Other than biofilm what can I feed rcs?

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The_Desacrator

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So once I have my room reorganized (it's a hell storm of stuff everywhere) ima get a 20g for RCSs and I don't wanna wait for biofilm to manifest. What else would could I throw in there to keep them happy while the film starts to grow?

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Algae wafers. Blanched zucchini slices.
I slice zucchini thinly and boil them for a few minutes or zap them in the microwave in a bowl of shallow water. This helps soften them up a bit.
Unrelated: When I started out with shrimp, only a third of the RCS from the LFS survived more than a few weeks. They would die after molting. Turns out after boosting the calcium using cuttlebone, the survival rate went up. Plus, I got shrimp from fellow AA members and they did much better than the ones from the LFS.


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We also feed calcium fortified algae sticks. Not the floating turtle ones, but pretty similar. This is in addition to keeping gH around 8 via cuttbone and/or Seachem Equilibrium. Fairly well planted, so the extra phosphates help since we don't dose ferts shrimp tanks.
 
So once I have my room reorganized (it's a hell storm of stuff everywhere) ima get a 20g for RCSs and I don't wanna wait for biofilm to manifest. What else would could I throw in there to keep them happy while the film starts to grow?

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My shrimp eat flake, catfish pellets, algae wafers and any other dead shrimp. They've reduced a dead tetra to the skull. Having said all that, the rest of the time they are grazing on bio-film and it was only when the tank was fully established that I stopped specifically feeding the shrimp. They now take what ever they can get and are very healthy and breeding well.


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The guppies and guppy fry will be fine. The larval/juvenile shrimp may become guppy food. That is a general statement, however. Factors such as tank size, the amount of cover, the amount and health of the RCS and guppies will dictate the sustainability of the RCS population.


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Live plants will have biofilm on them. Shrimp love cleaning Mosses and Moss balls.

I also feed Spinach or Romaine. I buy Organic and rinse well.

Mine LOVE Repashy gel food, esp Soylent Green.

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Regarding the spinach/romaine...just rinse and you are ready to go?
When prepping the Soylent Green Repashy, does it smell anything like the Meat Pie flavor? The latter smells like frying day old cut bait; I only prep it when no one is home.


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My shrimp eat all the things. Laeris talked about most but I've also fed celery leaf, cucumber, and they love Indian almond leaf. You can also drop alder pine cones in, they develope biofilm quickly.

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Regarding the spinach/romaine...just rinse and you are ready to go?
When prepping the Soylent Green Repashy, does it smell anything like the Meat Pie flavor? The latter smells like frying day old cut bait; I only prep it when no one is home.


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You can freeze the greens to soften or microwave in water for a short time. I just rinse well and leave it clipped to wall. I buy organic.

I think the Algae based first smell as strong, but I haven't really noticed.


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