PE mysis shortage?

[ScottF]

Looks like it's still out of stock at BRS. My LFS in Miami said it hasn't been available for a couple of months. Even the blister packs of PE Frozen calanus have been out of stock. I was able to add a couple of flat packs of calanus to my cart today though.

It seems like the blister packs of PE Mysis have been mostly water with only a few shrimp for a while now. I ordered a bunch of Hakari Jumbo mysis instead. Will see how that goes. I've been feeding the Hakari spirulina mysis instead for the past couple of months, but I feel like some of my fish prefer the larger mysis.

 

[ReefED!]

Looks like it's still out of stock at BRS. My LFS in Miami said it hasn't been available for a couple of months. Even the blister packs of PE Frozen calanus have been out of stock. I was able to add a couple of flat packs of calanus to my cart today though.

It seems like the blister packs of PE Mysis have been mostly water with only a few shrimp for a while now. I ordered a bunch of Hakari Jumbo mysis instead. Will see how that goes. I've been feeding the Hakari spirulina mysis instead for the past couple of months, but I feel like some of my fish prefer the larger mysis.

I’d love to get some verification of this - about the high water , low mysis count

I’ve heard it but haven’t seen it

I did ask Hikari at Aquashella what’s up with their version of PE mysis which they brand lake okanogan mysis and she said they have had harvest issues

What’s weird about that is why would that impact Calanus too? They’re from totally different areas.

I’d love to see if someone orders the flats from PE mysis directly if the quality is there

 

[ScottF]

I’d love to get some verification of this - about the high water , low mysis count

I’ve heard it but haven’t seen it

I'm speaking specifically about the cubes in the blister packs. Not the flat packs. It's easy enough to thaw a cube and see how much shrimp is in a cube. Maybe I just was unlucky and got some bad lots.

 

[ReefED!]

I’d love to get some verification of this - about the high water , low mysis count

I’ve heard it but haven’t seen it

I'm speaking specifically about the cubes in the blister packs. Not the flat packs. It's easy enough to thaw a cube and see how much shrimp is in a cube. Maybe I just was unlucky and got some bad lots.

Ah you saw first hand - that’s interesting

I felt like the Calanus was less concentrated a couple years ago as well

I’d like to see a flat of the 40oz or 16oz

 

[ScottF]

Ah you saw first hand - that’s interesting

I felt like the Calanus was less concentrated a couple years ago as well

I’d like to see a flat of the 40oz or 16oz

Yeah. Most of the time I just chuck the cubes in the feeding cups that telescope down into the water from my TopLids. But when I QT a new fish, I thaw the food in RO and then drain off the water. The water in mysis cube really makes my small filterless QT tank cloudy.

The past few times that had fish in QT, there wasn't much in the way of shrimp left after draining off the water.

 

[slingfox]

BrineShrimpDirect sells large frozen flats of mysis. They are in Utah.

My local reefing club does a large group order from BrineShrimpDirect twice a year. Great variety and quality of product. Comes very well packed as well.

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

BrineShrimpDirect sells large frozen flats of mysis. They are in Utah.

Have you (well, not you…..you’re fish) tried the mysis from bsd? I order frozen from them but not mysis. I was going to as I didn’t want to purchase from two different vendors thus doubling the shipping charges, but bsd explicitly told me that there mysis is totally different than pe and did not recommend switching….especially if there’s picky eaters like a Copperband. Curious as to what experiences people have had?

 

[Samantha A]

I bought yesterday 5 PE mysis frozen from Petco.

 

[slingfox]

Have you (well, not you…..you’re fish) tried the mysis from bsd? I order frozen from them but not mysis. I was going to as I didn’t want to purchase from two different vendors thus doubling the shipping charges, but bsd explicitly told me that there mysis is totally different than pe and did not recommend switching….especially if there’s picky eaters like a Copperband. Curious as to what experiences people have had?

I have ordered mysis from BSD. Most of the mysis are whole and intact with few small particulates. I would say as good or better in quality than the 4+ other mysis brands I have tried including PE Mysis, Hikari Mysis, San Francisco Bay brand Mysis, etc. The BSD mysis is maybe a little bit smaller than PE Mysis and also less oily when rinsed. My fish eat the BSD mysis just fine but they also eat any frozen mysis just fine. If you want a larger feed then BSD also sells frozen krill. My larger fish and LPS also love the krill.

The primary benefit with buying from BSD is that have greater assurance over quality control during transport. If you buy from a smaller volume LFS they often don’t use overnight shipping and the food gets thawed then refrozen. This is not an issue with the big chains like Petco. This is a non-issue if you order direct from a large supplier like BSD.

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

Yeah, I have ordered mysis from BSD. Most of the mysis are whole and intact with few small particulates. I would say as good or better in quality than the 4+ other mysis brands I have tried including PE Mysis, Hikari Mysis, San Francisco Bay brand Mysis, etc. the BSD mysis is maybe a little bit smaller than PE Mysis and also less oily when rinsed. My fish eat the BSD mysis just fine but they also eat any frozen mysis just fine. If you want a larger feed then BSD also sells frozen krill. My larger fish and LPS also love the krill.

That’s pretty much spot on with how they described it to me. Roughly half to three-quarters the size and less oils, but also less nutrient dense. I’m do for another order with them soon. I’ll try some out and see if it gets devoured or not. I hate to order a bunch just to find out it won’t get eaten. I’d also hate to order a single to try (along with my regular aye caribe mix) to find out they dig it and I need to pay another shipping charge…..life in the big city. I better do it now while I still have a bunch of pe on hand. Thanks for the input!

 

[slingfox]

That’s pretty much spot on with how they described it to me. Roughly half to three-quarters the size and less oils, but also less nutrient dense. I’m do for another order with them soon. I’ll try some out and see if it gets devoured or not. I hate to order a bunch just to find out it won’t get eaten. I’d also hate to order a single to try (along with my regular aye caribe mix) to find out they dig it and I need to pay another shipping charge…..life in the big city. I better do it now while I still have a bunch of pe on hand. Thanks for the input!

I have zero doubt your fish will devour the mysis from BSD. I feed mostly one food and all of it other than frozen clams which I get from a local market are from BSD. My fish are very full bodied so the food is working.

I don’t believe less nutrient dense is a major issue. A hamburger is more calorie dense than a salad but you probably don’t want to eat hamburgers for every meal! Similarly, frozen brine is less nutrient dense than frozen mysis but I include frozen bring in my rotation since I assume variety is good for the livestock.

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

I have zero doubt your fish will devour the mysis from BSD. I feed mostly one food and all of it other than frozen clams which I get from a local market are from BSD. My fish are very full bodied so the food is working.

I don’t believe less nutrient dense is a major issue. A hamburger is more calorie dense than a salad but you probably don’t want to eat hamburgers for every meal! Similarly, frozen brine is less nutrient dense than frozen mysis but I include frozen bring in my rotation since I assume variety is good for the livestock.

Most my little guys will eat anything and everything. The Copperband…. He’s a bit of a princess! Loves pe and will eat it right out of my hand. Won’t touch clams, blood worms, live brine or anything in the bsd frozen aye caribe chunky, or bsd frozen Caribbean! Total pita. I was thinking of maybe trying the bsd frozen mix that has brine, mysis, krill, calunus, and algae as that sounds pretty good. Which bsd frozen foods are you using? I love the people over there, they are extremely nice offer an r2r discount (though it’s not really advertised) and if you’re within a state or two will ship ground to save a bit on shipping.

 

[slingfox]

Most my little guys will eat anything and everything. The Copperband…. He’s a bit of a princess! Loves pe and will eat it right out of my hand. Won’t touch clams, blood worms, live brine or anything in the bsd frozen aye caribe chunky, or bsd frozen Caribbean! Total pita. I was thinking of maybe trying the bsd frozen mix that has brine, mysis, krill, calunus, and algae as that sounds pretty good. Which bsd frozen foods are you using? I love the people over there, they are extremely nice offer an r2r discount (though it’s not really advertised) and if you’re within a state or two will ship ground to save a bit on shipping.

I mostly feed the mysis and brine then add in some krill, calanus, and arctic copepods every so often. I should try some more things but mostly prefer the single ingredient cubes since they seem to be the cleanest and have the least particulates. I am watchful about my vermitid population so try to keep the particulates down when possible.

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

I mostly feed the mysis and brine then add in some krill, calanus, and arctic copepods every so often. I should try some more things but mostly prefer the single ingredient cubes since they seem to be the cleanest and have the least particulates. I am watchful about my vermitid population so try to keep the particulates down when possible.

Awesome. Thank you for the info!

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

@slingfox I forgot, I placed my order with bsd yesterday switching things up a bit. While the flat packs are more cost effective, I had a very hard time breaking those up and it definitely never ended up being consistent size wise. I got a 24 pack of blisters and got a nice assortment of different things to try out. The aye caribe led to some elevated nutrients to say the least, but that was my mostly my fault. Even with getting blister packs the pricing is fantastic. They’re terrific on the phone too. Plus they were able to just add extra dry ice and insulation to get my out of overnight shipping charges which saved a lot. Love those peeps!

 

[slingfox]

@slingfox I forgot, I placed my order with bsd yesterday switching things up a bit. While the flat packs are more cost effective, I had a very hard time breaking those up and it definitely never ended up being consistent size wise. I got a 24 pack of blisters and got a nice assortment of different things to try out. The aye caribe led to some elevated nutrients to say the least, but that was my mostly my fault. Even with getting blister packs the pricing is fantastic. They’re terrific on the phone too. Plus they were able to just add extra dry ice and insulation to get my out of overnight shipping charges which saved a lot. Love those peeps!

Yeah, I prefer the blister packs since it allows me to feed a very consistent portion. I may try the flat pack at some point since most of my feeding is filling up the aF4 auto feeder with a bulk amount every week.

I have tried the Aye Caribe previously. My fish ate everything but those kind of mixed products include a lot of small particulates which I try to avoid since I am trying to keep vermitids from exploding in population.