Yes, as long as it is used sparingly it is fine to leave in the tank. I feed one every other week or so and then don't feed the shrimp other food for a day or two. Just don't put too much in. I use a small pellet fr my tanks and I have lots of shrimp
i leave it in my tanks, i feed it once sometimes twice a week. i have never noticed a water quality issue from it. but every tank is different. if your in question test your water. its the only real answer.
I +1 Mord on this
I use them in both tank and pond applications and see both different cycles occuring. The left over barely pellet breaks into individual pieces and "time release food" just like the SnowFlake pellets (although very different products). As long as you feed sparingly, leaving some small "patch" of debris is fine as long as it is gone within a day or two (IMHO). If you have lots of babies, you will notice that they swarm the "patch" the day after the other shrimp get done with it. Pretty cool.
hmmm...barley never lasts long in my tanks at all but it may be that I bought organic barley straw pellets directly from the farmer in the Mid West...and not from a store or commercial. I do have lots of shrimp though. I still tailor the pellet size to the number of shrimp in the tank as well
+1 my barley gone in about 2 hours or most of my 10 gallon 1-2 days. Is snowflake food reasonable to leave in. Wanna try foods to fit my needs. My micro feast high in protein and omega 3 I feed once weekly it's a powder the shrimp to crazy for it.
I'm not sure how you feed barley straw pellets and/or snowflakes. If you leave them in the tank bottom once shrimps have destroyed it enough, water current may just spread the leftover to make it seem they disappear. That's what happened to me when I fed my shrimp barley straw pellets.
Now I use feeding net, and it's obvious to me now that if I use barley straw pellets in there then they will last much longer and there seems to be always the last bits that get left, while if it's snowflakes then they disappear completely.
the shrimp food by a polish company called shrimp nature, called barley, has an English translation on the back of the pot. it says;
barley supplementary shrimp food
barley is barley straw which is an excellent food for the adult and young shrimps
uneaten crumbs help improves bacterium activities and prevents development of black mould
I have about 30 adults and 10 tiny babies and after 2 hours I can only see the odd piece of actual straw fibre here and there, I guess they adore it. It looks just like the sawdust kitty cat toilet litter lol, I only put in a piece 2mm long, it is about 3mm wide and it expands a lot.
barley will affect your water parameters unlike the snowflakes. thats why snowflakes are so hot now.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
The Planted Tank Forum
3.5M posts
130.7K members
Since 2002
A forum community dedicated to Aquatic tank owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about flora, fauna, health, housing, filters, care, classifieds, and more!