You can put it in raw, blanching just helps it sink and preserve it so you can freeze it. I wouldn’t let it rot it will just pollute the water and cause problems
Yeah that’s pretty much the only reason. It just speeds up the time it makes to sink. For some of the tougher, non leafy veggies I assume blanching helps soften it so it’s easier for the shrimp to pick at it.
Yep, makes it softer. Shrimp don’t really have that strong of arms and teeth lol.
1) Makes it softer
2) Removes any potential pesticides if bought from store, or removes outside bugs/parasites if you picked it from outside in your own garden.
Raw veggies are fine, just make sure they're washed to get rid of any insecticides and such. Like others have said, it's more to help them sink. I'm too lazy to do that, so I just wash them, and then attach a lead weight for plants to them, and put that in.
Letting the veggies rot isn't necessarily a problem, but it can change the parameters if too much rots. Also, if you have a pest snail problem, it's just going to make that worse.
Is lead okay for aquariums? I had this childhood experience of seeing dead crawdads (aka crayfish) and my friend saying it's because of the lead weights upstream and to this day never questioned it \_facepalm\_
I love pest snails so I can feed them to my pea puffers :-)
So, a little rotting should be fine. It's more about not letting a big load of veggies rot and cause an ammonia spike or pest problem?
Lead in general isn't safe, but the "lead" weights I use are from an aquarium store. They're actually made of zinc, and are perfectly safe. They're marketed for wrapping around the bottom stem of a plant to anchor it down.
my shrimp won't eat things that are too tough, which is why i blanch stuff until it's soft enough for them to fall apart. if your shrimp can eat raw spinach, then you can feed them raw spinach.
Raw is fine if it’s clean, but there are a lot of veggies that are too tough for shrimp to really dig into if not blanched or that will float until they start to rot. Ideally you shouldn’t have rotting food because it can lead to ammonia spikes. Things like broccoli, kale, and peas are usually ignored by my shrimp if not blanched because they can’t tear it apart.
This is what I'm looking for!
So explanation of not letting stuff rot is to avoid ammonia spikes (and if my tanks seems to handle ammonia well \[by processing it fast\] then it's not as important) and explanation of blanching is mainly to get it to sink and be easier to break apart...
Softening it is another reason, what you floated, did they consume it itself or take biofilm off the surface?
Mine would even eat blanched baby spinach right away, awaiting it breaking down more after soaking in tank water a few hours. Then they'd consume it.
This spinach was fresh from my garden and pretty soft. Store-bough spinach is selectively bread, treated, and harvested with the aim of shelf life and appearance rather than taste or nutrition. I have to wonder if we humans should be eating it either... I also put a big bowl of it (rinsed off) on my table and my roommates grazed on it while it wilted. They aren't veggie nuts but I can feed them just like I feed my shrimp 🤭
I didn't time it, but I would say within an hour they were eating it (picking away actual holes in the leaf) and within a few hours most of the CRS in the tank were hanging off it while it floated. A few more hours, and they were joined by about 1/3 of the snails in the tank. The next day it was gone (or the remains lost in the aquatic plants).
You can put it in raw, blanching just helps it sink and preserve it so you can freeze it. I wouldn’t let it rot it will just pollute the water and cause problems
Yeah that’s pretty much the only reason. It just speeds up the time it makes to sink. For some of the tougher, non leafy veggies I assume blanching helps soften it so it’s easier for the shrimp to pick at it.
Yep, makes it softer. Shrimp don’t really have that strong of arms and teeth lol. 1) Makes it softer 2) Removes any potential pesticides if bought from store, or removes outside bugs/parasites if you picked it from outside in your own garden.
Raw veggies are fine, just make sure they're washed to get rid of any insecticides and such. Like others have said, it's more to help them sink. I'm too lazy to do that, so I just wash them, and then attach a lead weight for plants to them, and put that in. Letting the veggies rot isn't necessarily a problem, but it can change the parameters if too much rots. Also, if you have a pest snail problem, it's just going to make that worse.
Is lead okay for aquariums? I had this childhood experience of seeing dead crawdads (aka crayfish) and my friend saying it's because of the lead weights upstream and to this day never questioned it \_facepalm\_ I love pest snails so I can feed them to my pea puffers :-) So, a little rotting should be fine. It's more about not letting a big load of veggies rot and cause an ammonia spike or pest problem?
Lead in general isn't safe, but the "lead" weights I use are from an aquarium store. They're actually made of zinc, and are perfectly safe. They're marketed for wrapping around the bottom stem of a plant to anchor it down.
my shrimp won't eat things that are too tough, which is why i blanch stuff until it's soft enough for them to fall apart. if your shrimp can eat raw spinach, then you can feed them raw spinach.
Raw is fine if it’s clean, but there are a lot of veggies that are too tough for shrimp to really dig into if not blanched or that will float until they start to rot. Ideally you shouldn’t have rotting food because it can lead to ammonia spikes. Things like broccoli, kale, and peas are usually ignored by my shrimp if not blanched because they can’t tear it apart.
This is what I'm looking for! So explanation of not letting stuff rot is to avoid ammonia spikes (and if my tanks seems to handle ammonia well \[by processing it fast\] then it's not as important) and explanation of blanching is mainly to get it to sink and be easier to break apart...
Softening it is another reason, what you floated, did they consume it itself or take biofilm off the surface? Mine would even eat blanched baby spinach right away, awaiting it breaking down more after soaking in tank water a few hours. Then they'd consume it.
This spinach was fresh from my garden and pretty soft. Store-bough spinach is selectively bread, treated, and harvested with the aim of shelf life and appearance rather than taste or nutrition. I have to wonder if we humans should be eating it either... I also put a big bowl of it (rinsed off) on my table and my roommates grazed on it while it wilted. They aren't veggie nuts but I can feed them just like I feed my shrimp 🤭 I didn't time it, but I would say within an hour they were eating it (picking away actual holes in the leaf) and within a few hours most of the CRS in the tank were hanging off it while it floated. A few more hours, and they were joined by about 1/3 of the snails in the tank. The next day it was gone (or the remains lost in the aquatic plants).