Differences between mysis shrimp brands
 

Is there a difference between mysis shrimp brands? or is a mysis shrimp a mysis shrimp?
I bought a pack of Hikari mysis shrimp for my clowns... but my clowns refuse to eat them. They would take one in, then promptly spit it out, only eating the occasional bit here and there... but leaving most of the shrimp floating around the tank. They do however, go crazy over cyclop-eeze. Are my clowns just plain picky?

-Richer

Richer, I know the difference between Hikari and PE mysis is the source. PE is freshwater mysis, whereas Hikari is marine. Whether there is a difference between marine brands, who knows.
As for the fish, generally they need to spit stuff out for the first few times you try it. I use the PE mysis, and I've never seen anything NOT eat it. Maybe try some of that.

I have a whole package of the hikari stuff, so I guess I try again for a few more days (in small quantities of course). Hopefully the clowns will start eating them soon.

Whats the difference between FW and SW mysis? Is one generally preferred over the other?

-Richer

http://www.canreef.com/phpBB2/viewto...ighlight=mysis :cool:

Looks like I'm going to have to give PE mysis a try then... I think I saw some at Big Al's the other day. Thanks :cool:

-Richer

myself I use the hikari stuff. I don't like the idea of feeding my fish non native foods. in this I mean that the PE is from a fresh water lake where the hikari is from the salt water so the balance of goodness and such in the hikari will more closely resemble what they would get in a native scenario. IE it has been shown that the levels of fatty acids and other fats and proteins are different in fresh water and salt water shrimp. I feed the PE stuff to my fresh water fish.

Steve

Is there any need to rinse the mysis before feeding?

I think so, but others feel the juice is good for the corals. I feed my corals, so the juice can stay out of the tank.

shrimp
 

Have u tried soaking your smysis in garlic, or atleast adding it too your food before feeding, and of course I find it best to keep mixing up the food, as in as many different types of food as opossible. Cauliflower is healthy but not if u eat it for every meal.

Good Luck
Adie

what - no banana?? :wink:

It would be nice to offer only foods that may be a familiar (or 'native') food source to the fish, but that's so impractical as to be nearly impossible - for me, anyways. And reading the nutritive info on the FW mysis, I'm not sure that it's not better, based on that alone.

Plus, it looks better, holds together better, presents in the water better than the SW mysis I've seen, and they feed like bandits - one more way that I tell myself I'm making up the difference in providing as healthy an environment as I can.

I mean, nori wrapped around PVC isn't something they would encounter in the wild either (as has been mentioned before), but is accepted eagerly and seems to aid in their overall well-being. But at least seaweed is SW...

I brought this up earlier this year. :)

Here's a discussion with some good analysis links:


http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.ph...highlight=hufa

Mitch

If you guys are interested I have a full analyasis of FW Mysis shrimp, Ill have to find my papers....

um if a bannana fell into the water in haiwii then it could be concidered a natural food :mrgreen:

saying one type of mysis is better than another is all sales hype, the fact remains that they level of omega 3 fatty aids and other nutrents and vitimens are different in the two and fish that eat a specific type of food are geneticly adapted for that food value. there is a relation ship between the amount of food a animal eats and how much value it gets from it. take a rabit fish for example or a tang, they eat a huge amount for a little nutrent value, if they were to get all the value they needed in 1/100th of the amount of food they would probably have all kinda of internal problems from the lack of the bulk. this is and extream example so lets find a more suttle one, take some one from china (small isolated village here) bring them to canada and feed them McDonnalds or what ever.. most of the time they will get sick as there body isn't acustome to the different levels in make up in the food (Carbs, Protiens, ect.) so now does it stand to reason that a non naitive food may not be the best thing for a fish, yes but it is hard to do, so we have to make some compromizes and that is usaly in the form of pellit foods that are formulated around natural diest for groups of fish. Also we suplement with frozen, fresh, home made ect... I actualy prefer frozen plankton over any of them (what I am currently feeding) as it gives me a wide range of critters and sizes.

Steve

not realy much of a discussion , bunch of banner waving but yes the freshwater mysis have a higher fat level and that what I am talking about is it to much fat for a proper diet? We all know that compared to the wild a fish gets way more food in a tank than they would in the ocean because of us feeding them a ton... I have cut back my feedings once again. but if you were to eat your normal diet but have 5 steaks every day for dinner would that be healthy? would we get fat, yup just like people say there fish do when they feed them tons :mrgreen:

heck we all saw the pic of my over weight blennie, well he died. my theory is that because he is a primary film algae eater the copious amount of mysis he was eating caused a proteen / fat intake level that was way to high for his digestive system to handle and this eventualy led to his death. so I killed him with kindness.

so now my tank gets feed pellets every 3rd day, mysis/plankton once a week, and the tang and foxface get and algae sheet twice a week (they pick the rocks the rest of the time.) I do feed my clown in a tank by himself and the chromis a tiny pinch every night but just enuf that they eat it befor the big pigs can get to it. Sence I started this 3 months ago they have slimed a bit and look good, not skinny not fat but firm and solid looking.

Steve

Well, I don't know Steve, but I have been waiting on the PE mysis and feeding the SW mysis to the pipefish, which I've had for probably a year and a half or more.

I lost him a few days ago. :cry: I can't say it was a nutritional thing, but I do know he didn't like the offerings much after the PE ran out. :confused:

I agree Deb. I've used the hikari brand before, and wasn't happy with it. After using the PE, I wouldn't go back. The fish (and LPS) just love the stuff.

I bought some PE mysis from Big Als (they got lots here :mrgreen: )... what a difference. The clowns are still a bit picky, but I think thats mainly a size issue, because the whole pieces are too big to fit in their mouths, I'll crush them up some more next time I feed them. I tried a bit of the hikari brand once again, and like before, they outright refused to eat them... kinda weird for clowns, but thats how they're like :confused: . I guess I'll be throwing that hikari stuff into the blender next time I make up some mush.

-Richer

Sorry to hear that Deb. That was a cool little fish :cry:

Condolences,
Vic [veng68]

Yeah, saddens me to hear he's gone, I know you liked him lots.

Sorry for your loss, Deb. :cry:

Richer, I too have noticed that my clowns didn't like the larger sized PE, so I tried crushing. Didn't work quite as effectively as the smaller mysis (Hikari). However, PE mysis sometimes comes in a small size. The latest bag I've got, the mysids are no larger than the typical Hikari SW mysid. This smaller PE stuff is a total hit among all my fish. It's hard to guage mysid size through the bag but try sifting through the bags, there is a large size and a small size. The smaller stuff is worth the hassle of trying to find it IMO.

The smaller size rocks. What is this crushing you speak of?? :wink:

A guy once showed me how to shave a frozen little piece of mysis with a sharp knife - works great. You can go with or against the grain, and retain some individual pieces or not.

The big pieces are for the anemone. :biggrin: