For the past year I've been making my own jelly food for feeding to my shrimp to give them access to wider variety of nutrition and also enhance their colouration. Purely by chance this food has also proved vary popular with my Oto's and snails.
I can't claim creation of this recipe and technique, purely modification of it, with the original idea coming from this old thread: New food type for shrimp - Shrimp Kandy Feast
In order to immortalise the recipe so I can refer to it later, and with a thought that other folks might want to have a go at making it, I thought I would create a thread here with a detailed guide on how I make mine.
Ingredients:
Ultimately you can add virtually any ingredients you like to the Agar Agar base, none of this is set in stone other than the Agar Agar and water, this is just what I use currently. I have added links just to give an idea of what the items are, you can no doubt find better/different/cheaper items elsewhere.
You will also need:
Directions:
1. Add the water to a small pan, and add the Agar Agar powder to soak whilst preparing the other items.
2. Grind the Bee Pollen in a pestle and mortar (or in the bottom of a bowl with a spoon) as fine as possible and set aside.
3. Repeat with the GlasGarten Mineral Junkie and set aside.
4. Remove the Astaxanthin power from the capsules and set aside if using the product linked to above. There are about 11 capsules per teaspoon if memory serves.
5. Measure out the Chlorella and Spirulina into a small ramakin dish or similar - these powders are very light weight and go everywhere if you're not careful so its best done over the sink.
6. Place the pan with the water/Agar Agar mixture on the hob, and heat gently and until it just starts to simmer, then bring off the heat. Make sure to stir continuously throughout, otherwise the Agar Agar can tend to stick and burn to the pan.
7. Set aside the pan to cool. The aim here is for the Agar Agar mixture to cool to around 50 degrees or so; hot enough that it doesn't set, but cool enough as to not negatively affect the ingredients.
8. Once the Agar Agar mixture has cooled enough, add in the Bee pollen and GlasGarten Mineral Junkie and mix well with a whisk or spoon.
9. Add in the Chlorella, Spirulina and Astaxanthin, and mix it in thoroughly. The whisk helps here to break up the clumping powders.
10. Add in the vitamin supplement if adding that, and stir well.
11. Pour the warm mixture into your mould of choice, and set aside to cool and set. This might take an hour or two.
12. Eventually the mixture will become a solid jelly that holds its shape.
13. Slit into pieces with a knife of a size you intend to feed in one go. This will vary from tank to tank.
14. Some pieces can be stored in the fridge for a few days for feeding that week. Tip the remaining pieces out onto a baking tray covered with grease-proof paper and spread out so no piece is touching another.
15. Place the tray in the freezer for a few hours.
16. Once frozen the pieces can be taken off the paper and stored in a freezer bag, in the freezer.
17. When it comes to feeding, simply take one out of the bag, and set aside to defrost. I usually put one in a shot glass with a little water. The pieces could be added straight to the tank frozen, but they tend to float when frozen, but sink once defrosted, so its easier to defrost them first if you want them to land in a specific place like a feeding dish.
As I said, though this was originally designed for Shrimp, my Oto's love it too - even the Guppies in my low tech like to have a nibble:
The biggest challenge is letting the other animals get to it before the snails smother it completely!
Please feel free to add to this thread with your own ideas, additions, suggestions and experiences.
I can't claim creation of this recipe and technique, purely modification of it, with the original idea coming from this old thread: New food type for shrimp - Shrimp Kandy Feast
In order to immortalise the recipe so I can refer to it later, and with a thought that other folks might want to have a go at making it, I thought I would create a thread here with a detailed guide on how I make mine.
Ingredients:
Ultimately you can add virtually any ingredients you like to the Agar Agar base, none of this is set in stone other than the Agar Agar and water, this is just what I use currently. I have added links just to give an idea of what the items are, you can no doubt find better/different/cheaper items elsewhere.
- 350ml water
- 2 tsp Agar Agar - seaweed derived setting agent (Amazon)
- 3 tsp Dried Chlorella - highly nutritious algae (Amazon)
- 3 tsp Dried Spirulina - highly nutritious algae (Amazon)
- 2 tsp Astaxanthin - algae derived powerful antioxidant and colour enhancer (Amazon) - this product comes in capsules, and I bought this simply because I couldn't seem to find pure loose powder.
- 2 tsp Bee Pollen - high nutrient and antioxidant content (Amazon)
- 2 tsp GlasGarten Mineral Junkie - added purely to supplement calcium and other minerals into the shrimp diet (ProShrimp)
- 20ml Copper free vitamin supplement (optional) - (Horizon Aquatics)
You will also need:
- a small pan for heating the water
- some small ramekin dishes or washed yoghurt pots etc to measure the ingredients into ready for mixing - this is worth doing as everything has to be mixed in quickly before the jelly starts to set
- a small container to act as a mould for the final jelly mixture - I'd recommend something as tight square/rectangular as possible, as rounded elements result in uneven pieces of jelly
- a pestle and mortar to grind some of the ingredients (you can use a bowl and a spoon instead if you don't have a pestle and mortar as they are not that tough to grind)
- a knife
- a whisk (it works better than a spoon for mixing the Chlorella and Spirulina which can tend to clump up initially)
Directions:
1. Add the water to a small pan, and add the Agar Agar powder to soak whilst preparing the other items.
2. Grind the Bee Pollen in a pestle and mortar (or in the bottom of a bowl with a spoon) as fine as possible and set aside.
3. Repeat with the GlasGarten Mineral Junkie and set aside.
4. Remove the Astaxanthin power from the capsules and set aside if using the product linked to above. There are about 11 capsules per teaspoon if memory serves.
5. Measure out the Chlorella and Spirulina into a small ramakin dish or similar - these powders are very light weight and go everywhere if you're not careful so its best done over the sink.
6. Place the pan with the water/Agar Agar mixture on the hob, and heat gently and until it just starts to simmer, then bring off the heat. Make sure to stir continuously throughout, otherwise the Agar Agar can tend to stick and burn to the pan.
7. Set aside the pan to cool. The aim here is for the Agar Agar mixture to cool to around 50 degrees or so; hot enough that it doesn't set, but cool enough as to not negatively affect the ingredients.
8. Once the Agar Agar mixture has cooled enough, add in the Bee pollen and GlasGarten Mineral Junkie and mix well with a whisk or spoon.
9. Add in the Chlorella, Spirulina and Astaxanthin, and mix it in thoroughly. The whisk helps here to break up the clumping powders.
10. Add in the vitamin supplement if adding that, and stir well.
11. Pour the warm mixture into your mould of choice, and set aside to cool and set. This might take an hour or two.
12. Eventually the mixture will become a solid jelly that holds its shape.
13. Slit into pieces with a knife of a size you intend to feed in one go. This will vary from tank to tank.
14. Some pieces can be stored in the fridge for a few days for feeding that week. Tip the remaining pieces out onto a baking tray covered with grease-proof paper and spread out so no piece is touching another.
15. Place the tray in the freezer for a few hours.
16. Once frozen the pieces can be taken off the paper and stored in a freezer bag, in the freezer.
17. When it comes to feeding, simply take one out of the bag, and set aside to defrost. I usually put one in a shot glass with a little water. The pieces could be added straight to the tank frozen, but they tend to float when frozen, but sink once defrosted, so its easier to defrost them first if you want them to land in a specific place like a feeding dish.
As I said, though this was originally designed for Shrimp, my Oto's love it too - even the Guppies in my low tech like to have a nibble:
The biggest challenge is letting the other animals get to it before the snails smother it completely!
Please feel free to add to this thread with your own ideas, additions, suggestions and experiences.
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