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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.

Hello people. Just to share one of my tanks, enjoy. Thanks Fábio Silva

I finally gave JayC recipes a go. Cost- Chlorella powder $14 (chemist warehouse) , Bee pollen $28, & agar ager powder $18. Followed JayC instructions precisely. It’s evident the ingredients would last for a number of years, so you may want to go half’s with a mate. The mixture is also ample & would last for months. Pretty satisfied for my 1st attempted. I did notices that a fair amount of the ingredients had settled on the bottom. I with try placing it in the freezer next time for 20 minutes. Been in the water for over 3 hours & remains solid, not braking down. Shrimp went crazy over it. Thanks JayC, looks like a great low cost beneficial food.

I have had shrimplets survive in the tiny bit of water left at the bottom of a tank for more than a week. They are amazingly tougher than we think yet given the perfect conditions we think they need you lose them!

I have a small portable RO system from the supplier Squiggle mentioned. It wasn't very expensive and I have been using it for several years now- just changing the cartridges as per manufacturers recommendations. I make about 200 litres of water a week just for water changes and topups.Before I had the RO unit I used water from my puratap- here in Adelaide our water is hard and has a high ph -I did have success with CRS but can really see the difference in the breeding and colours since using the RO. I use Benibachi soil and the buffering lasts a lot longer if you use RO water so in the long run it saves you money.

Have you been drinking? haha.

Yep that's rite :)

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.

Nope, but I will soon. Just going to finish the last batch of Shrimp Kandy Feast first. I'm going to do 3 teaspoon Chlorella, 1/2 teaspoon Astaxanthin, 1/2 teaspoon Bee Pollen.

I can see by the photo.

We can send you some crs if you like Just pay for post :)

Yes, just realised that I didn't follow your recipes precisely, my bad !!!!! only put 1 teaspoon of chlorella powder. But they still love it.

Check my post above. Hagen and Seachem both have plenty of resources for R&D and have developed products with the same ratios that are not specifically intended for shrimp. The Hagen product supplies Calcium as Calcium Chloride due to solubility and price reasons, and you'll find that most conditioning salts do too, including others from Seachem. Because Chloride (and Sodium) are not desirable for planted tanks and also not typical of soft water environments, "Equilibrium" uses the sulphate forms, the same formula that JayC described.

That's cheap!! Includes free shipping as well.

Still got some growing to do on the right but getting there

There you go JGreen, all the answers you need. Thanks guys! Well you probably could, but you'd have to store the water and carbon filter it for at least a few days before it went into the tank. And remember that activated carbon will raise the pH, even without the alkaliser unit JayC mentioned. Generally, the cheaper the carbon the worse the pH rise. You'll have to deal with that issue too. I have to recommend you go with the RO option, if not immediately then ASAP. Yes there are ways around it as I've suggested, but they're not ideal and require some effort and thought. As Ineke has pointed out, she had some success using tapwater too but everything is better now with RO. You'll go through plenty of money on brita filters or AC trying to do it "cheap".

Thanks for the back up Jayc. I totally forgot the 3rd point and it was only a couple a weeks ago when I asked Jayc about it lol. Yeah Give FSA a call that is where I got my portable unit and they are extremely helpful.

Oh, before you rush out an buy lots of Brita water filters, I must warn you that these water filters for human consumption will have an Alkalizer portion in it. That means, as it filters, it raises the pH to make the water alkaline. Because to drink filtered water that is acidic, will ruin your teeth. So most, if not all, water filters designed for human drinking water will make it more alkaline. <- which is the opposite to what you want for fish/shrimp keeping. FSA can design you an RO filter specifically for aquariums, which does not need the alkalizer cartridge, thereby making it slightly cheaper. Just don't drink it !!

use powder substrate also to: 3. To anchor the roots of very small plants with fine root system like hemianthus callitrichoides (HC) or Glossostigma or Riccia. That would be Filter Systems Australia (FSA). http://www.filtersystemsaustralia.com/ Tell them Shrimp Keepers Forum sent you to see what RO options they have for your budget.

For the substrate it is fine to just use the normal sized substrate. I was told two reasons ppl use the powder substrate is: just because it looks nicer. that shrimplets are small enough to swim into the gaps of the grains and sometimes they will get stuck. As for the RO water if you can not get a unit then I would do as Kizshrimp has suggested. Eventually try to get one if you plan to try out TB's in the future.

Congrats man, I guess when you do start seeing the eyes it does mean they will hatch soon. I have not been lucky enough to see them actually hatch yet. From here on in you are going to see a population boom. Once they start they don't stop lol Happy for you man. Seems like this shrimplet has a nice pattern and colour. Keep it up.

I sat down in front of my tank today and saw one of the coolest things I've seen so far in this aquarium. The berried female was sitting in the middle of the flame moss in the back right of the tank. She was only carrying about 6 eggs. Over the next couple of minutes she periodically kicked her legs vigorously and the remaining eggs hatched. It was over in a few minutes. Had I sat down just a little later I would have missed it. I looked around but could only find two shrimplets. Below is a pic of one of them. You will have to zoom in to see him. He is in the center of the pic. Because he is so small and I wasn't able to use my flash the picture isn't very good. To be honest, I am happy just having any picture of a new born shrimp. It has been 20 days since I first saw that the female had berried. The eggs hatched much quicker than I expected.

I was able to get a picture of the berried female. I set up my flashes so this shot is better than those in my last post. When you look at the full resolution version you can see both the individual eggs in the new saddle that is forming and eyes in the eggs. I am really happy with how this shot turned out.

my daughter's expression sums up the whole experience well I think :-)

As far as the original idea goes, it works really well and the shrimp fed off it (tested on cherries, CRS, chameleons and Paratya). However with the rise of cheap, nutritious shrimp foods, such as Boss Aquarias shrimp crack and snow, and increased demands on my time, I've stopped making it. Agar agar will work as a binding agent for foods. I think 3-4% by weight is a good starting point for getting the right consistency. With regards to broken cell vs. whole cell, I don't believe there would be much difference because as shrimp are grazers, (I assume) they would have a mechanism of breaking down the cells of the algae they consume.

The story behind it... I have long known the benefits of Chlorella for shrimp. So I bought 250gm of Chlorella powder from Squiggle on Dec 3 last year. Up until now I have been trying to figure out the best way of feeding Chlorella powder to the shrimp. If I sprinkled it in the water it would literally turn the tank green like it was algae infested, not a good look and not the best way of feeding. So up till this weekend I have been digging into ways to feeding Chlorella, and I drew on a few inspirations - Fishmosy's biofilm alternative http://shrimpkeepersforum.com/forum/index.php/topic/7770-biofilm-alternative/ And Repashy Gel premixes. If I could get the Chlorella powder in a gel like substance for the shrimp like what fishmosy did with Spirulina, it would be my goal. So the question was what to use to hold the Chlorella powder. Then I drew on the idea of the repashy gel. Jelly was what it looked like to me. But Jelly and gelatin is no good for shrimp. Gelatin is animal based. So the next best option was ... AGAR AGAR !!! The more research I did on agar agar, the more convinced I was that this was the perfect vessel to hold all kinds of Shrimpy foods that we can feed our beloved pets. Agar is a gelling agent extracted from red algae (perfect). It's easy to work with (awesome). It's easy to find and it's cheap (perfect, kaching). It's all organic (you beaut). Ingredients: 1 teaspoon of agar agar powder (2gm). 350ml water. Chlorella powder 3 teaspoons. Bee Pollen 1 teaspoon. You can find agar agar powder in most Asian supermarkets, some health food shops, maybe even coles and woolies. Please buy only agar that has no other additives like sugar, flavouring, or colouring. Method: Add water and agar agar powder into a pot, and bring to a low boil. Stir constantly or the agar with stick to the pot. Keep heat low to med. Heat until all sign of the agar powder is dissolved (approx 5 minutes on low-med heat). Pour into a shallow and flat container (for ease of cutting later) Let it cool for 4-5 minutes. Crush the bee pollen in a mortar & pestle. Then sprinkle in the Chlorella powder and Bee Pollen into the container. The agar would not have set yet. Use a utensil of your choice to stir in the Chlorella powder and Bee Pollen, taking care to smooth out any lumps of Chlorella powder and Bee Pollen. Let it set in the fridge for 30 minutes. Cut a small square of the Chlorella powder and Bee Pollen Agar, and drop in the tank. Sit back and watch the shrimp swarm it. Note: does not pollute the tank either. I have since learnt that you can get a Spirulina, Chlorella, and Wheatgrass supergreen powder mix at health food shops. A small bottle is all that's needed ( I think it was about $16-$18). You could use this and create a really Super green food with Bee Pollen. Otherwise you can shout out to Squiggle for some. He will charge you appropriately. The original plan was to include Astaxanthin, but I could not find powder that was economical enough. But there is SOOOOOO much nutrition in Chlorella powder and Bee Pollen alone that this exercise was worth it. And seeing how much the shrimp are enjoying it ... priceless. If I can get pics, I'll post it tomorrow. Hope you have a go at it yourself. Version 2 will include Astaxanthin as the colour enhancer. So I am still looking for affordable astaxanthin powder. Cheers.

My low tech with CRS CBS and Yellow cherries :

and first post! my 36L