# Baby Shrimp?



## CichlidLover2 (Jul 31, 2005)

Hey guys another food question for you!

So I have some of this stuff left over from my old tropical fish set up and I was wondering if I could feed it to my mbuna. Its called "Baby Shrimp Sun Dried Treat" by Tetra. I'll get a picture up and I'll post the nutrition facts right now. I just wanted to double check because I know most mbuna get protein from veggie based foods and not from meat. The reason why I was thinking of adding this to their diet once a week was because it claims that the roughage of the shrimp is beneficial to digestive systems of angels, gouramis, and goldfish but I just wanted to see if it might also work for mbuna.

I currently have...

Acei, Yellow labs, White top Hara Afras, Demasoni, Clown Loaches

The nutrition facts for the Shrimp food are as follows...

Min. Crude Protein 44% (IMO maybe too much?)
Min. Crude Fast 6%
Min. Crude Fiber 6.5%
Max. Moisture 14%
Min. Phosphorous 0.9%

This is the picture of the actual product...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/B001D6SPC0/ref=dp_image_0?ie=UTF8&n=284507&s=kitchen


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## TKC747 (Dec 5, 2008)

Look at this url: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/food_recipes.php

IF it is really made out of shrimp, perhaps its good for omnivores like yellow labs. This article from Mark Elieson says something about "European Shrimp Mix" being used in Europe for cichlids

Maybe this is helpful?


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## smellsfishy1 (May 29, 2008)

Some things to consider when feeding fish with sensitive digestive systems such as yours:

What are the ingredients? If it is just shrimp it is most likely fine.

Then again, all shrimps are not created equally either.
Krill, mysis, and brine make for a better choice for cichlids.

Is the food fresh? Much of the nutrition is lost over time when the seal is broken and yo stated it is from your last setup.


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## CichlidLover2 (Jul 31, 2005)

Yes it is fairly old, maybe almost a year or so, but it has been closed shut despite the seal being broken.

As far as ingredients go its purely Sun dried baby freshwater shrimp.

So still ok to add to their diet once a week? Or just toss it?


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## smellsfishy1 (May 29, 2008)

That is just it. I don't know what kind of date we are talking here.
Most say to discard food after 6 months if not sealed. 
Anything noted on the label about this?
If it smells real shrimpy still I would try it out. What is the worst that could happen?
Fish don't like it and won't eat it.


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## CichlidLover2 (Jul 31, 2005)

Oh trust me it smells shrimpy all right. And I tested it out, the cichlids went crazy for it, but still they go crazy for anything any moves.

I'm still hesitant on using this stuff unless I get some more people to say that it is ok to feed. I would just like to add it once a week to their diet to help their digestion.


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## Timkat4867 (Jan 11, 2008)

I dont think you will have a problem with it. Just use it very sparingly. Most of your fish are omnivours except the demasoni which are strict plant eaters. But a little shrimp once a week shouldnt be a problem. Why not get a good quality staple food that contains everything they need?


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## CichlidLover2 (Jul 31, 2005)

Oh well actually, I do have a staple already. I feed NLS aswell as spirulina flakes.

The shrimp were just a once a week addition for digestive cleansing purposes


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## Timkat4867 (Jan 11, 2008)

The shrimp were just a once a week addition for digestive cleansing purposes [/quote]

Wow, *** never heard of that. What do you mean by that?

None the less, Feeding once a week in small amounts should be ok.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I think it depends on the shrimp. Brine is mostly exoskeleton and can cleanse. Mysis is more nutritious. I thought this food was "regular" shrimp which would be protein and I wondered about it's cleansing properties as well.

If you want cleansing, try veges: lettuce, cucumber, peas, etc.

I don't think I'd feed it...why take a chance?


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## CichlidLover2 (Jul 31, 2005)

Hmm well primarily I wanted to empty the bottle so I could use it to fill with NLS, but I guess I'll just take it in to my LFS and finish it off there.



> I thought this food was "regular" shrimp which would be protein and I wondered about it's cleansing properties as well.


The bottle says that its exoskeleton is pretty rough for the fish and can help cleanse the digestive tract, but at the same time I already feed veggies so no big deal. As I said right now I only wanted to finish off the food in the bottle.


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