[Teebo]

I was wondering what you people of the community do for feeding your community tanks. I keep snails and shrimps together and even though they eat the minimal amount of food that is dropped I like to feed them once a week. For the most part I toss in some NLS small fish formula for the shrimp to find (Amanos) since they eat algae all day some meaty fatty food is good for their diet once a week or even less but I am not sure if they get everything they need from NLS...fish do so why not? The snails however I am not so sure find the NLS in the gravel, so I feed zucchini and this is especially for the Apple/Mystery snails that are larger and eat less algae than Nerites. I assume it is nutritious enough for them but they seem to be more interested in the skin then the stringy center part, they always leave the skin stripped and I bet a lot of the nutrients are in the skin as well! The Amano shrimp do not show much interest in the zucchini the way they hoard NLS.

I have heard of "snail jello" and I am thinking about making some but how safe is it for my snails and shrimp to be eating gelatin? The idea would be to drop one thing for everything to get what they need from it once a week and this seemed like a great idea without the mess. I have several things I had in mind including the fresh leafy greens, NLS, as well as frozen San Francisco Bay foods which I already have but do not feed. I have the freshwater multi-pack that contains Freshwater Frenzy, Emerald Entree, Bloodworms, and Spirulina Brine Shrimp. I wanted to mix it all together with the leafy greens, some of the frozen food contains greens I forget which one.

I can use a feeding cone for shrimp but the snails are a bit harder so I want something that sinks, I will drop it in front of a snail and let it feed on it before the Amano shrimp drag it away they can be real jackashes when it comes to feeding so I target the snails and do not worry about the shrimp...they find everything but my car keys.

 

[Teebo]

I bit the bullet and started on some invert food. I have Nerite snails, Ivory mystery apples, Amano shrimp, Ghost shrimp, and red cherry shrimp...all of which need calcium, I read the more calcium in red cherry shrimps diet the more colorful they get too. I started with fresh mostly organic greens: Kale, Collard, Broccoli, and a pinch of Carrot but it's mostly sugar I think. This will be the majority of their diet, I will add it to the Magic Bullet along with my baby food "base". I have 3 other ingredients to add: crushed Tums (calcium carbonate), 4 types of SanFran frozen food (Freshwater Frenzy-Emerald Entree-Spirulina Brine Shrimp-Bloodworms), and crushed algae wafers.

The baby food base I found was spinach, zucchini & peas. Perfect! The back is low on sodium and sugar, yet extremely high in calcium @ 8% which is higher than the 6% that you normally find. This jello seems to work well for people and keeps their tank clean, if I could have bought it on eBay I would have. I may start selling it if this works out.

 

[Raymond S.]

I just use a variety of fish food pellets to feed my snails so your way ahead of me
on better nutrition for them.
I found that shrimp seem to really like esparagus much more than any other veggy
that I tried in their tank. You might want to try some to see if you might add it to your
list which goes into that brew.

 

[Teebo]

Just because they like it does not mean its good for them, they like carrots but I don't think there is much nutritional value in them. Is asparagus nutritional?

 

[mistergreen]

Vitamin A and carotene in carrots.
I use agar to bind mine. You can also add seaweed into the mix. It's a super food with trace iodine which help out the inverts quite a bit.

 

[WaterLife]

Vitamin A and carotene in carrots.
I use agar to bind mine. You can also add seaweed into the mix. It's a super food with trace iodine which help out the inverts quite a bit.

Hey mistergreen! I guess really "no more bow ties"?

Haha, anyways, just wanted to ask if you happened to have a Homemade/DIY fish food formula/recipe you wouldn't mind sharing?
For whatever type of diet (omnivore, carnivore, herbivore, etc.)
I might finally whip up a batch of homemade food.

 

[mistergreen]

Hey mistergreen! I guess really "no more bow ties"?

Haha, anyways, just wanted to ask if you happened to have a Homemade/DIY fish food formula/recipe you wouldn't mind sharing?
For whatever type of diet (omnivore, carnivore, herbivore, etc.)
I might finally whip up a batch of homemade food.

I'm obsessed with Bowie lately so no more bowties but Bowie is close enough, literally; just take out the 't&s'

For vegetarians & inverts
- spinach
- peas
- ground flaxseed
- carrots ( zapped in microwave to soften )
- 1/2 teaspoon of tumeric
- seaweed (hydrated - they're usually dried)
- 2 table spoon of agar agar

Blend in food processor with water. You'd want something like pancake batter in consistency.

Zap the batch in the microwave until slightly boiling. The agar should dissolve. Spread out on baking sheet to let it set up. Cut into cubes and bag & freeze.

Carnivores
- fish fillets
- squid (optional)
- shrimps
- a little fish oil or krill oil
- a little tumeric
- agar & water

Zap in microwave like above. I would give the fish raw fillets but only if you have expensive sushi grade fillets otherwise you don't want to introduce parasites and diseases.

For omnivores, just blend the 2 together. You can make pretty swirls of meat and vegetable. They don't have to be well blended together.

 

[GrampsGrunge]

I've read that garlic is a recommended additive for DIY carnivore fish-food, as it increases the feeding response. Would whole chives work in a pinch?

 

[Sharon_hazan]

just throwing some ideas:
earthworm?
dog food? grinded in jelly?

 

[mistergreen]

dog food?

You don't want mammal fat (beef/pork) in your fish food. It causes health issues.

 

[Teebo]

Iodine or Iodide? It is iodide that is beneficial to inverts not iodine.

I never thought of garlic, great idea I will add some!

Flaxseed? Where can I buy hydrated seaweed?

 

[mistergreen]

Flaxseed? Where can I buy hydrated seaweed?

Flaxseed has the good omega 3 fat. My local Kroger carries it in the health food section. Go to your local asian store for 10 different types of seaweed. They're in dry form. Soak in water for a few hours to hydrate.

 

[Teebo]

I do not have any Asian stores nearby, I will ask my girlfriend she was born and raised in Asia lol.

 

[mistergreen]

The asian store will sell powdered agar too. It's used as a vegetarian Gelatin.

 

[Teebo]

I did add the garlic but I ended up using Knox instead of Agar, this is the final product and it smells horrible! They sink very well, but my shrimp are more interested in it than my snails are. It may just be that the shrimp eat it too fast for my snails to get a chance but the pieces of greens do not get eaten by the shrimp they leave them but luckily they do not float so chances are the snails will eat the scraps of green. Possibly the Agar will help the snails interest. I am selling dipping cups on eBay for $10 shipped, if people want to try it on their tanks before they spend the time to make it themselves.

 

[mistergreen]

The more it stink, the better
I think the offender is the bloodworms & brine shrimp.

My snails usual push their way to the food and the shrimps only get scraps.