Weighting driftwood for shrimp tank? Spinach?

Colofishguy · Post by **Colofishguy** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 8:14 am

I'm fairly new to keeping cherry shrimp. I have a really beautiful piece of wood that just won't sink. It's full of all sorts of neat little caves that my cherry shrimp would just love. I've weighted down other pieces by drilling a hole through some slate and screwing the wood to it, but I'm concerned about putting a metal screw into a shrimp tank because of their sensitivity to metals in the water. Any ideas of what to do in this kinda situation?

Does any1 feed their shrimp spinach? I've read that it's a very good source of calcium for them. I've been unable to find out just how they feed the spinach though. Does it need to be fresh or is frozen ok? Does it need to be soaked like other leaves prior to adding it to the tank?

Thanks for any advice.

Newjohn · Post by **Newjohn** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 9:18 am

Hi Colofishguy
And welcome to the Forum.

As for your piece of driftwood
If you have soaked it in water before attempting to place it in the RCS tank and it still will not sink you can use a Platic tie-strap or fishing line to attach it to the piece of slate.
I d not like to add any type of metal to a aquarium.

As for the spinach
I would use the Search option of this Forum, found at the top of the screen, Per Forum Rules.
This topic has been addressed before.

And I would suggest to do a search on Oak Leaves / Leaf litter. This is a great source of food "Bio-Film , Micro-Organisms" for you RCS and it is cost effective.

John

Colofishguy · Post by **Colofishguy** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 9:49 am

Thanks for the idea of how to attach it to the slate!

I soaked the driftwood for 1 week with weights to keep it submerged. I then boiled it for 4 hours. It is back soaking because it's releasing more tannins now that it has been boiled. I change the water once daily. After the water clears I will be soaking it in dechlorinated water for another day or two. It still floats so It will be neccesary to attach it to something. I think I'll drill some very small holes in the bottom of it and string it to the slate with fishing line. That will be really easy to conceal with moss. and will probably conceal the transition between the rock and wood nicely as well.

I searched "spinach" before posting and found several that mention feeding their shrimp blanched spinach, but none on how exactly they do it.

Any idea if dutch elm leaves would be ok?

Newjohn · Post by **Newjohn** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 10:29 am

If you are using fresh spinach you can put a couple of leaves in a container and add just enough water to cover the leaves and Microwave them for 30seconds or until they are soft, drain the water and let cool.

I have use Canned spinach before and it worked great.

I am now just using Leaf Litter and very little flake food.

As for the Elm leaves
I have never tried them, Maybe someone else in the Forum has and can give you some information.

I have only used Oak & Chestnut leaves.

John

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 2:16 pm

Avoid spinach. It is not a good source of calcium as the calcium is locked up in a non-usable form. The shrimp really like it, but I don't think it is good for them. Spinach is one of the highest oxalate containing foods.

As to the leaves, pretty much any well dried, then soaked hardwood leave should work. I use oak and maple as they are hand.