What’s the difference between Hikari Crab Cuisine and Hikari Shrimp Cuisine?

Hikari has two food products designed for your pet freshwater shrimps from the Caridina or Neocaridina davidi species.

You can check out this comparison guide at Aquarium Blueprints to see what the major differences are between the Crab Cuisine and Shrimp Cuisine.

Quick Summary

As the Hikari Crab Cuisine is enriched with calcium, which will result in healthy shell development for your Cherry Shrimp or Crystal Shrimp, we recommend getting it over the Hikari Shrimp Cuisine.

With that said, the Shrimp Cuisine does offer a higher concentration of protein, which will help your shrimp grow, in addition to trace amounts of copper, which will benefit their circulatory systems.

So, if you can afford both products, you will get all the benefits that will help your pet shrimps healthily grow and breed.

Hikari Crab Cuisine vs. Hikari Shrimp Cuisine Comparison Chart

You can take a look at our comparison table for the Crab Cuisine and Shrimp Cuisine below.

Packaging Size

The packaging for the Crab Cuisine is five times heavier than the Shrimp Cuisine. You can find the sizes below:

• Hikari Crab Cuisine: 1.76 oz (or 50 g)
• Hikari Shrimp Cuisine: 0.35 oz (or 10 g)

Food Size

The Hikari Crab Cuisine composes of sinking mini sticks while the Hikari Shrimp Cuisine composes of smaller sinking pellets.

Feeding Instructions

When it comes to feed instructions, Hikari recommends feeding 1 to 4 sticks of the Crab Cuisine two times a day.

For the Shrimp Cuisine, you should feed your shrimps multiple times per day. The amount per meal should be based on how much your shrimp can eat within a few minutes.

For both the Hikari Crab Cuisine and Hikari Shrimp Cuisine, you should remove any uneaten food particles as they will end of worsening your water quality.

For the uninformed, these food particles will eventually turn into ammonia and then nitrite. If your shrimp tank isn’t properly cycled, then your Caridina or Neocaridina davidi shrimps could easily perish as they are extremely sensitive to both toxins.

Ingredients

You can find the listed ingredients for both food products below:

Hikari Crab Cuisine:

• Fish meal
• Flaked corn
• Wheat flour
• Rice bran
• Soybean meal
• Corn gluten meal
• Shrimp meal
• Fish oil
• Brewers dried yeast
• DL-methionine
• Garlic
• Astaxanthin
• Choline chloride
• Vitamin E supplement
• L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (stabilized vitamin C)
• Inositol
• D-calcium pantothenate
• Riboflavin
• Vitamin A supplement
• Thiamine mononitrate
• Pyridoxine hydrochloride
• Niacin
• Folic acid
• Vitamin D3 supplement
• Biotin
• Vitamin B12 supplement
• Disodium phosphate
• Salt
• Ferrous sulfate
• Magnesium sulfate
• Zinc sulfate
• Manganese sulfate
• Copper sulfate
• Calcium iodate

Hikari Shrimp Cuisine:

• Fish meal
• Krill meal
• Wheat flour
• Flaked corn
• Dehydrated alfalfa meal
• Brewers dried yeast
• Wheat germ meal
• Dried seaweed meal
• Cuttlefish meal
• Fish oil
• Alfalfa nutrient concentrate dehydrated
• Spirulina, chitosan
• Kale meal
• DL-methionine
• Astaxanthin
• Garlic
• Choline chloride
• Vitamin E supplement
• L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (stabilized vitamin C)
• Inositol
• D-calcium pantothenate
• Riboflavin
• Vitamin A supplement
• Thiamine mononitrate
• Pyridoxine hydrochloride
• Niacin
• Folic acid
• Vitamin D3 supplement
• Biotin
• Calcium carbonate
• Ferrous sulfate
• Magnesium sulfate
• Zinc sulfate
• Manganese sulfate
• Copper sulfate
• Calcium iodate

Nutritional Analysis

The Hikari Crab Cuisine has been enriched with calcium, which helps your Caridina and/or Neocaridina davidi shrimps grow healthy shells that will make it easier to molt. Without calcium, your pet shrimp may perish if it gets too stressed out trying to molt through an unhealthy shell.

The Hikari Shrimp Cuisine features trace amounts of copper. While copper is generally considered toxic to pet shrimps at a higher concentration, a small portion will help improve their circulatory system.

Your shrimp also needs protein to grow and breed. Fortunately, both the Hikari Crab Cuisine and Hikari Shrimp Cuisine have a high concentration.

You can find the nutritional analysis for both products below:

Hikari Crab Cuisine:

• Crude Protein: 31% Min.
• Crude Fat: 4% Min.
• Crude Fiber: 3% Max.
• Moisture: 10% Max.
• Crude Ash: 11% Max.
• Phosphorus: 0.7% Min.
• Calcium: 0.7% Min.
• Vitamin A: 19,000 IU/kg Min.
• Vitamin D3: 2,900 IU/kg Min.
• Vitamin E: 600 IU/kg Min.
• Ascorbic Acid: 420 mg/kg Min.

Hikari Shrimp Cuisine:

• Crude Protein: 40% Min.
• Crude Fat: 6% Min.
• Crude Fiber: 3% Max.
• Moisture: 10% Max.
• Crude Ash: 14% Max.
• Phosphorus: 1% Min.
• Vitamin A: 14,000 IU/kg Min.
• Vitamin D3: 2,200 IU/kg Min.
• Vitamin E: 2,700 IU/kg Min.
• Ascorbic Acid: 10,200 mg/kg Min.
• Copper: 29 mg/kg Min.

Which is Better: Hikari Crab Cuisine or Hikari Shrimp Cuisine?

We recommend getting the Hikari Crab Cuisine over the Hikari Shrimp Cuisine as the mini sticks have been enriched with calcium to help with shell development.

With that said, the Hikari Shrimp Cuisine is also a great food for your shrimp as it offers more protein to help your shrimp grow as well as small amounts of copper to keep their circulatory system healthy.

Resources:

• https://www.hikariusa.com/tropical_folder/shrimp_cuisine.html
• https://www.hikariusa.com/tropical_folder/shrimp_cuisine.html