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Feeding Courgette

BarryH

Member
Joined
25 Feb 2017
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608
Location
Derbyshire
My Ottos and shrimp have just taken a liking to blanched Courgette but they don't seem to bother until it's been in the tank for a few hours. How long can I safely leave the slices of Courgette in the tanks please?
 
I only Blanche mine lightly (about 30secs in microwave with a drop of water) and then they stay in the tank for 24hrs. Any longer than that and they start to get mushy.

The longer you blanche them for the quicker they degrade but I do find my fishies prefer it if they are a little bit softer to start out.

I also remove the centre seeds as they tend to float off otherwise, so they just get rings.

Opinions may vary of course. 😊
 
From my experience otos don't touch anything until it's been in the tank for at least 24 hours. Try romaine lettuce if you haven't already, my macrospilus otos go absolutely nuts for it (won't touch iceberg or little gem though for some reason)

I also blanche things a bit longer than most people I think.
 
When I feed veg I boiled my corgette for like 5 mins, and it's still the same they don't eat it for a day. Then they eat a lot on the second day, and on the third it floats up to the top all mushy and gross and I net it out.

Now I had big handfuls of leaves instead, after 2 days they get to nibbling on them. The leaves last anything from 2 days to several months depending on the type - my otos favourites are green walnut leaves and brown chestnut so far.
 
Otto's can differ in their choices but mine absolutely love a blanched baby spinach leaf or two. 24 hours take it out by then looking like a Madagascar plant leaf.
 
Otto's can differ in their choices but mine absolutely love a blanched baby spinach leaf or two. 24 hours take it out by then looking like a Madagascar plant leaf.
I have to shamefully admit to not being a shopper but will it actually say 'Baby Spinach' on the packets or do I just feed the smaller leaves?
 
Just as an add on, how often can I feed Courgette please? The Ottos really like it but don't want to cause them problems by overfeeding greens if that's at all possible. I will be getting some Baby Spinach as soon as I can find some so would be able to alternate with Courgette if that's OK?
 
Dont think you have to worry about them getting too fat. As long as youre not taxing your water quality too much with vegetables in different states of decay, then you can feed them as much as they like.
Spinach is very nutritious, you could also feed them a variety of other things, ive fed mine bell pepper, butternut squash, sweet potato (favorite) and mango. There are a couple of threads on the forum with even more ideas. With fruits you should be extra careful as the sugars in them is an added challenge for your water quality. Feed small amounts and dont leave them in for too long.
 
Just as an add on, how often can I feed Courgette please? The Ottos really like it but don't want to cause them problems by overfeeding greens if that's at all possible. I will be getting some Baby Spinach as soon as I can find some so would be able to alternate with Courgette if that's OK?
I often fed mine courgette once or twice a week but it was hit and miss whether they went for it

I had a lot of success with seaweed sheets, they would graze on the stuff all day long. I don't know whether this has any nutritional benefit for them though
 
I managed to get some Baby Spinach from my local Tesco but the bag I got was more old leather than baby spinach. I picked a few of the smaller, brighter green leaves out and put them in different tanks and the shrimp were on them more or less straight away quickly followed by the Ottos.

Thanks for all the help, it is really appreciated.
 
I had a lot of success with seaweed sheets, they would graze on the stuff all day long. I don't know whether this has any nutritional benefit for them though
Kombu and Nori algae, two classical algae in Japanese cuisine, do have a significant amount of protein and are loaded with minerals and trace elements. They also have Sodium (Na), but I think you can ignore this detail if sea algae are not used too frequently but as a part of a varied diet of fresh vegetables.
 
I've noticed that courgette in my sewelia tank at 19 degrees is fine for 28 hours or more. In my main tank at 23 degrees 26 hours is ok. In my youngest son's tank at 24 degrees 24 hours is absolutely the max or it falls apart.
 
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