Hikari First Bites as shrimplet food?

5963 Views 10 Replies 8 Participants Last post by dougolasjr, Dec 16, 2012

Kunsthure

Discussion Starter · Jul 28, 2012

I've got some Hikari First Bites left over from a batch of cory fry. Would that make a good shrimplet food to sprinkle in some moss? Whilst watching my RCS, it dawned on me that while I always have a lot of berried females, I never see many babies. My daughter has come around to the world of planted tanks and now there's a baseball portion of java moss on top of a house decoration that I hope will help.

I haven't checked the params in the tank since I added the crushed coral to the filter, but they were pH 6.4, KH 0-1 and GH 4. I can't figure out why the params are so different than my tap. I thought it was the airstone but the airstone doesn't change the params in my 13g.

-Lisa

Save

1 - 11 of 11 Posts

hedge_fund

· #2 · Jul 28, 2012

One of the biggest mistakes I ever did was to not feed the babies a special food. I'm not sure about your food but I would assume that it has a ton of protein which is not good when it's constantly fed to shrimp.

My recommendation goes out to Shirakura baby food or BorneoWild. I use both and have very high survival rates. I think all my ebiten PRL have survived in a breeder net and I feed them baby food exclusively. Both of these foods are sold here on the forum. I live by a saying: "You gotta pay to play"....can't skimp out on certain things.

Good luck.

Save

ravensgate

· #3 · Jul 28, 2012

I just got some Ebiken EI for my babies. Perfect enough it arrived the same day I had my first batch of babies born. It's a fine powder and as tiny as the babies are I would think the Hikari First Bites would still be too big for them.

Save

Kunsthure

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jul 28, 2012

The First Bites is a fine powder. I've read here that you can also powderize fish food and use that as baby food, but there's no way you can get the flakes as fine as FBs.

I don't have a lot of money to spend on specialty foods and these are just RCS, not PRL SSS, so I need something budget-friendly.

-Lisa

Save

ravensgate

· #5 · Jul 28, 2012

I thought the First bites were tiny granules not a powder so my apologies. If it's powder it should be fine unless the protein level is too high. But really even the expensive stuff will last forever. My only issue with the Ebiken EI is it says half a spoon twice a week. With no regard to how many shrimp you have or size of the tank. So yesterday was my first experience with it and I did may a 1/4 scoop and it went everywhere and all over everything (which is what you want I guess!). But the adults eat it too so within just a couple of hours it was all gone. The amount I got of this stuff was a lot more than the Hikari First Bites size package I've seen (probably 2-3 times more) so the price difference isn't too broad and for a better product might be worth it. I cut my costs other ways, but food isn't one of them. I go a little overboard with the stuff I buy for my skrimpies and may go back to cheap food later but for now I want to give them the best diet and best chance I can

And I have RCS and PFRs. Doesn't mean I don't want to give them the best just cause they are hardier. I might change my tune when I'm overrun with them though. LOL!

Plus h4n sells samples. Even a couple of samples of the baby food he carries would probably last a while. Might be something considering on a budget

See less See more

Save

Shrimpaholic

· #6 · Jul 28, 2012

I feed my RCS shrimplets Hikari Shrimp Cuisine. Most lfs carry it and it costs around $6-$7. What I do is place the pellets in a small flat plastic toothpick container and smash it into a fine powder with the flat end of one of those cheap wooden chopsticks you can get for free at any asian themed restuarant. Survival rate of my RCS shrimplets have been very high.

Save

somewhatshocked

· #7 · Jul 28, 2012

I've used First Bites in the past and have had no issues. Seems to be great with Crystals and Neos.

Just be sure to feed way more sparingly than you think you should and kind of keep an eye on how quickly it's eaten up if at all possible.

Save

Kunsthure

Discussion Starter · #8 · Jul 28, 2012

I already have the FBs and have no more plans for fry (my daughter's cories decided to spawn randomly one weekend in December 2010 and haven't done it again). I figured I could get away with using it as shrimplet food so it doesn't go to waste.

Why do people recommend powderizing fish flakes? They're high in protein too. And don't I want protein in their food since it makes them grow faster?

-Lisa

Save

rrastro

· #9 · Aug 16, 2012

My cat ate my package of Hikari First Bites. She loves anything destined for my tanks. Now I'm crushing small Spectrum pellets into powder for both my platy fry and my shrimplets.

Save

harley1964

· #10 · Dec 15, 2012

I know its kinda cheesy but I use a old pestle pill pulverizer like you see in the pharmacies. I pulverize flake food,veggie wafers of whatever. the babies seem to enjoy the powdered food. I know it may not be as awesome as ebi ,mosura ,borneo. but I have a tight budget for shrimp food. I splurged on the borneo frenzy and grow, thats wasted money for food that does not break down into small pieces and the shrimp prefer my powdered concoctions. just my 2 cents.

Save

dougolasjr

· #11 · Dec 16, 2012

harley1964 said:
I know its kinda cheesy but I use a old pestle pill pulverizer like you see in the pharmacies. I pulverize flake food,veggie wafers of whatever. the babies seem to enjoy the powdered food. I know it may not be as awesome as ebi ,mosura ,borneo. but I have a tight budget for shrimp food. I splurged on the borneo frenzy and grow, thats wasted money for food that does not break down into small pieces and the shrimp prefer my powdered concoctions. just my 2 cents.

I crush my food into powders too seems to work well.

Save

1 - 11 of 11 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.

Top Contributors this Month