The secret behind the best fish food? Omega-3 Fish Oil

There is a serious flaw with most dry fish foods. All dry pet foods for that matter.

It’s the virtual absence of Omega-3 fatty acids.

The best source of Omega-3? Fish oil.

Omega-3 fats are critical for proper cell function in all animals. Fish included. But Omega-3 fats easily turn rancid. So they are removed from pet foods to lengthen shelf-life, reduce fishy and rancid odor and reduce cost.

That’s too bad.

Not only are your dogs and cats eating omega-3-free kibbles, so are your fish.

With fish, this is easily fixed. Feed them frozen krill. Krill are chock full of Omega-3. But this gets expensive.

So a few years ago, I started making my own fish food.

Here is how I do it.

Step 1: Buy a bag of frozen shrimp. De-veined and de-shelled. These are farm raised in Asia. No Omega-3 here. Keep looking.

Step 2: Buy a bag of frozen peas. I like Organic. My fish and I live in LA. C’mon! What do you expect?

Step 3: Buy high-purity, pharmaceutical grade fish oil. I like OmegaVia brand fish oil because it has the most Omega-3 per pill. Don’t buy cheap stuff from the drug store. It’s Chinese crap with an extra heaping of lead. And some PCBs for good measure. I work in the supplement and pharma industry. I will not touch Chinese fish oil with a 20-foot pole. (My pole is bigger than your proverbial 10-footer.)

Step 4: Add a pound (lb) of shrimp and a handful of peas into a blender. To this, add the oil from 2 softgels of OmegaVia fish oil supplement. I cut it gently with scissors. Careful – those pills are pressurized – the oily goodness can squirt and stink up the joint a few weeks later.

Caveat: do this when your spouse is out of the house. Or else you’ll have to hear stuff like: “What the f**k? I can’t make my margaritas in that blender after you made shrimp goo in it! That’s nasty!” Be a clever bastard and make sure you wash everything nice and good so she won’t suspect a thing.

OK – where were we?

Step 5: Gelatin. Get a couple of sachets and dissolve it in a cup of warm or hot water. Once it is fully dissolved, add to the blender.

Step 6: Liquefy the crap out of it.

Step 7: Pour goo onto a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil. See caveat above. Trust me. Follow the caveat. Or it will not be pretty.

Step 8: Put cookie sheet in fridge and let the gel set. Once it is set, cut it up into squares and store in Ziploc bags in the fridge.

There you have it.

If you rely exclusively on pet-store bought dry fish food, you’re robbing your fish of a VERY important nutrient – Omega-3 fatty acids. Fish oil benefits can be seen in the color and vibrancy of your fish and especially the quality of the eggs if you are trying to breed the fish.