New food type for shrimp - Shrimp Kandy Feast

[Michael Petro]

Thanks to jay's inspiration I have been making "Shrimp Kandy Feast" too with great results, although I add raw shrimp (including shell) to mine.

• 12oz water
• 1 teaspoon agar agar
• 1 Tablespoon Chlorella
• 1 Tablespoon Spirulina (mainly because I already have a bunch of it and want to use it up)
• 1 teaspoon Astaxanthin,
• 1 teaspoon powdered Bee Pollen.
• 4 medium shrimp with shell and tails (prefer whole shrimp with heads if available)

Method:

• I let the agar soak in 8oz of water while I prepare the other stuff.
• I puree the shrimp in a food processor with 4oz of water
• Mix all dry ingredients together
• Cook the agar solution and let it cool a few minutes
• Add the shrimp puree, then the dry stuff and mix.

I use mini ice cube trays when I make a similar agar based food for my cichlids, but I didn’t like the big chunks for the shrimps. So I line a large cookie baking sheet with tin foil, and then pour the mixture onto it, spreading it to form a thin layer about 3-4mm thick. I let this set at room temp, only takes about 15 minutes or less, then I use an "Onion Holder (slicer)" to make nice long narrow strips by dragging it across the gel to score/slice it. Then I let it freeze and break the long thin strips into shorter pieces and put it in a baggie in the freezer.

 

The results is long thin narrow strips that allow more shrimp to swarm on it at once because of the large surface area.

 

[jayc]

Mike, you know the deal ... pics!

2ofus, if Mike can add shrimp into his mix, I don't see why you can't add blood worms.

[jayc]

double post

Edited March 27, 2015 by jayc

[Michael Petro]

Mike, you know the deal ... pics!

2ofus, if Mike can add shrimp into his mix, I don't see why you can't add blood worms.

 

Will do, but it wont be until Sunday, I am going out of town this weekend and leaving straight from work.

 

And dont expect the quality of keego's photos, my camera and photography skills cant match his.

[keego]

Will do, but it wont be until Sunday, I am going out of town this weekend and leaving straight from work.

 

And dont expect the quality of keego's photos, my camera and photography skills cant match his.

 

Michael, I have declared to the world, my photo skills are crap. I've change from iphone to Samsung. so we are in the same boat 

[jayc]

Mike, why did you choose to use shrimp in the ingredient?

There is something not right about feeding shrimps shrimp. Wont there be a high risk of transmitting diseases from one to another?

[kizshrimp]

The amino acid profile of shrimp meat is pretty well perfect for feeding shrimp. My last shrimp feed included a good percentage of shrimp and some marine inverts for exactly that reason. 

[eozen81]

@jayc thank you for this recipe. I am willing to try it but I cannot find chlorella powder here in my country. Is it mandatory for this, can I use spirulina instead? But I know chlorella is much nutritious.

Can I ask do you get chlorella in Australia or order from eBay or something?

[jayc]

Spirulina is a good substitute, if you can not find chlorella.

We get it in health food shops.

Edited November 25, 2018 by jayc

[Michael Petro]

Mike, why did you choose to use shrimp in the ingredient?

There is something not right about feeding shrimps shrimp. Wont there be a high risk of transmitting diseases from one to another?

Well, I use a 50/50 mix of peas and shrimp (and some spirulina) in my cichlid food recipe, and the shrimp seemed to like the stuff I made for the cichlids. Also I see shrimp eat dead shrimp, they are scavengers after all.

Edited March 30, 2015 by Michael Petro

[Michael Petro]

Mike, you know the deal ... pics!

2ofus, if Mike can add shrimp into his mix, I don't see why you can't add blood worms.

 

OK, you asked for it, you got it......  Forgive the camera/skill....

 

Made a fresh batch using the same recipe I listed above. Only this time I pureed the dry ingredients in with the shrimp and 4oz of water (didnt have pulverize the bee pollen this way, it just disolved). Wound up with a thick syrup, about the consistency of chocolate syrup, this way. I then blended the cooked agar solution into it and spread it out on the cookie sheet.

 

 

 

After the gel set, about 10 minutes, I scored it with the Onion Holder. Press down somewhat firm and it cuts about 90% and 100% through, but the scored pieces break easily once frozen.

 

 

This was right after putting it in, the frenzy got more intense with each passing minute.

 

 

 

The frenzy continues:

Edited March 29, 2015 by Michael Petro

[Michael Petro]

Michael, I have declared to the world, my photo skills are crap. I've change from iphone to Samsung. so we are in the same boat 

Yours are way better than mine.....

[jayc]

Mike. Great pics.

Love how it drew out so many shrimps.

 

 

I have found another use for Chlorella powder and the Astaxanthin powder. (This probably deserves a post of it's own.)

 

Fry food !!

 

I have a couple of chromaphyosemion bitaeniatum (AMAR11) Killie fish fry. 

I squirt a drop of Chlorella & Astaxanthin mixed with a bit of water into the fry holder, and the babies are eating.

This is just loose powder, not mixed in with agar agar. 

This is heaps better than what I would normally use - egg yolk or crushed fish food. Chlorella doesn't go off as fast as egg yolk or fish food.

 

I wonder if chlorella powder will work for Darwin Algae shrimplets too.

DAS shrimplets are near impossible to get them surviving past a certain stage. I wonder if chlorella powder will help them survive long enough to get big enough for other foods. 

Need somebody to try.

[Aquathumb]

Mike. Great pics.

Love how it drew out so many shrimps.

 

 

I have found another use for Chlorella powder and the Astaxanthin powder. (This probably deserves a post of it's own.)

 

Fry food !!

 

I have a couple of chromaphyosemion bitaeniatum (AMAR11) Killie fish fry. 

I squirt a drop of Chlorella & Astaxanthin mixed with a bit of water into the fry holder, and the babies are eating.

This is just loose powder, not mixed in with agar agar. 

This is heaps better than what I would normally use - egg yolk or crushed fish food. Chlorella doesn't go off as fast as egg yolk or fish food.

 

I wonder if chlorella powder will work for Darwin Algae shrimplets too.

DAS shrimplets are near impossible to get them surviving past a certain stage. I wonder if chlorella powder will help them survive long enough to get big enough for other foods. 

Need somebody to try.

Interesting stuff, I have a berried DAS, I will move her to a breeder box and try the Chlorella & Astaxanthin powder on them. Would be fantastic if it worked!

[jayc]

Interesting stuff, I have a berried DAS, I will move her to a breeder box and try the Chlorella & Astaxanthin powder on them. Would be fantastic if it worked!

 

Excellent!

Do keep us updated.

[ineke]

JayC I just made a batch of food for my shrimp using the agar agar -they love it by the way- I have some just as a gel food straight from the the setting pan but I'm also using a food dehydrator to dry some strips as well. How do you store the fresh food you make? the dry will be fine in a storage jar but it's the fresh gel I'm wondering about -what have you done with yours? I was thinking of freezing it but then it would probably stick together. Would it keep OK in the fridge? I haven't used any preservative in my batch.

My shrimp are probably over fed and quite fussy - they don't like Crack which seems strange as everyone else swears by it but they are swarming over this stuff. I can't really give an accurate recipe but have crushed various dry commercial foods like shrimp dinner pellets, bloodworm pellets, algae pellets, biomax, plus  spirulina, bee pollen, astaxanthin, barley pellets, oatmeal, milk thistle powder plus added some Boss baby powder all crushed with a mortar and pestle. It's probably a very concentrated mix but I will use it sparingly. i have kept back some of the powder to feed to the babies -I have been using a mix very similar to this new one for about 6 months and the baby survival rate is very good.

[OzShrimp]

what about silica packets they will remove the moisture, but long life you would probably want to look at adding a preservative to the food 

Edited June 18, 2015 by OzShrimp

[jayc]

JayC I just made a batch of food for my shrimp using the agar agar -they love it by the way- I have some just as a gel food straight from the the setting pan but I'm also using a food dehydrator to dry some strips as well. How do you store the fresh food you make? the dry will be fine in a storage jar but it's the fresh gel I'm wondering about -what have you done with yours? I was thinking of freezing it but then it would probably stick together. Would it keep OK in the fridge? I haven't used any preservative in my batch.

My shrimp are probably over fed and quite fussy - they don't like Crack which seems strange as everyone else swears by it but they are swarming over this stuff. I can't really give an accurate recipe but have crushed various dry commercial foods like shrimp dinner pellets, bloodworm pellets, algae pellets, biomax, plus  spirulina, bee pollen, astaxanthin, barley pellets, oatmeal, milk thistle powder plus added some Boss baby powder all crushed with a mortar and pestle. It's probably a very concentrated mix but I will use it sparingly. i have kept back some of the powder to feed to the babies -I have been using a mix very similar to this new one for about 6 months and the baby survival rate is very good.

I made the mistake of making a batch much too large. 

I split them into two batches, one in the fridge, one in the freezer.

I kept some in the freezer. Then come time to feed, I realised I should have precut them into smaller pieces that can be easily broken off. The large piece I put in the freezer is difficult to break off for feeding. I have to hack at it with a knife, not fun or convenient. So the tip here is to cut them into smaller feeding sizes before freezing them.

I kept a smaller batch, that can be fed within a period of 1 week, in the fridge.

Be careful to finish off the batch that is kept in the fridge quickly. Since there is no preservative, also be careful to use clean sterilised utensils when cutting this batch up.

Mike Petro has the right idea. Precut the Shrimp Kandy as soon as possible after the agar is set, with a clean sterilised utensil. So you don't have to cut it everytime you need a bit to feed the shrimp. Reduces the risk of contaminating the food. Be careful of using your fingers or dirty utensils when you feed.

 

[keego]

Quick update. I made 1 batch in late March, used about 1/4 so far. Last fed it to shrimp last night. Been kept it in the fridge in plastic container. Had no issues with it going off, no smell, shrimp still alive. Only issue I had, was when it got pushed to the back of the fridge and partly froze and developed water crystals .  

Been feeding cherries & TB, they love it..  

Again, great job Jayc

Edited June 23, 2015 by keego

[ineke]

Thanks JayC. Luckily I did precut mine so that was a bonus. I have put all the fresh batch in the freezer. The batch that I put in the dehydrator is great and should stay ok for a few weeks. The shrimp in most tanks love it but in a few they don't touch it. Same type of shrimp , same type of tank. Must have more biofilm in the tanks that don't want it.

[Callan]

I made my first batch of this 2 days ago. I had some Kale powder and supergreens so I added a teaspoon of both as well. Within seconds of going into the tank the shrimp in every tank were all over it and it was gone in a few minutes. Thanks for sharing the information for the recipe and to any one who hasn't tried it, I can highly recommend it

This shows how it draws the shrimp out.

Edited July 1, 2015 by Callan

[Heavyd]

After reading this thread with great interest and needing some new shrimp food, I thought that I'd give this recipe a go. Thanks to Jason for the recipe and advice. Made my first batch today with Chlorella, Spirulina, Kale, Bee pollen and Astaxanthin. Pictures below taken at 1 minute and 4 minutes after being in the tank. Can't even see the food lol

[jayc]

 Feeding FRENZY !!!

 

I'm glad you like it D. 

That is an amazing sight to see. 

It makes me glad I shared this with SKF.

[buck]

D they are some damn good looking shrimp!

[Heavyd]

Thanks Buck. 

 

Jason insisted  that I post photos of the feeding frenzy in my other shrimp tanks. Well here's tank number 2. The shrimp are just as insane in this tank for the green goop. 

Edited August 11, 2015 by Heavyd