Crayfish?

[Giga]

Ok so I need ez cheap food for my mantis shrimp, so I was thinking of just chatching crayfish in my local stream but was wondering how safe this is? Becuase I don't want to pay 2-5$ to buy live food at my LFS.

 

[Angel7989]

hmm, well you have to remember that it may be contaminated with whatever is in the stream.

 

[Giga]

yeah I firgures as much anyone know anything that is cheap ez food for a mantis

 

[Angel7989]

well, maybe a LFS has some small crayfish available and you can breed them yourself possibly... You can get Frozen prawn/shrimp at your local food store and only feed live once a month

 

[Giga]

Why live only once a month?

 

[jcpatella]

I live in New Orleans, where about 75% of our meals consist of crawfish (crayfish, I guess). We love them, but they're still considered "water roaches" due to their bottom-dwelling feeding habits. To be safe, you're probably better off purchasing frozen food.

 

[G.SMITHII]

go to your grocery store and buy shrimp, crab, fish etc.

i think 1 shrip is a couple dozen cents. that should help you cut down on the cost...

 

[Thurge]

Freshwater foods should only be given as the rare occasional treat. Marine flesh is high in UHEF fats and freshwater flesh is not. Feeding freshwater crabs, crayfish and fish to a marine critter will lead to fatty deposits in the liver shortening the life span of said marine critter.
Once in a blue moon is like a McD Double cheese burger once in a blue moon, fine. But I really wouldn't recommend living of them or eating them all that often for that matter.

 

[Pea-brain]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10668234#post10668234 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Thurge
crayfish and fish to a marine critter will lead to fatty deposits in the liver shortening the life span of said marine critter.

Actually iit looks like while FW fish are high in unhealthy fats, FW INVerts have the exact opposite problem. FW inverts have practically no nutritional value what so ever, and won't cause fatty liver disease, but feeding FW inverts exclusively will almost certainly cause nutritional deficiencies. That being said, you can order 10 live fiddler crabs (I don't know where they stand on the nutritional chart, being brackishwater) for like 15$ at some places, and I would imagine they would make moderately healthy treats, but I wouldn't make it a staple. You can feed frozen foods you know.

Dan

 

[ENraged]

I feed Doris Damsels once a week

Like I can complain about feeding her a 6 dollar yellowtail when I am sitting watching her while eating my 10 dollar Quiznos meal.