# Other Aquarium Forums > Fish Care, Nutrition and Water Management >  Anyone uses boiled egg yolk as fry feed?

## wllm33

hi,
anyone here uses the traditional boiled egg yolk for their fish fries?
seems economical if you have many fries but can anyone help in maintaining the water pollution other than feeding less than they can eat?
And should the yolk be mixed with water first or just drop into the tank?
thanks.

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## Fuzzy

what fish fry are you raising?

I think most use grindal or whiteworms then move on to baby brine shrimp. 
Personally I just use Sera Mikropan (Stage 2 Mini-Flake Food)

Occasional feeding of hard boiled egg yolk would work, but I doubt you want to exclusively feed only egg yolk to your fry.

Mixing it into a slurry with water then feeding a drop at a time would be my preferred method, but overfeeding and water pollution probably occur very easily if you go this route.

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## stormhawk

Grindalworms and whiteworms are hard to raise in our climate. Whiteworms require special temperatures, and in our case, best to raise in our fridge. However, I don't think anyone wants to do that.

Boiled egg yolk should be mixed with water to create a slurry like what Fuzzy said. But use in minimal amounts. You can cut the yolk in half, eat the other half, and mix the other with water. Use in tiny portions at a time and siphon out any uneaten egg yolk mix after the fry have eaten their fill. Otherwise you'll require snails in the fry tank to handle the uneaten stuff. Keep the remaining mix in a container in the fridge, and take out as and when you require. Make a fresh mix every day. The Liquifry stuff probably contain some egg yolk too, so you might want to consider that instead.

If you have tiny fry, the use of vinegar eels or microworms will suffice until they can handle newly hatched brine shrimp.

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## wllm33

hi,
thanks all for your opinions.
this idea of egg yolk is not new and a very economic way of fry feeding if you are dealing with a large number of fries.

but how to prevent the fouling of the water is the key .
of course we add other types of food on top of this .
by the way, how much of liquid fry is egg yolk?
anyone knows where to get baker's artificial egg yolk in singapore?
thanks

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## Fuzzy

You can try bakery supply / catering supply stores like Phoon Huat (AS Phoon)
http://www.phoonhuat.com/sto_loc.htm




> hi,
> thanks all for your opinions.
> this idea of egg yolk is not new and a very economic way of fry feeding if you are dealing with a large number of fries.
> 
> but how to prevent the fouling of the water is the key .
> of course we add other types of food on top of this .
> by the way, how much of liquid fry is egg yolk?
> anyone knows where to get baker's artificial egg yolk in singapore?
> thanks

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## wllm33

hi,
thanks for the reference, but i had tried them and they don't stock.
for that matter, no body seems to have it in singapore, the powder one , not the liquid ones.
thanks.

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## hck

I think powdered egg yolk is not available in sg, I have also tried searching for powdered egg yolk and turkey baster in many many places and found only powdered egg white at one of the shop along kampong java. Only one place at holland village have turkey baster, but they sold out. The only way is to bring in from the states, but is it worth it considering the high freight charges?

However, if you are lucky enough to find them in sg, do let us know.

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## stormhawk

A friend of mine still has turkey basters for sale last I checked. Look for Ronwill in AQ. He's usually in the killies section.

Egg yolk is economical, but the fouling is the most problematic part. Which is why I don't use it. I don't know where to find the powdered egg yolk locally. In Liquifry No.1, I think about half of the mix is egg yolk. You can do your own mix with egg yolk mixed in a little tank water in a container. Add some vitamins if you have some, maybe crushed flake or crushed pellets like NLS and mix it in the slurry. Should be a more effective food for fry, since it has a variety of foods in one mix.

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## hck

Thanks for the reference. I have given up looking for these 2 items. As for turkey baster, I made do with: 

1) thinness pipe attach to airhose, for catching wrigglers 
2) syringes for feeding food to fries

Raw egg is certainly more cost effective, I have no problem with it so far (cross finger), though I would still prefer to get powdered egg yolk if I can.
Anyway, should I still need the turkey baster, I know where to look now.

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## stormhawk

Yeah syringes, like the ones for medical use with a plunger is good enough. You can even use the plastic droppers like what C328 has. I bought a few from Aunty some time back. Using those to dose liquid ferts.

As long as you're not having issues with the normal egg yolk, it should be fine. I remember reading somewhere, of someone cutting off a small piece of the egg yolk, then with a handkerchief immersed in the water, he just squashed the piece through the handkerchief. Pretty much effective, but I think the mixing before feeding in a separate container is so much easier. Besides, if the fry know it's feeding time, all you need to do is to pour in the mixture in small amounts.  :Grin:

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## wllm33

by the way, do you know that the humble egg yolk has a lot of good stuffs inside it, like essential amino acids etc which are necessary for the early development of the fries.
that is why most fry formula sold in the lfs which is of good repute contains some egg yolk, like liquid fry no 1 and 2 for instance. Certainly better than trying to add all the good stuffs one by one and don't know what you missed adding for the growth of the fries.

the only problem is stabilising the egg yolk while in the water to keep it from fast deterioration. :Smile:

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## stormhawk

Well reading this bit on the web changes my view on "amino acids" in egg yolk:




> Most of the amino acids (protein) in an egg are found in the white. The yolk is mostly fat. The amino acid content of a raw or cooked egg is basically the same, no matter how you cook it.


Ref: http://www.dietitian.com/protein.html

So technically speaking, feeding fry with egg yolk is basically giving them fat to fuel their growth. I don't know how accurate info on the web is, but this website sums up the ways on how to use egg yolk for feeding fish fry:

http://www.pataquatic.com/p.biozyme-..._Aquarium_Tips

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## harnsheng

I would suggest using infusoria or just Liquifry for 1st week of fry feeding. After that, they can eat baby brine shrimps already. Microworm can also be use, but it is smelly!

btw, grindal worm is easy to culture in our climate and they never dies. Just maintain the moisture of the culture box and everything will be fine. White worm will be harder because they need cold temperature.

Egg yolks suspension is actually a good food, but it really pollutes the water! becareful with that!

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## wllm33

> I would suggest using infusoria or just Liquifry for 1st week of fry feeding. After that, they can eat baby brine shrimps already. Microworm can also be use, but it is smelly!
> 
> btw, grindal worm is easy to culture in our climate and they never dies. Just maintain the moisture of the culture box and everything will be fine. White worm will be harder because they need cold temperature.
> 
> Egg yolks suspension is actually a good food, but it really pollutes the water! becareful with that!


hi,
thanks for the advice.
i have tried culturing infusoria using the various recommended ways, like old aged aquariium water and put in the sun etc, but i cannot grow them.

can you please advise on what is the best way and simple way to culture infusoria in our local climate. 
most of the methods say look for the "dust like "particles in the water but i cannot see anything.
thanks.

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## harnsheng

The last time i tried growing it 'naturally' was using dried lettuce leaf, crushed it into tiny bits/almost powdery and sprinkle on any containers (preferably glass jar) containing aquarium water. Put under the sun, morning sun is the best.. U will see some fine white dust like thing after a week or two.

But now, my job is alot easier. I've obtained some pure culture of Paramecium (one type of infusoria). What i need to do is just to feed them with fish foods or any food materials that could blooms bacteria, whenever the culture water starts to clear. Just siphon or pipette the parameciums (u can see clouds of them) and feed to the fry!

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## stormhawk

Finding pure culture of Paramecium is difficult for us in Singapore. Easier for us to grow green water than growing Paramecium.  :Laughing: 

Now if only there was a good local source for Daphnia/Moina. Almost every LFS out there selling BBS only, which is not as good as Daphnia/Moina, since they die in freshwater within 8 hours or so. At least the water fleas stay alive in fresh water, and produce live young regularly, so the baby fish have a constant supply of live food.

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## harnsheng

I have Paramecium culture and i 'think' i'm going to Singapore around next week or 2. Anyone interested to get a starter culture do let me know. but i cannot guarantee i will be there or not..

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## bettafantastic

If anyone finding microworm in the east can look for me :Smile:

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## fotoudavid

for egg yolk, can try squash it and mix with water, then pour and make into many ice cube.

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## wllm33

> for egg yolk, can try squash it and mix with water, then pour and make into many ice cube.


if use this way, will be preserve and not degenerate?
if so for how long can it maintain its' freshness before fouling up the water?
thanks.

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## fotoudavid

i use one ice cube per day for feeding, but still do water change every day. the ice cube will melt and the fries can eat, but still not successful in raising the angel fish fries. so long the ice cube not melt and keep in fridge, theory wise should be able to keep it for long.

my friend teach me this method.

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## hck

> hi,
> thanks for the reference, but i had tried them and they don't stock.
> for that matter, no body seems to have it in singapore, the powder one , not the liquid ones.
> thanks.


Hey, I collected some samples of egg powder at supermarkets recently (_its whole egg powder not egg yolk powder though_). AVA is having demonstration every weekend at different locations and giving out free samples of egg powder and liquid egg. Look out for advertisements in the Straits Times on either Thursdays or Fridays for the location.

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## wllm33

yes, i read that too in various newspapers, but are they the same, since we always talk about egg yolk and not whole egg, ie. for fish use purpose i mean. :Smile:

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## guppylove

i used egg york for the guppies fry, but you jus need a very small quantity, i will bring out the fries to a small containers. after feeding den place them back to their own tank.

((:

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## wllm33

yes, but i think guppy fries are pretty big when born as they are live bearers, but egg layers generally have smaller fries with problem with taking food which are generally much smaller, maybe 30 microns size.

this is my personal observation, but fries like discus are pretty small not to mention picky eaters, even among egg bearers. :Smile:

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## celticfish

This is a "classic" food commonly used in the days when not many commercial fry foods were available.
My dad told me about it.
Basically, you sun dry the egg yoke.
Once its dry you can keep it in a container (these days you can add silica gel to keep dry).
Just break out a portion and rub or gind it into a powdery texture.
You can then feed it to fry and small fish.
The keyword I was told is sparingly.
The fact that it is yoke assures you of the nutritional value.
Now that you've reminded me of this... I'll proably try it out with my tetras and rasboras!  :Grin:

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## Fuzzy

I think keeping the yolk in the freezer might be a better alternative to sun drying or otherwise desiccating the yolk, should avoid any possible contamination or bacteria as well as preserve the nutritional value.

Making ice cubes with a slurry of egg yolk is a good idea!

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