Hi everyone,

  I have a question about how to prepare fresh leaves to feed to my shrimp.  I've had a good look around the topics here and can't find exactly what I need, and also read up online, but other than advice for preparing pre-dried leaves, nothing.   

  I have mulberry, peach, banana & a bunch of other fruit trees that grow in my back yard.  I do not use pesticides or the like and so they would be safe.  My question is, How do I prepare these leaves so I can add them to my shrimp tanks.   Do they need to be dried first & then reconstituted, or can I do something to the fresh picked leaves to prepare them?   I do have a food dehydrator, so I can dry them if need be.  Your advice will be very much appreciated.  Thanks in advance.

 

1 hour ago, KaridinaGal said:

 Do they need to be dried first & then reconstituted, or can I do something to the fresh picked leaves to prepare them? 

Hi @KaridinaGal (love that name),

I'm surprised you didn't find the topics on preparing leaves or flowers for feeding shrimp.

Those topics are all in the "Food & Nutrition" section of the forum. In fact, this post also needs to be moved into that section.

https://skfaquatics.com/forum/forum/44-food-nutrition/

 

You do not need to dry the leaves or flowers first. The fresher it is, the more nutrients are retained.

The process is rather simple:

Blanched method -

1. Fresh leaves (or flowers) washed in tap water
2. Blanch for 2-3 minutes in boiling water.
3. Drain and let cool
4. Drop it into the tank.

 

Alternatively, you can drop in leaves into the tank without blanching first.

Fresh method -

1. Just wash and add to the tank.

(But shrimps won't start eating unblanched leaves until after a few days when the leaves naturally soften)

 

Storage -

• You can choose to use your dehydrator to dry the leaves. This serves as a good way of storing excess leaves, eg over winter when Mulberry leaves are not available. 
• You can also choose to freeze them in a ziplock bag (after washing). Frozen leaves soften faster in the tank, as if it was blanched. This is the preferred method as it retains more nutrients than drying.

Hi @KaridinaGal: (love that name),
I'm surprised you didn't find the topics on preparing leaves or flowers for feeding shrimp.
Those topics are all in the "Food & Nutrition" section of the forum. In fact, this post also needs to be moved into that section.
https://skfaquatics.com/forum/forum/44-food-nutrition/
 
You do not need to dry the leaves or flowers first. The fresher it is, the more nutrients are retained.
The process is rather simple:
Blanched method -

1. Fresh leaves (or flowers) washed in tap water
2. Blanch for 2-3 minutes in boiling water.
3. Drain and let cool
4. Drop it into the tank.

 
Alternatively, you can drop in leaves into the tank without blanching first.
Fresh method -

1. Just wash and add to the tank.

(But shrimps won't start eating unblanched leaves until after a few days when the leaves naturally soften)
 
Storage -

• You can choose to use your dehydrator to dry the leaves. This serves as a good way of storing excess leaves, eg over winter when Mulberry leaves are not available. 
• You can also choose to freeze them in a ziplock bag (after washing). Frozen leaves soften faster in the tank, as if it was blanched. This is the preferred method as it retains more nutrients than drying.

Hi jayc,
Thank you for that, I'll get blanching right away :) & freezing for later us a marvellous idea. I mustn't know how to search properly on here yet, as I looked around for over an hour before posting. Glad you like my name too. I never know what to choose for things like that & I've aspired to get Caridina varieties for a few years now & am so thrilled to finally have some.
I'm gonna go check out the link you sent now.
Thanks again.

Sent from my Elephone P8000 using Tapatalk

Here are a few posts that talk about preparations ...

 

There are probably more, but I think those should be enough for a good read.

Edited February 5, 20188 yr by jayc

Thanks Jayc, this gets better & better, I also have a grapevine in my back yard.   I also like the idea if freezing instead of the boiling water method, as I would expect heat would destroy some vitamins, especially vitC.   

  My guys are in for lots of treats over the next few weeks. Mulberry leaves, Nasturtium leaves & flowers, peach leaves, Rose petals, dandelion flowers & banana leaves.    

   I'm going to look into macadamia tree leaves, papaya leaves & fig leaves too, as we have those in our garden also.

I'll take some pics of their first meal to post.

 

16 minutes ago, KaridinaGal said:

I also like the idea if freezing instead of the boiling water method, as I would expect heat would destroy some vitamins, especially vitC. 

LOL ! I can hear the excitement in your post.

Tip - Boil (blanch) one leaf, freeze one leaf. The shrimps will take to the boiled leaf faster. They don't go for the frozen leaf as quickly.

 

Edited February 5, 20188 yr by jayc

LOL ! I can hear the excitement in your post.
Tip - Boil (blanch) one leaf, freeze one leaf. The shrimps will take to the boiled leaf faster. They don't go for the frozen leaf as quickly.
 

Just an update on the leaves situation. I picked a good bunch of each, mulberry, grape, peach & nasturtium, as all of these lose their leaves in winter & are just beginning to thin out. So i have frozen a bag of each.
I first tried them on blanched mulberry & they left it a couple of days then finished it all by a day & a half later.
Then i put a frozen peach leaf & another mulberry leaf but frozen this time, in the tank. Same deal, as soon as the mulberry leaf was soft (about three days this time), they had it gone in under 48hrs. The peach leaf (which is a lot smaller) lasted a week & a half before they finished it.

It seems if there's a mulberry leaf in there they choose it over everything else until it's gone.

This week we're trying the grape leaves.

I took photos with my real camera so need to put them on the computer before i can post them here, but i'll do that.

Sent from my Elephone P8000 using Tapatalk

22 hours ago, KaridinaGal said:

It seems if there's a mulberry leaf in there they choose it over everything else until it's gone.

That's been the same observation by many people. Mulberry leaves are favoured over most other leaves. 

Except maybe flowers. My shrimp will go for Nasturtium flowers over mulberry leaves.

Edited March 23, 20188 yr by jayc