My attempt to re-create Sera O-Nip

[ange]

I have yet to meet someone who tried the old Sera O-Nip and didn't like it. I was (unfortunately) late to the party and didn't hear about it until after it was reformulated. When I started feeding Repashy foods I fell in love with experimenting with it (what if I add Vita Chem/garlic juice/duckweed/laxatives).

My attempt at re-creating O-Nip has gone through a few iterations. My first attempt was attempting to find a way to secure Repashy to the side of the aquarium BEFORE it set. This was a mess. I think I've mostly got it down now.

To re-create Sera O-Nip with Repashy you will need:

Your Repashy food of choice
Very hot water
Suction cups
A mold

Here's what I specifically used:

Repashy Community Blend or Soilent Green
Hikari Freeze-Dried Bloodworms
Boiling water
Suction cups
Candy molds

My method:

1. Do all of the prep. Set out the mold and have it ready (pouring can get messy so I usually place it on a plate), set the water to boil, and have the suction cups ready. I've had the best success rate doing 2.5tbs of water to 1tbs of pre-mix.
2. Measure out the pre-mix and any inclusions into a clean bowl. I use freeze-dried bloodworms but it's possible to include other goodies.
3. Add the hot water to the pre-mix and mix well. From this point on it's very important to work quickly so that the gel doesn't start to set.
4. Pour the Repashy into the molds. I use a spatula to guide it into the mold. For smaller batches it's possible to spoon the Repashy into the molds individually, but for larger batches the Repashy usually starts to set by the time I'm done.
5. ADD THE SUCTION CUPS TO THE MOLDS. In my specific set, there's not room for all of the suction cups to go into all of the Repashy. This works out for my purposes because it lets me distract the majority of my tank toward the surface and allows my Bolivian rams to feed closer to the bottom in relative peace.
6. Refrigerate the Repashy for at least 1 hour, I usually leave mine overnight in the fridge.

Challenges:

1. The working time of the Repashy before it sets is NOT kind. In my early experiments with the suction cups I worked too slowly and it caused faults in the Repashy when I pushed in the suction cup. That fault would then break when impacted by fish feeding and cause the food to fall to the bottom.
2. Too much liquid in the mix will also cause the Repashy to fall. More liquid makes it easier to pour the Repashy into the mold and add the suction cups before it sets too much, but can also keep it from setting enough to the point that it stays on the suction cup.
3. I've had some demolding issues. This is just the shape of the mold not being well-suited to certain shapes. Luckily anything that falls is happily eaten by my rams at the bottom.

I think I'm getting this method down but I'm very open to feedback. For this post I took photos while preparing my Community Blend, but what I ended up feeding them in the picture is Soilent Green that I prepared a few days ago. If anyone is curious, I can definitely post pics of the batch that's in the fridge right now once I feed it.

[Fonske]

4 hours ago, ange said:

Challenges:

Ok let's see if there is something that might help..

1. Identifying the cause: it is the separate nature of the suction cup and the mold. Causes time delay during the  pouring/assembly and adhesion/cohesion issues during de-molding.
2. Possible solution: make the suction cup and the mold one piece. 
3. Possible realization: for example, use a double-sided suction cup with the top cup being the mold and use the whole thing as a feeding device without de-molding. 

Possible issues: 

• the food might not adhere to the top cup (use other small containers that could be attached to the cups?). 
• the shape of the food is not so cute and the access area for fish to peck is decreased compared to the molded pieces.
• the cups would have to be held stable during pouring and refrigeration. The evident solution of using the lower suction cup as a holding device might not work, in which case a grid-like tray would be necessary.

I wish I had access to Repashi to figure it out :) 

 

[josh world]

Love the idea. I would add duckweed to the mix because it is healthy for fish.

[ange]

Most of my fish are primarily carnivorous so it doesn't get used often. My main use for it is laxatives for constipated fish ("loose" Repashy + duckweed).