Vampire shrimp feeding?

DatDamWuf · Post by **DatDamWuf** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 8:34 am

I ordered two, only one made it, it is pure white and about 2 inches long. It filter fed at first but now is mostly cleaning the sand/gravel. It is in a 46 gal tank with Otos, kuhli loaches and some other shrimp varieties (amano, green, cherries and the unknown I posted about earlier).

Any suggestions on getting food into the water column without trashing the tank?

I can't do anything that requires turning off the pump, I have a stoopid Seaclear II tank and turning off the pump is a drag so I only do it for water changes.

thanks for any help!

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 8:49 am

I have bamboos and I grind up algae flakes into a fine powder. I put a pinch at a time in and they have a good time. I have no problem with water clarity, but you need to keep an eye on nitrates.

DatDamWuf · Post by **DatDamWuf** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 4:57 pm

thanks badflash. I have algae discs, I'll try grinding them. I know this sounds nuts but after only 24 hours with the vamp shrimp my tank is so crystal clear I cannot believe it

I didn't know it was even at all cloudy until now. Not only is the vamp so cool to watch it is a water cleaner extroadinaire.

Unfortunately one of the pair I ordered didn't make it, I'm supposed to get another next week at no charge. The person I'm talking to said they like to hang out with each other. The LFS is sexing by color, they think the lighter, especially white shrimps are female and the darker are male. These guys are about 2 inches. Any ideas on sexing? Or sites to go to? I tried every google search I could think of with no success.

thanks again,
~D

TKD · Post by **TKD** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 6:40 pm

Try this

http://www.petshrimp.com/africanfiltershrimp.html

TKD

GunmetalBlue · Post by **GunmetalBlue** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 9:08 pm

DatDamWuf wrote:The LFS is sexing by color, they think the lighter, especially white shrimps are female and the darker are male. These guys are about 2 inches. Any ideas on sexing? Or sites to go to?

As far as I know, sexing of Vampires is done the same as with Bamboo shrimp. In mature males, the first pair of walking legs is larger than females. However, since it's all relative, we haven't yet seen a picture of a female Vampire - so as to how much difference there is, I haven't found out yet.

Okay found some pics - it doesn't quite show the leg part clearly side by side, but they are male and female from this thread : viewtopic.php?t=1099

You can also check here: http://www.petshrimp.com/bambooshrimp.html
Very last paragraph and pics to see the difference with Bamboos. I think it's the same idea with Vampires, except Vampire legs are larger.

-GB

DatDamWuf · Post by **DatDamWuf** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 6:21 am

tanks gunmetal, the darker vamp that died did have bigger claws than the white one and from the pics it looks like his mature female is lighter than the male. So maybe there is something to immature females being white while the males are colored. Hopefully I will find out. The LFS is shipping me replacement no questions asked but it will be a bit because they are out of stock till next week and I asked them to keep the vamp a while so he'll have better chance of making it to me.

DatDamWuf · Post by **DatDamWuf** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 8:01 am

badflash, the only algae flakes I see are Spirolina for marine fish. Is this what you use?
thanks,
~D

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 8:28 am

Try Wardley Premium Spirulina Plus, but they don't seem to be picky. I've used sinking goldish food ground up finely as well, and even live fresh water rotifers. Anything small that gets caught in their filters they will eat. I also grow algae (Nanochloropsus) for them.

DatDamWuf · Post by **DatDamWuf** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 3:34 pm

My husband got some Omega One Veggie Flakes and algae wafers, that's all Petsmart had. I tried the flakes but she seemed to like the Tetramin flakes ground up better. How do you get the food to your vamps? I'm thinking of using a turkey baster. Havent' tried the wafers yet. I blew out my knee recently and don't get around so well to go to the only decent LFS left around here. I have surgery next week.

I've decided my vamp is a she for now, name suggestions?

Meanwhile, no one told her she is supposed to hide all the time so she comes out to feed several times a day. If she sees us looking at her she hides, she notices us easily too.

The other cool thing is that she is sooo white you can see her when the tank is off by reflected light in the kitchen and she is truckin all over the tank at night. This is by far the coolest shrimp I've ever seen and no magnifying glass required

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 3:48 pm

I have bamboos, not vampires, but I think they like much the same things.

I have an over the side filter that I adapted to take a suction from my under gravel filter. This makes it easy to put a pinch in the return flow. I give them another pinch after the particles go away. I also have an elite mini filter stuck to the side of the tank toward the bottom that directs flow towards one of their rocks.. The combo keeps the food in the water long enough for them to get plenty. What gets missed just goes to the bottom when it gets eaten by the other shrimp, endlers, ottos, snails or SAE's. There are no leftovers in my tank.

Even if they aren't getting anything out of the water, they like to have some flow to filter. If they get hungry they will filter the sand for food.

DatDamWuf · Post by **DatDamWuf** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 4:37 pm

thanks badflash, she spends a lot of time pulling in sand and plants and sucking them clean, I just want her to be able to feed as nature intended as much as possible.

chlorophyll · Post by **chlorophyll** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 12:24 am

They especially would enjoy a submersible water pump with its water jet pointed at a rock or driftwood. Even a small one would do... The shrimp will be drawn to that area. Thiis would disturb any surrounding plant setup though. Also, Cherry and Green babies would be at risk of being chopped up in the pump.... but if you could find one with a sponge prefilter (or fix a sponge to the device yourself), they would be ok. If you do have plants that get torn up, the plant matter may tend to greatly slow the pump's flow down every few days...

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Sun Jan 08, 2006 9:34 pm

chlorophyll- That is exactly what an Elite Mini (Hagan) is. It works great for directed flow and has a sponge intake. No problems so far except frequent cleaning is needed. It hanges on the side with suction cups, so it is easy to work on and put where ever you want it. Petco sells them for $9. This makes keeping filter feeders in smaller aquariums easy.

chlorophyll · Post by **chlorophyll** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 12:16 am

Thanks, that sounds pretty good. I'll look into that model.
I've also had concern about some of these pumps raising the temperature of the water (near 80 F or a little more) in a smaller aquarium. For most shrimp it's not a big problem though. But there were some shrimp I wanted to keep under 75 F so had to switch off the pump in that tank.

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 1:59 pm

This is a tiny pump, I would not worry about pump heat.

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