Spinach anyone?

[Harry]

I remembered that when I had a freshwater aquarium, the Red Cherry Shrimp loved par-boiled spinach. And I read that the Hawaiian natives would feed sweet potato and other vegetables to the wild Opae. So I put a small piece from a leaf of baby spinach (par-boiled to soften) in my Opae tank. Took a while, but they found it and liked it. By the time I posted this picture, there were twice as many Opae on the spinach.

[Harry]

Here's a shot of a large (2-inch) spinach leaf after 24 hours in the tank. The shrimp have cleaned it to the stem and veins. They really like it and I can typically see 50 of them on the leaf at any time. The crabs like it too. Here you can see a dwarf hermit crab, sharing peacefully with the shrimp. However, if the leaf were small, the crab would hog it entirely.

[Harry]

It would appear that the Opae like par-boiled kale as well. They sure do eat better than my kids did when they were young!

[Kinetikx]

I'm wondering how much of the damage was done by the hermit crabs in relation to the shrimp. Based solely on my observations, the the crabs tend to be the more voracious eaters and I wouldn't be sure that the shrimp are actually eating as much as you may think. I could certainly be wrong but after watching my crabs basically decimate introduced food while the shrimp pick off whatever small pieces they can scavenge it may be that the Opae are just getting a taste. I'm going to play around with some organic spinach/kale in the coming weeks to see what happens (and this is one of those cases where organic is definitely preferred- I'd be wary of any pesticides hitching a ride on non-organic produce). It would be nice if anyone with a similar concentration of shrimp that doesn't have dwarf hermit crabs like myself or the OP could do the same.

I'm just kind of curious whether the shrimp go after leafy greens in any appreciable way. Their maxillipeds are just so small it seems like it would be difficult for them to remove a lot of the leaf. Like I said, I could be wrong but my instincts tell me it's the crabs.

[Harry]

The leafy greens I feed are definitely organic (Earthbound triple-washed). In my ten-gallon tank, I have eight crabs and 175 shrimp. That is a new tank, one month old. The shrimp eat the leaves voraciously until there is nothing left but the stem and veins. They pick it to the bone and it takes them about 24 hours. The crabs like the spinach and kale too. The crabs will find a spot on the leaf and will eat while totally surrounded by the shrimp. They don't seem to mind each other and coexist peacefully on the leaf. Every now and then, a crab will make a sudden move and a few shrimp will "popcorn" away and then quickly return. Often, you cannot see the leaf as it is covered with red shrimp and a crab or two. My 1-1/2 gallon tank has about 30 shrimp and two crabs. That tank is 1-1/2 years old. The shrimp totally ignore the leafy greens and the crabs eat just a small bit of them. Then the leaves remain untouched for a day and I remove them. I suspect the inhabitants of the smaller tank will develop a taste for vegetables. They are used to algae and occasional flake fish food right now.

When feeding flake food, the crabs totally hog the flake and crumble it up while holding on to it. But the crabs are very sloppy eaters, actively shredding the flake and spewing flake bits all around. Within a minute, the crabs are surrounded with small shreds of flake food and the shrimp actively eat those pieces. So everybody gets fed. The crabs do the job of breaking up the flake and distributing it all around.

It is very interesting how the inhabitants of the two tanks are so very different when it comes to leafy greens. Below is a shot of the ten gallon tank, showing the area at bottom right where the shrimp are finishing up a leaf. They are devouring what is left of the stem and veins. There is a semi-dormant crab to the left. That crab has been "claws up" for several days after switching shells. I found him without a shell and placed one next to him, which he took. I have had other crabs behave in this semi-dormant manner. They occasionally extend their big claw and move their legs a bit. When approached by shrimp, they quickly pop back into the shell.

[Harry]

I am still experimenting with foods for the shrimp, crabs and snails. They attack leafy greens with no mercy, eating down to the veins and stems until there is nothing left. Today, after breakfast, I tried something new. I put in a small piece of leftover ham. This was an instant hit. It usually takes an hour or so for the shrimp to go after a leaf of spinach and start a feeding frenzy. But they attacked the ham immediately, along with the crabs.

I won't be feeding them vegetables and ham every day, but it looks like they will enjoy the occasional treat.

[KenCotigirl]

I see no problem with the occasional organic leafy vegetable. Just do not over do it. Stay with the two week schedule. You can overwhelm the PetShrimp System. I would avoid meat products. The oils and the preservatives. A good fish flake is a better choice.

[Harry]

Ken, I hear you. I don't do this in my 1-1/4 gallon jar. But the ten-gallon tank is less sensitive, I'm thinking. Anyway, it's a rare treat and not a daily thing. Thanks for the concern.

[Harry]

There is another interesting aspect to adding natural food every now and then. And I do mean every now and then as opposed to often. The shrimp go crazy over spinach, kale, carrot, peas, etc. But it also brings out the other inhabitants of the tank. Hermit crabs that I have not seen in weeks, and I presumed were dead, come out from the rocks to go after the natural food. It's an amazing frenzy of shrimp, crabs and snails all sharing without problem.

[NYCShrimp]

This is the thread I was looking for! Does anyone else have experience with feeding veggies to supershrimp? I was a little hesitant because I was not sure how the salt in the water would affect the breakdown of the vegetable matter. I love feeding shrimp veggies because they don't disintegrate like flakes and wafers, so you can leave them in the tank longer and remove them more easily.

I'm primarily concerned that my nerite is eating all the algae, so I may have to supplement a bit.

Also, my Mustafa shrimp arrive today!

[KenCotigirl]

Let's see a picture of the tank with the new shrimp. No experience feeding opae ula veggies.

Ken

[NYCShrimp]

Photos on the way, Ken! I'll post them in my original discussion.

[Mustafa]

I don't see any problems with feeding veggies once in a while. I've never done it, but then my shrimp swim around with a piece of my macroalgae and chomp on it once in a while. Things do seem to break down more slowly in saltwater though, so I don't know how much more enriched with microorganisms the veggies become. In freshwater they are pretty much immediately colonized by microorganisms that then get eaten by the shrimp when they eat the veggies. If you put in too much though, the same microorganisms can cause a bloom in the water column and really mess up your tank.