Shrimp Food Comparisons (not a review)

[JoeQ]

On 8/16/2023 at 1:23 PM, Lennie said:

If I remember correctly, @Guppysnail and @JoeQ used them.

I like them, snails seem to like them, but they are a little bit spendy! I've since been supplementing with frozen vegetables (just run under warm water to defrost) snails, hillstream loches and otos are often stuck to said vegetables for days! So far the crowd favorites are baby carrots and broccoli, this option is far less expensive! 

[nabokovfan87]

On 8/16/2023 at 8:23 AM, JChristophersAdventures said:

@nabokovfan87 I would like to know if you are familiar with the KatsAquatics line of shrimp food, if you have used it and what you think about it. Anyone else? Thanks.

Quote

 

Ingredients:

Green Tablets: Calcium Carbonate, Spinach, Water, Wheat, Egg Yolk, Garlic.

Red Tablets: Calcium Carbonate, Beet Extract, Water, Wheat, Egg Yolk, Garlic."

 

I haven't used it. Honestly, it's not as complete as other foods with things that the shrimp need. Beta glucans being a big omission among other things. It's a seemingly very natural food and it's pretty straightforward which I appreciate. For a "daily food" I don't think spinach as a base is the right choice. 

Quote

Spinach. Leafy green vegetables are some of the best foods to eat when your goal is to strengthen your bones. However, spinach can actually prevent your body from effectively absorbing calcium because it contains a high amount of oxalate, a chemical that interferes with your body's ability to absorb calcium.

 

Edited August 16, 2023 by nabokovfan87

[JChristophersAdventures]

@Guppysnail and @Lennie thanks. I am thinking that when I finally get things up and running, I will start with a no fish cycle with only the plants, then when I am satisfied that is going well I will try just a few shrimp and snails. Once that is going well, then I will add a new group of fish each month as the level of beneficial bacteria builds. So, I am very interested in this shrimp food topic as both the no-fish cycle step, and adding a few shrimp/snails step will require some food added. Any thoughts? Thanks, again.

@JoeQ Thanks... yes, they aren't cheap... might use as an occasional supplement.

@nabokovfan87 Thank you. That answers a big concern... that of overall nutrition. I know you aren't doing a review, but a run-down of the different sources (brands) of shrimp foods would be nice when you are done with your analysis. Thanks, again.

[JoeQ]

On 8/16/2023 at 1:52 PM, JChristophersAdventures said:

Thanks... yes, they aren't cheap... might use as an occasional supplement.

As for shrimp I believe Guppysnail tried real vegetables for them and it also went over well. 

[Guppysnail]

On 8/16/2023 at 1:59 PM, JoeQ said:

As for shrimp I believe Guppysnail tried real vegetables for them and it also went over well. 

Yes I did. I microwave them for 15-30 seconds or recently another member turned me onto freezing them to soften them. I think it was you actually. 
 

@JChristophersAdventures I think your plan sounds great. Getting shrimp started is the hard part. After that’s it’s super easy. I recommend looking for a source as close to you as possible so the parameter transition is not so hard on shrimp. That’s where I and others have seen great success in starting new colonies. Looking forward to following your journey. 

[JChristophersAdventures]

@JoeQ @Guppysnail I will definitely be using real veggies (straight from my organic garden when available or thawed frozen) as well. In addition, I know that many of these other food ingredients provide a well-rounded nutrition. The KatsAquatics focused on added calcium which can sometimes be in short supply for snails and shrimp that need it the most. So, I am looking into it to get off to a good start.

[JoeQ]

On 8/16/2023 at 2:29 PM, Guppysnail said:

Yes I did. I microwave them for 15-30 seconds or recently another member turned me onto freezing them to soften them. I think it was you actually

Yup I did, the only exception is that I buy frozen otherwise fresh vegetables will spoil before I could eat them all. 

[JChristophersAdventures]

@Guppysnail I just posted on my light installation progress for the 75g... slowly, getting there. Thanks.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 8/16/2023 at 1:59 PM, JoeQ said:

As for shrimp I believe Guppysnail tried real vegetables for them and it also went over well. 

Spinach

Broccoli

iceberg lettuce (because I was making myself a salad)

green bean

I fed cucumber today. They usually get some of the vegetables that I’m buying for my own recipes.

 

[JoeQ]

On 8/16/2023 at 4:04 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I fed cucumber today. They usually get some of the vegetables that I’m buying for my own recipes.

My own recipes usually include meat and/or potatoes, I'm highly allergic to vegetables!!! 😂

[JChristophersAdventures]

@Chick-In-Of-TheSea Shrimp know what is good for them! lol

@JoeQ LOL Just don't be tossing your left over McD's burgers and fries in there! 😋

[JoeQ]

On 8/16/2023 at 5:24 PM, JChristophersAdventures said:

@Chick-In-Of-TheSea Shrimp know what is good for them! lol

@JoeQ LOL Just don't be tossing your left over McD's burgers and fries in there! 😋

McD's is PEOPLE!!! 🤮

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 8/16/2023 at 4:33 PM, JoeQ said:

My own recipes usually include meat and/or potatoes, I'm highly allergic to vegetables!!! 😂

Ahem. Potatoes are a vegetable @JoeQ. Also I bet you’d like beef stew. Which has some vegetables like carrots and whatnot. But they are in the gravy so maybe you’d eat them without hating life.

[JoeQ]

On 8/16/2023 at 6:58 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Ahem. Potatoes are a vegetable @JoeQ. Also I bet you’d like beef stew. Which has some vegetables like carrots and whatnot. But they are in the gravy so maybe you’d eat them without hating life.

Potatoes are a starch, carrots are cool, maybe celery, onions, green peppers. It's mainly green vegetables and their nutritional makeup

[nabokovfan87]

On 8/16/2023 at 10:52 AM, JChristophersAdventures said:

@nabokovfan87 Thank you. That answers a big concern... that of overall nutrition. I know you aren't doing a review, but a run-down of the different sources (brands) of shrimp foods would be nice when you are done with your analysis. Thanks, again.

Agreed, it all makes sense.  Maybe I can send you thoughts in a DM or something if you wish.  Ultimately I am trying to get all the data in front of me and just really understand what is going on with each recipe.  There's always verbiage sometimes and it was enlightening when I saw a video where the details were broken down for me.

As with anything, my view is simply my opinion / perspective and I think I keep shrimp very differently than most people would.  It's not to say it's the best way, that it's easier, better, or anything like that. The health of the animal is a priority for me and that's the guiding concern for every choice I make with my colony.  Switching foods has been the latest little decision in the line of many and it's nice to be able to dive into something. 

There are probably many of the foods listed that work well, I do definitely have my own preferences though and some that are major red flags.  One thing I am keeping in mind for my own shrimp is how easily they can "chew" the food.  Something like my corydoras have issues with this too and it's a characteristic where I need to be observant and understand the fish (or invert) needs.  Sometimes the fish get frustrated after a few attempts to chew the food and then they won't eat it in future.  It's an unfortunate thing, but it is something I have seen with various products over the years.  Heck, I've even seen it with the same recipe but pellet vs. wafer.  They ignored the wafer completely and only would touch the pellets.... small and easier to chew.

On 8/16/2023 at 11:30 AM, JChristophersAdventures said:

@JoeQ @Guppysnail I will definitely be using real veggies (straight from my organic garden when available or thawed frozen) as well. In addition, I know that many of these other food ingredients provide a well-rounded nutrition. The KatsAquatics focused on added calcium which can sometimes be in short supply for snails and shrimp that need it the most. So, I am looking into it to get off to a good start.

Just for fun... (I swear he has a video for everything)
 

 

[JChristophersAdventures]

@nabokovfan87 You are welcome to PM me at your convenience, anytime. It seems to me that there would be a direct, but inverse correlation with how easily the food can be chewed and how much it can cloud the water? A lot of foods/supplements are claiming they don't cloud the water, but how would it not unless it adheres together so well that the fish/inverts have a hard time biting off a piece and chewing it? Just a thought.

I didn't keep shrimp back in the 90s, so this tank coming up will be the first time for me, so I am just a novice when it comes to this species (I did successfully keep dwarf frogs and fiddler crabs in community tanks of fish... but, they did require special attention especially with feeding... and, honestly it was only 2 frogs or 2 crabs in a community, so that made it pretty easy).

I am pretty confident that adult shrimp will do just fine in a similar setting where all the fish are peaceful, under 2" and with small mouths. It will be fun. Thanks.

[nabokovfan87]

On 8/17/2023 at 7:03 AM, JChristophersAdventures said:

It seems to me that there would be a direct, but inverse correlation with how easily the food can be chewed and how much it can cloud the water? A lot of foods/supplements are claiming they don't cloud the water, but how would it not unless it adheres together so well that the fish/inverts have a hard time biting off a piece and chewing it? Just a thought.

Definitely would seem like that but the way shrimp food works is a little different.

One example is the sera o-nip tabs. They used to have a certain starch in it that allowed them to slowly loosen over time. They would stick to the glass or could be fed as a bottom wafer and would be fine for an hour or lets say ~4 hours.  They didn't usually last that long, but just in general terms they could hold structure pretty decently. Same way repashy can puff up, but still hold its shape.

With their modified version of those food, whatever that starch/binder was it visually looks like the same food, but it absolutely doesn't hold its shape as well. It will puff up and absorb the water and then sort of "explode" in place and turn into a pile of powder pretty easily. What used to be ~4 hours of the food holding shape is now more like 45 minutes of the food holding shape. 

If the food is in a feeding dish, that's not really a concern at all. If the substrate itself is compacted in such a way to hold the fine particles on the surface, again that not really a concern. The issue is when the filtration is such that it pushes the food up into the water column (or the food is so light) and then it ends up going right into the filter. The other downfall is something Mark highlighted and shows how your substrate choice can lead to some pretty detrimental feeding capabilities by the shrimp.

So in essence, there's a lot to the problem. The nice thing with shrimp is that we can use sand, we can use feeding dishes, and we have very easy flowing filtration in most setups that won't really push that food up into the column easily.

One of the more interesting food designs is the one made out of soybean husks, snowflake food. It blooms like tea does almost and all the flakes will separate out as the shrimp find the food. They can pull a little piece off pretty easily and it's fun to see. Bee pollen is another one where it's really soft granules, but very easily turns into a fine powder once the shrimp get a hold of it.

Then it comes down to how the shrimp anatomy is designed, whether it's more of a claw shape or a fan shape on the arms of the shrimp and how the food choice can be best suited for them.

[nabokovfan87]

Food #3 is finally arriving here soon. I'll be excited to try it out. Once I have some time I'll post a bit about some expanded thoughts on my testing with shrimp foods and working with fish and shrimp in a colony setup. (Very limited fish, but the fish that make sense for the colony to welcome)