# tetra dried shrimp, home made food, food questions



## ripit (Aug 8, 2012)

I'm trying to come up with an assortment of foods for my fish. Local availability is limited. I have tetras, mollies, guppies, albino corries, chinese algae eaters, plecostamas, dwarf frogs and a betta (in multiple tanks). 

First off I'm wondering about tetra sun dried baby fresh water shrimp since I already have some (gammarus pulex). They are 1/4-1/2" long. I tried smashing them dry (they kind of powder with chunks of shell), and I tried soaking them, then cutting them into a little bit smaller pieces (didn't cut up well). The beta seemed to have problems eating them and sort of liked them. The mollies liked them but avoided big pieces and had a hard time eating them. The tetras went to town on the big soaked pieces (I though a few might die trying to swallow huge pieces whole). Shells seem to be a big problem in eating and I'm worried about the shells littering the tank (do they biodegrade very quick if sucked into the canister filter or are they going to build up?). I was considering shelled shrimp pieces chopped up (regular for human use shrimp). If I were to use shelled cocktail shrimp, should I chop them up or let them eat at them?

Can anyone give any advice in using these since I already have them?

So more in general. Staple food. I will not use omega. I had some bad experiences and while the ingredients seem good there are also lots of problems with bones reported (my fish seemed to have a problem eating the jar I got and that seems to be the possible cause). The particular bottle of flakes I got is quite gritty (when I try to powder it a bit for smaller fish there are lots of sharp hard pieces). I also had a bad experience with their shrimp pellets. 

I want to try new life spectrum. It is going to be very hard to find locally (even called the manufacture and the local distributor and have not found a local store that stocks it). I'm going to see if the local fish store can order it and if not, its mail order. After reading and reading I find the most positive info about it in magnitude and want to at least try it. I want to use tetra min as a second staple (easy to find local). I like the tetra 3 in one which has flakes, granuals, and the dried shrimp. I don't know about the shrimp but I like the flakes and granules (easy to get and food for bottom and top dwellers as I have some top dwellers that are pigs). 

Others available locally are aqueon, api, wardley. I see many bad reports about the wardley. Not sure about the other 2. 

I'm thinking about using human food such as fish and shrimp (nothing made, just bits of it and maybe not as a staple). 

I see several dried foods locally (tubified worms, blood worms, brine shrimp, krill) that are hikari brand that I would like to try but they are very expensive so I would like to find out more rather than blindly buying. I have seen tons of hikari cichlid food but little to none of their tropical fish foods. Frozen brine shrimp and blood worms can be gotten too (tried to find glass worms and no luck). 

The beta has hbh or atlantis (sergeants) pellets and frozen blood worms (not sure the tetra dried shrimp are going to work to well for him). 



So does anyone have some recommendations based on what is available to me? I would love to try some of the hikari dried foods but I'm not going to blindly spend $20-30 trying food that may be too big for little tropicals to eat. Any advice on using the dried shrimp I have for small fish? What about human food? Also I see hikari stuff that I do not know if they can eat?


----------



## Aeten (Aug 4, 2012)

Shelled foods should be fine but many people advise using flakes as the staple diet for those types of fish (livebearers, tetras... etc.)

As for the large uneaten shell pieces; you should just add shrimp, snails, or crayfish to the bottom of your tank and they will make short work of those.


----------



## Kehy (Apr 19, 2011)

If you want a really high quality food, try Repashy gel foods. There is a little bit of DIY involved, but I've heard nothing but great reviews about it. It's a bit pricey, and you'll have to order it online, but a little goes a long way.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/IXmZ4kWb3X4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


----------



## ripit (Aug 8, 2012)

Thanks for the suggestions. One of the tanks has corries, a couple of ghost shrimp (I bought a lot more but these two are the only ones that seem to have survival power). I had planned on eventually putting the same in the larger tank. I have copper pipes so that may have been what was killing the shrimp (didn't know it at the time). maybe these two had better copper resistance. I use prime (not sure if it eliminates copper but I don't thin it does). 

Does anyone know about any of the hikari dried foods (tubified worms, blood worms, brine shrimp, krill)? They are available several places locally. My main concern is if they are suitable (can be eaten) by small fish.


----------



## Aeten (Aug 4, 2012)

Yeah the copper pipes are not good for inverts and most people recomend against any type of metal in the aquarium besides maybe stainless steel. 

I have hikari freeze-dried bloodworms and I would say get the krill instead; fish just dont seem to want freeze-dried bloodworms very much besides my dwarf gourami who goes crazy for them. Freeze-dried foods optimally have to be soaked in tank water for a few minutes before put in the tank anyway. Theyre a nice easy way to add some variety to your fishes diet and without much work involved as with frozen or live foods.


----------



## ripit (Aug 8, 2012)

Thanks again. Are the krill very big?


----------



## Aeten (Aug 4, 2012)

The size of the krill depends on the brand but I would assume theyre small enough for your fish to eat; all they are is a tiny little shrimp, and the drying process makes them even smaller.


----------

