if you poked tiny holes in ur silverside with a fine needle to ensure it really gets soaked in nutrition.

I honestly have trouble imagining that a thawing piece of frozen food soaked in a small cup of water which is rich in HUFAs could not absorb a ton of HUFAs. If I thaw a steak in water it is gonna taste watery when I cook it. And this food isn't being cooked. As for whether or not soaking in selcon will help the animal being fed-Dr. Roy Caldwell noticed an improvement in health, color and less loss of raptorial appendages during molts when he soaked their food in selcon.

Dan

I suppose you are going to do what you want. However why ask us about food? Just curious.

I used to keep both a dwarf fuzzy lion and a japanese bluefin(heterura):

[img]http://www.tidalblue.com/images/bluefin640top.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.tidalblue.com/images/redgoni640.jpg[/img]

I trained my lions to both eat pellets. The advantage being that dry food absorbs a lot more liquid supplement. I still fed marine silversides as well though.

I still think the verdict is out on a lot of these food supplements, but they can't hurt IMO.

As for longevity in regards to your Rhinopias, I wonder how much temperature plays a role.

In the wild, Rhinopias do not like the water too warm. When it gets warm, they go to deeper areas of the reef. You may have a interesting observation there Mark. In PNG, I see them with a water temperature of 78 F.