Bee Pollen for Neo Shrimp?

[gogomarigo]

Has anyone tried feeding bee pollen to their neos before? Some things I’m wondering:

How often do you feed? As a regular food or just as a treat?

Is the bee pollen a good source of food for baby shrimp or is it more for adults?

Do fish tend to go for it too or do they generally leave it alone?

[Cory]

The person who built my store is a professional beekeeper. As such we  had unlimited access to bee pollen. When we tested we didn't see any difference in shrimp feeding it to them.  Interestingly enough, he did mix in bee grubs into repashy and feed to fish and saw better growth and color. However it was super messy to feed.

[HenryKing]

@Cory I know the bee larvae get fed a type of honey to help them grow quickly but did he know what those larvae provided the fish?

Do you think it's the protein or the fat content of the grubs? I keep bearded dragons and one thing I've learned is that Most types of larvae are usually really high in fat which is why they don't recommend them for dragons as they'll become overweight very quickly due to the lack of exercise.

But I wonder if wax worms on a honey diet would produce a similar effect to the bee larvae in fish. Do you know how he prepared the larvae or did he just throw them in whole to the repashy? 

[Daniel]

My day job is being a beekeeper. Locally collected pollen is a potentially a good source of protein. But depending on what species of plant the honey bees collected the pollen from that protein content could vary from 5% to over 40%. Bees are very sensitive to the sugar content in nectar, but are unable to assess the protein content of pollen. I have video of my bees collecting coffee grounds from a neighbors compost pile this summer.

Most commercial sources of pollen are from oversees and when tested have been found to contain high levels of insecticides.

The larva of honey bees are tasty (from personal experience) and nutritious . In some countries they serve as a source of fats and protein. But so are most insect larva. I doubt there is anything special about the larva of honey bees.

From an economic point of view I suspect bee larva (and pollen) are most valuable as future honey bees rather than as food for tropical fishes and pet shrimp.

And just for the heck of it, here is some video I shot this spring of my honey bees bringing in some pink pollen. I never did find out the source of that pollen.

 

[gogomarigo]

7 hours ago, Daniel said:

My day job is being a beekeeper. Locally collected pollen is a potentially a good source of protein. But depending on what species of plant the honey bees collected the pollen from that protein content could vary from 5% to over 40%. Bees are very sensitive to the sugar content in nectar, but are unable to assess the protein content of pollen. I have video of my bees collecting coffee grounds from a neighbors compost pile this summer.

Most commercial sources of pollen are from oversees and when tested have been found to contain high levels of insecticides.

The larva of honey bees are tasty (from personal experience) and nutritious . In some countries they serve as a source of fats and protein. But so are most insect larva. I doubt there is anything special about the larva of honey bees.

From an economic point of view I suspect bee larva (and pollen) are most valuable as future honey bees rather than as food for tropical fishes and pet shrimp.

And just for the heck of it, here is some video I shot this spring of my honey bees bringing in some pink pollen. I never did find out the source of that pollen.

 

Really cool, thanks for sharing!!