It seems like everyone has their own recipe for home made food to feed their shrimp. Here’s mine.

Unixorn’s Shrimp Food Recipe, v1

I’m still trying to work out exactly how much agar agar to use, but here’s my snello recipe in progress

Ingredients

Substitute and/or add any vegetables that you know your colony likes. You want to make sure that you don’t end up with so much mix that it takes more than three months for your colony to finish it all, otherwise don’t worry if you don’t have the exact measurements of each ingredient.

  • One two inch long section of peeled cucumber, cut into 1/4 to 1/2 inch slices. I get organic cucumber, but I still peel it to make sure there’s nothing on the skin that can harm my shrimp.

  • Half a cup of organic spinach leaves. You can substitute salvinia powder, or just add it as an extra ingredient. You can add blanched squash or any other vegetable your colony likes.

  • One hard boiled egg, peeled + one or two extra hard boiled egg yolks

  • 1 tsp garlic powder

  • 1 tsp paprika

  • 1 tablespoon of egg shell powder (see below)

  • Agar Agar

  • A flat takeout container like the ones grocery store sushi come in

Instructions

Egg Shell Powder

  1. Boil and eat a couple of eggs
  2. Boil the empty shells for another 10-15 minutes to sterilize them
  3. Remove the membrane from the shell, and rinse the shells clean
  4. Bake in the oven at 250F / 125C for 25 minutes
  5. After the shells cool, grind them with a mortar and pestle until it’s a fine powder. You don’t want any sharp edges that could harm the shrimp. It’s easier to grind a small amount of shell at a time than to try and grind an entire eggshell at once.

Shrimp Jello

  1. Blanch the cucumber and spinach leaves and any other vegetables you’re using for 5 minutes in boiling water until they’re all soft. Save the water afterward to use for the agar agar and to help get the ingredient mix blended to a liquid.

  2. Throw all the ingredients except the Agar Agar in a blender until it’s a liquid. Add water if you need to to get a liquid consistency. I find it works better if it’s thicker than a broth but not as thick as a smoothie - it’ll get thicker when you add the agar agar.

  3. Follow the directions on the Agar Agar to get the water/agar measurements so you can make a half a cup of Agar Agar.

  4. Mix the blender contents with the cooked Agar Agar liquid and pour it into a takeout container and let it set. You don’t need to put it in the freezer, Agar Agar will set at room temperature.

  5. Once it’s set, cut it into cubes. I cut it into cubes roughly 1/2 inch on a side to make it easier to portion out into the tank.

Notes

  • None of the ingredients have to be exact measurements.
  • Don’t put bloodworms into anything you plan on using for food for people later. Not your blender, not your ice tray, nothing. 20% of people can develop severe allergies to bloodworms, sometimes severe enough that it triggers a shellfish allergy as well.
  • Putting the food in the freezer changes the texture from jello/custard like to ice cubes, but the shrimp don’t mind and it keeps much longer
  • I eventually bought a dedicated silicone ice cube mold from Amazon that I use instead of pouring a sheet in a takeout container so I don’t have to cut the shrimp food into cubes. The mold also gives more consistent amounts per portion.
  • Make a small enough batch so that even with feeding the tank a cube or two every couple of days it runs out in less than 3 months. I’m sure it’ll keep longer than that in the freezer, but why take chances?
  • I prefer to feed my tank several small cubes instead of one big one. That way the shrimp aren’t all swarming on the same cube and more of them can get at the food at once.
  • If there is anything left after 48 hours remove it from the tank to prevent it starting to rot and cause an ammonia spike.