What do you feed your shrimp?

[ScarletFire]

Originally Posted by Nubster

Got mine from e bay.

Homemade is cheap. I use a combo of fresh and organic baby food. Stuff like spinach, squash, pumpkin, sweet potato, peas, green beans, and the spirulina powder. You can add calcium too but I haven't done that yet. Next batch. Blend until smooth and dehydrate on the lowest setting. Break into pieces and store in the fridge in a ziplock. Makes lots of food for just a few dollars.

When you put it into the tank, doesn't a gob make a mess?

[Nubster]

Nope. Stays intact just like any other available food. Of course it breaks down after a couple hours, but between the shrimp and snails, it doesn't last more than 4-5 hours. Disappears without a trace. Remember, it's dehydrated so it's hard, like an algae wafer. It's thick going into the dehydrator. I wait until it's even thicker then I shape the whole batch into a largish square and as it dehydrates more, I score it into small squares. Then finish dehydrating it. That way I can break it apart into single servings. I do the same with the Repashy. I make a batch, let it setup, cut into cubes, then dehydrate it.

[shift]

Do you guys use some form of a dish to put food in or just let it float around the water

[Nubster]

Originally Posted by shift

Do you guys use some form of a dish to put food in or just let it float around the water

I did try using one but the shrimp would just drag the food off anyways so I stopped. I did leave the dish in the tank though because I was using a porous terracotta saucer that really attracted green algae and biofilm that the shrimp seemed to enjoy picking at.

[R.sok]

Originally Posted by Nubster

Nope. Stays intact just like any other available food. Of course it breaks down after a couple hours, but between the shrimp and snails, it doesn't last more than 4-5 hours. Disappears without a trace. Remember, it's dehydrated so it's hard, like an algae wafer. It's thick going into the dehydrator. I wait until it's even thicker then I shape the whole batch into a largish square and as it dehydrates more, I score it into small squares. Then finish dehydrating it. That way I can break it apart into single servings. I do the same with the Repashy. I make a batch, let it setup, cut into cubes, then dehydrate it.

So you throw it in the blender & puree it until it's smooth & then throw it into a food dehydrator? Do you just put it on top of a large piece of foil & spread it until it's thin? Any reason it can't be kept in a room temp jar? Very interested

[Knotyoureality]

Living in AZ, the great outdoors is my dehydrator. I literally just spread whatever green muck I've concocted onto a flat slab of slate I keep out on the balcony, wait a day then scrape it off and toss it in an empty fishfood container for storage.

The day I make it I'll put globs of it in the tanks fresh. Not a problem in my no-tech tanks as it just settles right to the bottom, tanks with filters get 'em turned off for an hour or so while everyone noshes.

My mixes usually include a bit of nori (dried seaweed) crumbled up and mixed in--all the shrimp, my pleco, endlers and molly snarf it up much faster with seaweed than without.

[Nubster]

Originally Posted by R.sok

So you throw it in the blender & puree it until it's smooth & then throw it into a food dehydrator? Do you just put it on top of a large piece of foil & spread it until it's thin? Any reason it can't be kept in a room temp jar? Very interested

I'd at least keep it in the fridge but I don't see why you can't skip the dehydrator. I do it because it's easy for my to just grab a couple chunks and throw them in the tanks rather than carry the jar in, spoon out food to each tank, put the jar away, wash a dirty spoon...see, the thing is, I'm lazy...so I look for easy ways to accomplish tasks...haha

As far as making it, yeah, blend till smooth and spread it out fairly thin. I have a special tray in my dehydrator that I use but you could certainly use parchment paper or wax paper or foil. I wait until it's thick enough I can reshape into a thicker rectangle about 1/4-3/8 inch thick and let it continue to dry until it's dry enough that I can score it into cubes. Then I just let it dry until the cubes can be broken off without any trouble. Usually takes a couple hours.

[R.sok]

Originally Posted by Nubster

I'd at least keep it in the fridge but I don't see why you can't skip the dehydrator. I do it because it's easy for my to just grab a couple chunks and throw them in the tanks rather than carry the jar in, spoon out food to each tank, put the jar away, wash a dirty spoon...see, the thing is, I'm lazy...so I look for easy ways to accomplish tasks...haha

As far as making it, yeah, blend till smooth and spread it out fairly thin. I have a special tray in my dehydrator that I use but you could certainly use parchment paper or wax paper or foil. I wait until it's thick enough I can reshape into a thicker rectangle about 1/4-3/8 inch thick and let it continue to dry until it's dry enough that I can score it into cubes. Then I just let it dry until the cubes can be broken off without any trouble. Usually takes a couple hours.

k got it, I blended an assortment of veggies including carrots. The seaweed I used is salted....I rinsed it really good & even gave it a taste test so I hope it will be ok. Now it's just waiting for everything to dry out completely

[R.sok]

Hope I did it correct. Here is the finished product

[SouthernGorilla]

Our shrimp eat just about everything except the brown, fuzzy stuff I can't get rid of. We put algae wafers in for the snails, the shrimp eat them. We put bottom feeder tablets in for the cories, the shrimp eat them. The betta poops, the shrimp eat it. Shrimp love bloodworms. They will even swim to the surface and grab the floating betta pellets. We have a little shrimp mafia, they take a cut of everything.

[abc]

i've become a veggie convert... well, my shrimp have, that is.

jake's complete veggie, veggie pellets, nuked kale and spinach (every day)

hikari crab pellets, hik shrimp pellets, fluval shrimp pellets, algae wafers (one of them, once every 3 days)

always in the tank: indian almond leaves for the biofilm, bacteria, infusoria

[Soothing Shrimp]

Shrimp really only need to be fed once every 2-3 days depending on the size of your colony.

[SouthernGorilla]

Originally Posted by Soothing Shrimp

Shrimp really only need to be fed once every 2-3 days depending on the size of your colony.

Will you please tell that to our shrimp so they will let the other critters get some food? I've never seen such voracious critters.

[Soothing Shrimp]

LOL I'm not saying they won't eat if given the opportunity.

Overfeeding can actually lead to death.

[SouthernGorilla]

Originally Posted by Soothing Shrimp

Overfeeding can actually lead to death.

We don't target feed the shrimp. So I'm not sure how to prevent them from overfeeding. I've seen them steal bloodworms right from the betta. It's insane.