Shrimp love them :-) !!

This mulberry leaf has broken down enough for shrimps to be all over it this morning. Other leaves are also starting to get devoured too.

I pick them fresh, freeze them for an hour or more then once they defrost I drop them in.

Shrimp initially check them out and graze a little but 1-3 days later they are swarming them.

Leaves are a fantastic food source for shrimp and have much less impact on water quality than processed foods.

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-edit- i should point out as mentioned elsewhere on the forum that freezing leaves ruptures the cell walls effectively achieving the same result as blanching.

I have tried the freezing method, blanching method and drying then rehydrating method and find the shrimp graze much quicker on the blanched leaves. I have tried the different methods on 12 tanks with various breeds /types of shrimp -cherry, crystals, TB ,Tigers and hybrids. I pick fresh and blanch them then freeze any left over. In autumn I pick the leaves before the tree drops them all and blanch and freeze them for a winter supply. The shrimp will devour them which ever way you serve them but the blanched leaves definately get eaten quicker than the others. 

If you are going on holidays then a mix of blanched and a few dry leaves will break down over a different rate of time giving the shrimp food for a slightly longer period.

 

I'd like to contribute another leaf that is edible to shrimps.

 

Hibiscus leaves. 

In fact the hibiscus flower is eaten by my shrimp as well.

I experimented on my shrimp after noticing catepillars eating the hibiscus leaves. 

If the catepillars are able to eat it, then it's safe for shrimp - that's one of my new criteria for determining if a leave is safe or not.

Hibiscus leaves are on par with Mulberry leaves when it comes to the shrimp's preferences.

It even looks very similar to mulberry leaves.

 

Composition

Figures in grams (g) or miligrams (mg) per 100g of food.

Flowers (Fresh weight)

0 Calories per 100g

Water : 89.8%

Protein: 0.06g; Fat: 0.4g; Carbohydrate: 0g; Fibre: 1.56g; Ash: 0g;

Minerals - Calcium: 4mg; Phosphorus: 27mg; Iron: 1.7mg; Magnesium: 0mg; Sodium: 0mg; Potassium: 0mg; Zinc: 0mg;

Vitamins - A: 0mg; Thiamine (B1): 0.03mg; Riboflavin (B2): 0.05mg; Niacin: 0.6mg; B6: 0mg; C: 4.2mg;

 

Leaves (Dry weight)
Water: 0

Protein: 15.4 Fat: 3.5 Carbohydrate: 69.7 Fibre: 15.5 Ash: 11.4 Calcium: 1670 Phosphorus: 520

 

 

Edited December 3, 20169 yr by jayc

How do you prepare the hibiscus leaf?

25 minutes ago, Shannon_James said:

How do you prepare the hibiscus leaf?

 

Like with every other leaf you harvest from your garden for Shrimps ... pick only leaves you know that have not been sprayed with herbicides / pest chemicals.

Pick clean leaves. Then there are two simple methods of preparing leaves: Blanching or Freezing.

Blanch (boil) the leaves in clean water for 4-5 minutes. Don't over boil.

Cool it before dropping it into the tank.

Any extra can be frozen in a ziplock bag.

 

Alternatively, 

After picking and rinsing in clean water, place the fresh leaf straight into a ziplock bag and store straight in the freezer. Blanching it beforehand is not necessary, but some people do so anyway. Freezing fresh leaves without boiling it might retain more nutrients.

 

Frozen leaves can be dropped straight into the tank without thawing.

 

Both methods are equally good.

Blanching a leaf can be used in a relatively short time.

Whereas freezing obviously takes longer.

Edited December 5, 20169 yr by jayc

 
Like with every other leaf you harvest from your garden for Shrimps ... pick only leaves you know that have not been sprayed with herbicides / pest chemicals.
Pick clean leaves. Then there are two simple methods of preparing leaves: Blanching or Freezing.
Blanch (boil) the leaves in clean water for 4-5 minutes. Don't over boil.
Cool it before dropping it into the tank.
Any extra can be frozen in a ziplock bag.
 
Alternatively, 
After picking and rinse in clean water, place it in a ziplock bag and store straight in the freezer.
 
Frozen leaves can be dropped straight into the tank without thawing.
 
Both methods are equally good.
Blanching a leaf can be used in a relatively short time.
Whereas freezing obviously takes longer.

Thanks

6 minutes ago, Shannon_James said:

Thanks

No problem. I edited my post with a bit more info for clarity as you replied. Please read my post again ?

 

Oh yeah ... the hibiscus flower can be dropped straight into the tank fresh (maybe after a quick rinse in clean tap water). Flowers are not nearly as tough as leaves, and shrimp will start eating them in a day or two. 

Edited December 5, 20169 yr by jayc

Interesting. .. I have a hibiscus hedge in my yard, pesticide free. Thanks much

On 12/3/2016 at 4:01 PM, jayc said:

I experimented on my shrimp after noticing catepillars eating the hibiscus leaves. 

If the catepillars are able to eat it, then it's safe for shrimp - that's one of my new criteria for determining if a leave is safe or not.

An interesting "shrimp safe" test... but I'm not sure how well it works: there are undoubtedly caterpillars that have adapted to eat MOST types of leaves.  I've always found it amusing that mulberry leaves are among the most favored foods for shrimp since they're actually fairly noxious to many critters - Unripe fruit and green parts of the plant have a white sap that may be toxic, stimulating, or mildly hallucinogenic.^[15]  (wikipedia).  Most white sap is slightly (or more) poisonous - the plants make it to keep critters from eating them. 

Mind you, I do feed my shrimp mulberry (chucked some in an hour before I read this post, as a matter of fact) and other assorted things.  Some prep methods would neutralize or reduce any such toxicity as well - dried oleander leave probably won't do more than give a kid a tummy ache, but fresh ones can kill if a kid eats enough of them. 

I was just pointing out that it's rather tricky to figure out which foods are ok to feed.  That's why I greatly appreciate it when people post successful feeds - yay for hibiscus!

17 minutes ago, Kaylenna said:

An interesting "shrimp safe" test... but I'm not sure how well it works: there are undoubtedly caterpillars that have adapted to eat MOST types of leaves.

No doubt, there are catepillars that have developed specialised abilities to eat only certain type of leaves. Like the silk worm loves eating mulberry leaves.

That's why I mentioned that it is "One" of my selection criteria....

On 03/12/2016 at 4:01 PM, jayc said:

that's one of my new criteria

 

So let's post some of the plants we've fed to our shrimp that we know are shrimp safe.

Been waiting for someone to post that they have tried Passionfruit leaves and the shrimp love them. Mainly because i dont have a mulberry or IAL plant in the garden but do have passionfruit.

Now if someone could tell me how to safely try them and not wipe out my tank of RCS then i will do it and post my results. 

1 hour ago, Madmerv said:

Been waiting for someone to post that they have tried Passionfruit leaves

I already have! (in a different thread)

I have fed shrimps passion fruit leaves before. It's fine to use. Prepare it like you would any other leaf. 

I don't feed that anymore, as i got rid of the passionfruit plant. It was growing out of control and climbing over everything. It turned my neat garden into a jungle and the OCD in me had to get rid of it. 

The plant itself was a safe haven for all sorts of insects, spiders, and all sorts of creatures were eating it's leaves. So again, it's an indication that it's not poisonous for shrimps to eat.

Edited December 6, 20169 yr by jayc