The toying sounds cool. They don't get bored and scrawl graffiti on the tank
sides.
Just a minor caution with frozen shrimp. (Of course where would the aquarium
hobby be without brine shrimp?)
Some of the b.s. shells will freeze and break. If the frozen brine shrimp is
just tossed in a tank, a fair amount of juice gets released into the water.
If it is a tiny bit of material and you have snails and an active filter,
that may be no big deal.
I'd rather melt it in luke-warm water (why not matthew-warm, mark-warm,
john-warm?) and slosh it through eother a sieve or fine meshed net. And I
may still decant some debris off either into a fry tank or to an out bucket.
It is the impression of some that a quantity of dead brine shrimp in a tank
helps provide an ideal environment for a velvet bloom. It has been suggested
that a limited number of velvet organisms are around much of the time, but
that the fish's immune systems can deal with them. A significant increase in
brine shrimp debris (dead adults, uneaten baby. b.s. in a fry tank...) seems
to be followed too often by a velvet outbreak, especially in tanks with
velvet sensitive fishes.
I don't change as much water as i wish I did. Don't want to tempt fate by
significantly overfeeding flakes (often containing brine shrimp) or the
animals themselves.
If I could channel a local stream through the fishroom, who'd care about
frozen foods defrosting? ;)
All the best,
Scott Davis
Park Forest, IL
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