Feeding living natural foods to Cherry Shrimp

YuccaPatrol · Post by **YuccaPatrol** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 7:48 am

After reading everything I can here and elsewhere about feeding, I've concluded that commercial foods should be only a small portion of the diet and that the shrimp should be able to find enough food in most any established aquarium.

However, as population increases, the available natural foods will of course decrease.

I have noticed that when I do not feed a commercial food, my shrimp will find other things to eat. For instance, I did not offer any food yesterday and they found a patch of mature red-brown algae near the water surface on the filter intake and have nearly completely consumed it. Their digestive tracts are not stained a dark rusty red/brown from the algae they have gorged themselves on.

My feeling is that this algae (and the associated micro-organisms living in it) is probably the very best food possible, but this is the last patch of large algae covered surface left. Of course, there is algae and microorganisms on most every surface, but not the sort that is easily visible to the human eye.

I have also enjoyed placing an algae covered rock from another tank into my shrimp tank because it is very neat to see how they can completely pick it clean in a matter of hours.

So, here is my question: It has been said in this forum that it can be bad for shrimp to eat mostly commercial foods over the long term. If the only foods I added to my tank were natural sources of living food such as these algae covered rocks from other tanks, could it ever be bad for my shrimp? Could they ever possibly eat too much of these natural foods?

I am guessing that shrimp should be able to eat all the natural living foods they can stuff into their mouths and never be unhealthy from it.

Newjohn · Post by **Newjohn** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 5:59 pm

Hi YuccaPatrol

Could Natural be bad ? I belive not.

When the algae supply runs low in my tanks, I go to my wifes Goldfish tank and retrive rocks I placed in there for extra Algae.

As stated in other posts, as you said , eating to much of the wrong" Man made" is not good.

Just My Thoughts
John

carbon etc · Post by **carbon etc** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 8:55 pm

If anyone has a Filstar (or any cannister filter with transparent hoses) I noticed something. Brown algae builds up inside the tubing, and there's nothing in there to clean it up. But if you squeeze the tubing a few times, little pieces of algae will break off and get shot right into the tank. It scatters everywhere. Almost like it was designed to be a shrimp feeder.

YuccaPatrol · Post by **YuccaPatrol** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 9:25 pm

I'm using an Eclipse hood on my 15 gallon shrimp tank and the exit port of the filter gets a nice thick mat of that brown algae. My shrimp love it!

Lotus · Post by **Lotus** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 9:47 pm

Of course, you have to remember that streams and lakes are not "closed" systems like aquariums are. I imagine there are all kinds of detritus that get into their natural environment that they will feed on (dead fish, dead insects, algae, decaying plant matter, etc.). Also, in a tank, the number of shrimp (or fish) is much more dense than in the wild.

I know I have more than 100 shrimp in a 10g tank, and without supplemental foods, I think the population would shrink considerably. I feed mine mostly prepared foods, and they seem to be very healthy.

I guess, in the end, whether your shrimp are thriving and breeding will determine if they're getting what they need.

8x10 · Post by **8x10** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 9:53 pm

How do I grow algae.? My tank doesn't seem to have much green type. I do have some brown. I'm willing to start another bowl or small tank to grow algae on rocks to put in with my shrimp but I can't seem to find anything about how to make it grow. I don't want my shrimp to be hungry.

Aso I change a little water every other day as my tank is small. I change a quart or two thinking this will help to keep it fresh Is this bad? Should I be waiting and doing a bigger change once a week.

I had fish in the past but this is my first time with shrimp

Zambat · Post by **Zambat** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 9:37 am

8x10 wrote:How do I grow algae.? My tank doesn't seem to have much green type. I do have some brown

I too dont have much green algae - is there anything I can do to kick start its growth?

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 12:55 pm

Algae is easy. Fish waste and lots of light. Pretty soon you have more than you can deal with.

8x10 · Post by **8x10** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 1:23 pm

I'll have to borrow some fish. I don't have any

(Or get another tank)
I'll put a rock in one of my friends tank and grow some. I'm sharing my shrimp purchases with him as one of his tanks had only snails.

would also like to know what think about the other part of my last post. I've been doing a small water change every other day -about 2 quarts or less as my tank is small and don't want bad stuff to build up. would I be better off doing a little more and only once a week. I add the water very slowly even after reaching room temp so not to upset the temperature

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 2:56 pm

As long as the water is properly conditioned using something like SeaChem Prime or Amquel+ is should be fine. It is just harder to use the right amount of conditioner with such a small water change. Do yourself a favor and get a 10 gallon tank. They are only $10 and changing 2 gallons once a week is a lot easier.

I don't think growing algae is really worth the effort. I've tried it and gave it up. Now that things are starting to warm up I'm using just a little cooked dandilion greens in. Boy do they love them! I also grow a strange fuzzy string algae moss that gets lots of little stuff in it the shrimp love to eat.

If you want to try the algae thing anyway, just get a nice fat 25 cent feeder gold fish. Keep him well fed and keep nice bright lights on 18 hours a day. You will have green stuff in no time.

8x10 · Post by **8x10** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 3:32 pm

Thank you. I do have a 2 gallon pail I use. I treat the water with prime and use some every couple of days. I always keep water ready

I'll try the dandelion green thing. My mom loved them too

I will just have to find some that are safe.

My tank is one of those eclipse tanks with the biofilter. I may get the bigger one but have very litttle space. I gave up half my desk for the shrimp. But I love the little shrimps so it's worth it if I can keep them happy and stable

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 8:27 pm

Don't be fooled. Can a vegatariian be fat? Too much of any thing is bad.

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Fri May 12, 2006 4:23 pm

The picture is a little blurry due to the activity of the shrimp, but here is a shot of what happens when I put cooked dandilion in my amano/cherry tank:

If you look closely you'll see about a dozen amanos and a couple of cherries chowing down.

fishcrazee · Post by **fishcrazee** » Sat May 13, 2006 10:35 pm

are dandelion greens dandelion leaves? Those plants with the fluffly seed thingys?

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Sat May 13, 2006 11:46 pm

Yes, the greens are the leaves, and the seeds have those nifty tuffs to fly to the four winds.

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Feeding living natural foods to Cherry Shrimp

Feeding living natural foods to Cherry Shrimp

How to grow algae and water changes ?

Re: How to grow algae and water changes ?