well, lets see, I feed regularly to all my tank buddies...algae wafers, flakes, freeze dried blood worms,baby shrimp and as treats a few frozen peas. I didn't know that about the shell.thanks for the info.anything else I need to add to the diet?Oh and by the way...the walmart guy told me to buy tubifex stuff to press on the side for all fishies...I read somewhere on this site not to feed those at all (I think), so I haven't used anymore of those.