Shrimp quality

[Keg]

I have been feeding a shrimp to my crabs regularly for some time now. I boil it and put half in each crabitat. I'm certain that is better than the dehydrated food fish pellets they sell in the store. I recall eating dehydrated rations in the arm,y and it did not feel as good as regular food in the stomach.I would like to note something though. Maybe this is obvious to you guys, but new to me.I bought a bag of "Wild caught / unshelled crabs," They were greyish because they had not been pre-cooked. When I boiled them, the scent was so good, it was like shrimp perfume. It was that good.Now I bought a bag of "farm raised / pre-cooked" shrimps and when I boil them, they smell fishy. I have been eating them myself, but they are not good. I have to smother them in barbecue sauce. This is similar to the "sea food medley" which I wouldn't eat myself. It smells odd.Oh, by the way. Forget about feeding lobster to the crab. Too expensive and once it is frozen there is no way to cut off little bits. If it isn't frozen, it won't last long in the refrigerator. Crabs don't really crave anything in particular anyway. They like variety, I think.

[Herman Coen]

We also feed ours lots of shrimp. The party tray style package which are lightly frozen, pre-cooked, and shelled are pretty good right out of the package. These have a little ice on them (not treated water I’m sure) which I thaw off by soaking them in their prepared salt water till they thaw and then pat dry with a paper towel and freeze again. To serve it I just shave thin slices (the fine line between a crumbly and very thin solid slice) off of the head end, about one slice for each crab. There is nothing much to carry off and bury so the tank is cleaner then when I put whole chunks in. I am still amazed at how much they go through, it is a major staple of their diet. They have had the grey ones from the deli which seems to work too, but the 3” cocktail shrimp are a favorite.

[Crabber85]

When feeding shrimp you really want them raw with the shell still on because cooking and shelling the shrimp essentially destroys the nutritional value of it for the crabs.The shell or carapace has chitin, calcium and other nutritional goodies that the crabs need and if it isn't present then half the value of the shrimp is gone.I only offer raw shrimp with the shell on for this reason and my group love them, I typically offer them whole and the next day the entire thing is gone.lolI have noticed that certain brands of shrimp are better received by my group because they tend to smell better and thusly taste better.If the shrimp your offering have a strong or even slight fishy odor it means they need to be tossed.Shrimp that are properly handled during the processing portion before they reach the store wont or shouldn't have much of an odor.The odor is due to the presence of bacteria responsible for decomp, this bacteria should never be in a high enough concentration to present an odor in properly preserved shrimp.If the shrimp tastes as fishy as its smells when cooked then it is entirely past time to toss it out as it should never had a bitter or fishy flavor....Certain brands of shrimp are preserved with table salt they wont smell too bad until they are nearing their expiration date, other brands use different sulfite's to prevent the growth of bacteria on the shrimp that causes spoilage some of these preservatives don't really work so well but because they are cheaper than using sodium sulfite or derivative of it the company will use them to cut costs.Essentially the cheaper the shrimp is at the store the higher the likelihood of that brand using a cheap preservative that may not keep the shrimp so fresh.Proper refrigeration of the shrimp during the whole process from preservation to your house is also critical to keeping them edible for longer.If frozen or refrigerated shrimp are allowed to thaw out multiple times and then are either re-frozen or refrigerated each time spoil faster due to the presence of excessive moisture that happens during the thaw out.You can tell which bags of shrimp have been allowed to thaw out multiple times before reaching the store and at the store by the presence of frost on the outside of the bag these bags should be avoided.Its the same thing when buying ice cream you need to avoid the containers that have frost on the outside because thats an indication that the containers were allowed to thaw out and the ice cream melt which each time it melts allows for bacteria to grow that don't get killed when the product is refrozen which leads to a lot of people getting sick...

[Keg]

Wow. Thanks.

[jenok]

Umm, good stuff. Shrimp and ice cream, just not together at the same time. This reminds me I need to get some shrimp for my babies they haven't had any in a while.