# How often do you feed shrimp blood worms?



## Varmint (Apr 5, 2014)

A couple of days ago I fed my CRS and yellow cherries frozen blood worms. They fought over the worms like shoppers on Black Friday. I know it's not good to feed them constantly, but the way they were acting made me think, they could use some protein occasionally. How often do you feed your shrimp worms? Anyone have any info on shrimps protein needs?


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## Nubster (Aug 9, 2011)

Never. Not for any particular reason...just never did. I always fed a quality food like Repashy or something from somewhatshocked or even a homemade concoction using various types of baby foods mixed together and dehydrated.


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## Virc003 (Dec 3, 2011)

All of the food I feed has at least 30% protien. Check your algea wafers or pellets or whatever dry food you feed. Most likely you have been feeding protien already. If not then I am surprised your shrimp are still alive as every animal requires some kind of protien source even if its vegetarian.


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## Varmint (Apr 5, 2014)

Nubster said:


> Never. Not for any particular reason...just never did. I always fed a quality food like Repashy or something from somewhatshocked or even a homemade concoction using various types of baby foods mixed together and dehydrated.


What kind of baby foods did you throw into the mix?



Virc003 said:


> All of the food I feed has at least 30% protien. Check your algea wafers or pellets or whatever dry food you feed. Most likely you have been feeding protien already. If not then I am surprised your shrimp are still alive as every animal requires some kind of protien source even if its vegetarian.


I have been feeding them Shirakura pellets. Full of seaweed and "cereal" (wish I could read Japanese so I can see what the ingredients really are). I may Need to go shopping for other pellets.


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## jw.cS (Jan 13, 2005)

Varmint said:


> I have been feeding them Shirakura pellets. Full of seaweed and "cereal" (wish I could read Japanese so I can see what the ingredients really are). I may Need to go shopping for other pellets.


Don't buy into all the shrimp keeping gimmicks. Keep it simple: consistently clean water. They will eat practically anything. The more protein you provide, the faster they grow. Think bodybuilders and their shakes. You wanna get big? Eat. Eat. Eat. They spend more time eating than lifting heavy objects. Screw the "don't feed them all the time or they will suffer and die." Whatever. They're not stupid enough to eat until they explode. Their digestive tract gets cleaned out pretty regularly. That's why you see them forage for food 24/7.

When I first kept dwarf shrimps, in addition to additives, I bought all the fancy food products you could think of: Mosura, Benibachi, GlasGarten, CSF, etc. :icon_roll In the end, I found they like regular flake and decapsulated brine shrimp eggs the most--ignoring most of the other fancy shrimp-specific foods. I feed other food as well because I want to use them up, not because they need it or grow better with it.

So save your money. If you want protein-rich, shrimp-specific food from reputable brands then PM me and pay shipping. I'll send you all of mine for free.


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## Varmint (Apr 5, 2014)

jw.cS said:


> Don't buy into all the shrimp keeping gimmicks. Keep it simple: consistently clean water. They will eat practically anything. The more protein you provide, the faster they grow. Think bodybuilders and their shakes. You wanna get big? Eat. Eat. Eat. They spend more time eating than lifting heavy objects. Screw the "don't feed them all the time or they will suffer and die." Whatever. They're not stupid enough to eat until they explode. Their digestive tract gets cleaned out pretty regularly. That's why you see them forage for food 24/7.
> 
> When I first kept dwarf shrimps, in addition to additives, I bought all the fancy food products you could think of: Mosura, Benibachi, GlasGarten, CSF, etc. :icon_roll In the end, I found they like regular flake and decapsulated brine shrimp eggs the most--ignoring most of the other fancy shrimp-specific foods. I feed other food as well because I want to use them up, not because they need it or grow better with it.
> 
> So save your money. If you want protein-rich, shrimp-specific food from reputable brands then PM me and pay shipping. I'll send you all of mine for free.


Good advice. I keep Bettas. You hear the same thing in that circle. Fast them! Don't let them eat too much. I figured out that my fish are healthiest when when they get a small ration of micro pellets in the morning and dinner is a couple worms or a small amount of brine shrimp or daphnia. They get a rare smidgen of cooked frozen pea as a treat. They are thin in a healthy way now. My previous Bettas were chubby. It makes sense. People are better off not eating processed food, why would our pets be different?

How do you feed them the brine shrimp eggs. Do you just sprinkle them into the water for the shrimp to find?


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## Nubster (Aug 9, 2011)

Varmint said:


> What kind of baby foods did you throw into the mix?


Various veggies. Carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, spinach, ect. Usually 5-6 different veggies and sometimes I'll smash up a cube or two of tubifex worms and/or add in a scoop of spirulina powder.


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## jw.cS (Jan 13, 2005)

Varmint said:


> Good advice. I keep Bettas. You hear the same thing in that circle. Fast them! Don't let them eat too much. I figured out that my fish are healthiest when when they get a small ration of micro pellets in the morning and dinner is a couple worms or a small amount of brine shrimp or daphnia. They get a rare smidgen of cooked frozen pea as a treat. They are thin in a healthy way now. My previous Bettas were chubby. It makes sense. People are better off not eating processed food, why would our pets be different?
> 
> How do you feed them the brine shrimp eggs. Do you just sprinkle them into the water for the shrimp to find?


I think I will stay out of the merits of the "all natural" diet debate. :grin2: That can go on a tangent real quickly. Hehehehehe.

I honestly just feed the animals for my convenience and amusements more than for their benefit. Any benefit they derive from my antics is purely incidental. Some days I feed 3x/day. Other days, maybe 2x/week. > I culture live Daphnia because I really enjoy seeing them get hunted. D*mn Nature U Scary!

https://1drv.ms/v/s!AjuZsMc6teYrgpk0PSQfJlAdFV11mw
https://1drv.ms/v/s!AjuZsMc6teYrgosaCDyyJGMwGb7ocQ
https://1drv.ms/v/s!AjuZsMc6teYrgosV_iiOXVw8p5z6yA

Disclaimer: I keep _Boraras spp._, _Sundadanio spp._, _Corydoras pygmaeus_, _Danionella translucinda_, snails and all types of hardy/sensitive dwarf shrimps.

Their main diet consists of flakes that I have no idea where I got them from (I don't recall buying any.) and decapsulated brine shrimp eggs (DBSE) from brineshrimpdirect. No fuss. No mess. I normally just throw everything in and let the water current naturally sinks them. This presents a challenge as my fish never let anything reach the bottom. Feeding the bottom dwellers require a little bit more effort. For them, I add some DBSE to a cup with some water. Swirl a few times to make sure the eggs have sunk. Add the resultant mixture to the tank with the filters turned *off*. In five minutes, all the eggs would have sunk to the bottom. Then the filters get turned back on. The DBSE will have adhered to the sticky biofilm that develops on all the surfaces (including plants). The filters get turned back on. The DBSE do not get swept away because the biofilm is really sticky! The bottom dwellers then get to work on vacuuming up everything. This is really just for the _C. pygmaeus_'s benefit. If I don't keep them then I wouldn't bother going this extra step since the shrimps are content hanging upside down and grabbing food bits from the surface. Baby shrimps and baby fish have no problem chowing down on the DBSE: small enough to feed the fry and large enough for the adults to clean up--unlike shrimp-specific powdered baby food which fouls the water really really quickly. DBSE are very high in protein (>50%) so those things will grow very fast. I keep everybody in a planted tank so I am sure they can find the other plant-based protein content from the aufwuch growing everywhere.


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## Izzy- (Jun 11, 2014)

I give my RCS blood worms every month or so. They're a nice dark red and healthy.


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## Varmint (Apr 5, 2014)

jw.cS said:


> I think I will stay out of the merits of the "all natural" diet debate. :grin2: That can go on a tangent real quickly. Hehehehehe.
> 
> I honestly just feed the animals for my convenience and amusements more than for their benefit. Any benefit they derive from my antics is purely incidental. Some days I feed 3x/day. Other days, maybe 2x/week. > I culture live Daphnia because I really enjoy seeing them get hunted. D*mn Nature U Scary!
> 
> ...


Love, love, love the idea of culturing daphnia (the Bettas would be stoked about getting some live munchies). Where do you get the cultures? How are you culturing them?


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## TheFlyingBear (Jun 20, 2015)

I feed Hikari Shrimp Cuisine and Algae Wafers alternately once every 3-7 days. When I introduced it to their diet (Hikari Algae Wafers) I saw an immediate improvement in color and activity. I do want to find a more suitable diet for them, but a varied diet is also important.


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