I've Done Something Stupid

[bitfishy]

I'm an idiot. I put two halves of prawn in for my fire shrimp - they had a bit of plaice the other day and loved it, so prawn seemed like a good idea. I noticed they hadn't ate it, meant to fish it out, but had one of those days and never got the chance. Last night when I got home my shrimp had shed its skin, ny Xenia's trying to run away and I had a dead hermit crab.
I'm pretty sure it was the prawn because I'd put a piece of LR in a plastic container trying to catch a teddybear crab that was in it, I'd put a bit of prawn in there as well to try and lure the little bu##er out and when I got home last night the water was cloudy and the crab was also dead.

Obviously commercially bought prawn isn't a good idea. I bunged the protein skimmer up to full blast all night, but the Xenia is still unhappy - I'm hoping it will cheer up over the course of the day.

So, what foods ARE safe. Thankfully I have no fish (was going to get some today, but I don't think I'm ready) I don't want to make this mistake again and wondered if anyone would mind letting me know what kind of natural food is OK and what isn't.

 

[andywg]

I am always feeding my reef tank prawn from tescos as it is the main thing that the moray eel in there eats. All the shrimp and other fish love the prawn as well. Essentially, any "pure" (unflavoured and non modified) sea food designed for humans will be ok to give. The problem is if the food goes uneaten and starts to break down.

 

[bitfishy]

Oh I see...... does that mean uneaten food cannot stay in the tank for even 24hrs? What happens if it goes behind the rocks? Or does this situation imply that my tank isn't processing the bad stuff sufficiently? I bought a posh protein skimmer and 20kg of LR (50 gall tank).

 

[andywg]

24 hours is a bit long in something like a reef which tends not to have the biological processing power of a predatory system.

I try to make sure any uneaten prawn is always pulled out. The only reason I leave it in my FW tanks is teh abundance of nocturnaly catfish that deal with it overnight.

 

[AK77]

Any organic matter, including food, left in the tank for a prolonged period of time is going to start breaking down, thereby giving you a potential ammonia spike. Its possible if you have added food over a few days that hasn't been eaten has resulted in this. Its the same as having a dead fish or something in your tank. If un-noticed, it slowly pollutes the tank which can cause other fish to die and then its just a downward spiral from there really.

I feed my fireshrimp by hand with pellet food or bits of shrimp contained in the regular flake food mix. He comes right up and takes it from my fingers, then scurries off and has a feast. I do the same with my skunk cleaner shrimp, although they are harder to get to because they are on a lower rock, whereas the Fireshrimp reigns supreme and sits on a rock upon high. He's definitely king of the castle lol. Its cool to watch, means food isn't getting missed and wasted in the tank and ensure he's well fed . Give it a try.

If you're too nervy of the thing crawling on you, get a pair of tweezers and do it that way. But if you're a man, you'll do it without them

 

[Danno]

But anyways, nah it is safe from what I know.

 

[bitfishy]

Hee hee - Thanks for the info everyone. Just when you think youre getting the hang of things, something else pops up........... Will give the hand feeding thing a try, sounds like fun, I may be a girlie, but I'm man enough for the job!

However I think long term a bottom feeder is the way to go - much easier than debris fishing

Thanks again

 

[AK77]

Its become quite funny in my tank watching the fireshrimp and the skunk cleaners. The fire shrimp is definitely king of the castle, sitting aloft the highest rock pile at one end of my tank. I was feeding by hand with some freeze dried bloodworm, when then cleaners decided to invite themselves over for a bite to eat too. The Fireshrimp stopped taking food from me and charged full speed down the rocks at the invading cleaners... who turned tail and ran lol.

 

[bitfishy]

hee hee - that I would've loved to have seen!!

 

[AK77]

Yeah it really made me laugh. Shrimps and crabs are one of the best things to watch in an aquarium.

I just this second had a scare. I was looking in the tank and saw the dead body of my fireshrimp on the sand inside a rock He'd only shed his skin maybe a week ago tops.

I had a quick scout about and I saw his tenticles moving behind another rock lol. On closer inspection its his old skin lying on the sand - phew!! All that direct feeding must be making him into a real beefcake lol! He'll end up looking like a lobster at this rate