Jump to content

New food type for shrimp - Shrimp Kandy Feast


jayc

Recommended Posts

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.

 

QONION_HOLDER3.jpg

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

double post

Edited by jayc
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@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?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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

We get it in health food shops.

Edited by jayc
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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 by Michael Petro
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

 

20150329_135218_zps3inpogxc.jpg

 

 

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.

20150329_141744_zps6nmp7a7r.jpg

 

 

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

20150329_150910_zpsj5wgzjsc.jpg

 

556236a3-2173-4bc3-8321-ac93185e4c8f_zps

 

 

The frenzy continues:

20150329_154519_zpszq7cw3pc.jpg

Edited by Michael Petro
  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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!

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...
  • HOF Member

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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 by OzShrimp
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.:cool:.  

Again, great job Jayc

Edited by keego
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • HOF Member

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

ebay_photos_020.thumb.JPG.49a50e535ed12a

Edited by Callan
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

:omg: 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.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Buck. 

 

Jason insisted :5565bf0371061_D: 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. DSC_0161_zps9afnbcih.jpg

Edited by Heavyd
  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

  • Join Our Community!

    Register today, ask questions and share your shrimp and fish tank experiences with us!

  • Must Read SKF Articles

  • Posts

    • beanbag
      Update to say that after a few gravel vacs, front wall scrub, moss / floating plant trim, that the condition seems to have improved.  My current theory is that it is due to waste / debris management, where "stuff" like that brown mulm accumulates in the substrate and behind the HMF filters.  Maybe some tanks can somehow deal with it, but mine can't.  Also another experienced shrimper suggested that maybe those "shell bugs" don't just live on the shrimps but also in this debris.  Maybe this is the reason some tanks fail due to "old tank syndrome" where all they need is a good gravel vac? Also, I am guessing that plant trim helps too because now more of the nutrients and light go into growing algae instead of more plants? Well anyway for this tank I will try weekly water change and monthly gravel vac / plant trim.  For my next tank, I'm thinking of something like an under-gravel system where this mulm can fall down and I vac it out.
    • sdlTBfanUK
      Good to have an update and good to hear you are getting shrimplets, so hopefully your colony will continue and you may not get to the point where you have to cull some to stop over population. These type of shrimp only live 12 - 18 months so the adult deaths may be natural? If you have the time I would do weekly 25% water changes, adding the new water via a drip system and do some vacuuming clean of the substrate each week, even if only a different bit each week! See if that helps in a few months and if it does then stick with that regime? It should help reduce any build-ups that may be occuring!
    • beanbag
      Hello again, much belated update: The tank still has "cycles" of 1-2 month "good streaks" where everybody seems to be doing well, and then a bad streak where the short antenna problem shows up again, and a shrimp dies once every few days.  I am not sure what causes things to go bad, but usually over the course of a few days I will start to see more shrimp quietly standing on the HMF filter, and so I know something is wrong.  Since I am not "doing anything" besides the regular 1-2 week water changes, I just assume that something bad is building up.  Here's a list of things that I've tried that are supposed to be "can't hurt" but didn't prevent the problem either: Dose every other day with Shrimp Fit (very small dose, and the shrimp seem to like it) Sotching Oxydator Seachem Purigen to keep the nitrates lower Keeping the pH below 5.5 with peat Things that I don't do often, so could possibly "reset" the tank back to a good streak, are gravel vac and plant trim, so maybe time to try those again. One other problem I used to have was that sometimes a shrimp would suddenly stop eating with a full or partially full digestive tract that doesn't clear out, and then the shrimp will die within a few days.  I suspected it was one of the foods in my rotation - Shrimp Nature Infection, which contains a bunch of herbal plant things.  I've had this in my food rotation for a few years now and generally didn't seem to cause problems, but I removed it from the rotation anyway.  I don't have a lot of adult Golden Bees at this point so I can't really tell if it worked or not. Overall the tank is not too bad - during the good streaks occasionally a shrimp will get berried and hatch babies with a 33-50% survival rate.  So while there are fewer adults now, there are also a bunch of babies roaming around.  I guess this tank will stagger on, but I really do need to take the time to start up a new tank.  (or figure out the problem)
    • jayc
      If that is the offspring, then the parents are unlikely to be PRL. I tend to agree with you. There are very few PRLs in Australia. And any that claim to be needs to show proof. PRL genes have to start as PRL. CRS that breed true after x generations doesn't turn it into a PRL. Neither can a Taiwan bee shrimp turn into a PRL despite how ever many generations. I've never seen a PRL with that sort of red colour. I have on Red Wines and Red Shadows - Taiwan bee shrimps. So somewhere down the line one of your shrimp might have been mixed with Taiwan bees and is no longer PRL. It just tanks one shrimp to mess up the genes of a whole colony. 
    • sdlTBfanUK
      Sorry, missed this one somehow! The PRL look fantastic and the odd ones look part PRL and part Red wine/Red shadow in the colour. They are still very beautiful but ideally should be seperated to help keep the PRL clean if you can do that.  Nice clear photos!
×
×
  • Create New...