moldy food

wheezo · Post by **wheezo** » Tue Apr 19, 2005 1:43 pm

i have a question about moldy food.
it's supposedly not good right? i left a boiled zucchini in there and they barely touched it, then it started getting moldy and i noticed that a lot of them were all over it.

is it bad for the shrimps or just bad for the water?

Chaca · Post by **Chaca** » Tue Apr 19, 2005 5:44 pm

Moldy food is not good for anyone -- larvae, adults or humans. But rotting vegetation promotes the development of little critters -- sometimes called "infusoria" -- relished by baby fish and shrimp. Maybe that's what you were seeing.

wheezo · Post by **wheezo** » Tue Apr 19, 2005 10:26 pm

hmm i wasn't clear on that one i guess.
i meant that the shrimps were all over the moldy food.
when it was freshly placed in, they barely touched it.

Pi · Post by Pi » Wed Apr 20, 2005 7:05 am

No, I think he understood : )

He didn't mean you were seeing the little critters that rotting food produces, he meant the shrimp were eating them-- and that's why they were all over the old food.

Pi

fugly · Post by **fugly** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 8:20 am

wheezo wrote:hmm i wasn't clear on that one i guess.
i meant that the shrimps were all over the moldy food.
when it was freshly placed in, they barely touched it.

bear in mind that shrimp are scavengers. they eat algae, rotting plants (the cucumber), dead animals, etc. and it could very well be that they were eating the infusoria (as chaca pointed out) that grew after it began molding (they weren't the mold).

try spinach as an alternative to the cucumber. they love it.

Adrianna · Post by **Adrianna** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 4:32 am

fugly wrote:try spinach as an alternative to the cucumber. they love it.

Spinach rots in warm water really fast and turns the water into a spinachsoup

*bad experiences over here*

I prefer spirulina for the shrimps babies (and adults too). If I put some cucumber in the tank for applesnails to eat, the shrimps patrol arould the snails and eat their leftovers

fugly · Post by **fugly** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 9:10 am

Adrianna wrote:
fugly wrote:try spinach as an alternative to the cucumber. they love it.
Spinach rots in warm water really fast and turns the water into a spinachsoup *bad experiences over here*

I prefer spirulina for the shrimps babies (and adults too). If I put some cucumber in the tank for applesnails to eat, the shrimps patrol arould the snails and eat their leftovers

i have enough shrimp in there that all the spinach gets consumed before it gets a chance to rot or become spinach soup.

wheezo · Post by **wheezo** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 11:42 am

i do feed them spinach and zucchini on occasions. those are the only 2 choices that i have tried. spinach doesn't seem to mold as fast as the zucchini.

how many shrimps is enough to finish off one leaf of spinach before it goes bad?

fugly · Post by **fugly** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 1:14 pm

wheezo wrote:i do feed them spinach and zucchini on occasions. those are the only 2 choices that i have tried. spinach doesn't seem to mold as fast as the zucchini.

how many shrimps is enough to finish off one leaf of spinach before it goes bad?

i cut up the boiled spinach before putting it in the water, so that they each can get a piece and don't have to fight for it. i've never noticed any leftovers from a feeding of spinach. the shrimp continuously eat until it's gone....never a case of it going bad.