How to ensure shrimps are well fed but not overfed?

[junwei38]

Hi,

I have 50 shrimp in a 1 gallon tank. I would like them to grow up fast and encourage breeding. I understand that to do that, they have to be well fed. I also note that it is commonly stated that the number 1 cause of shrimp casualty is overfeeding. However, it seems like the exact cause isnt exactly overfeeding, but that when the shrimps are full and do not consume the provided food fully, the excess food pollutes the water and causes a mineral imbalance.

To counter that, is there any problem with me feeding the shrimps two small 0.5mm diameter sized algae pellets hourly until i realise that they stop eating them? This is to ensure that they are able to eat as much as they want, because everytime i put in food pellets they seem to gorge on the pellets and figth for it as if they haven eaten for a long time. And they always seem to finish every pellet i drop in. I have already been feeding them daily but they always seem to want more and i never seem to give them enough to eat.

Kindly advise! Thx!

[KenCotigirl]

Carolina in a previous post said it best about feeding. If the shrimp are foraging for food and producing waste they are well fed. I think your proposed feeding schedule may cause problems.

[junwei38]

Hi, thanks for the feedback! If you dont mind could you quote me Carolina's post?

But does it mean shrimps would overfeed themselves? Hence it is unhealthy? Im still not quite sure how this would be bad for the shrimps.

[KenCotigirl]

I do not know if shrimp have the same feedback system as humans and stop eating when full. I believe they are programmed to eat when food is available. 50 shrimp is a lot to start a one gallon tank but good luck.

Mustafa would be better qualified to answer your question with facts. I use his system and it works for me. I do not really understand the working of shrimp.

See her Dec 10 post.

[junwei38]

Hi. I have read a post by Mustafa before that throughout all his years of rearing opae ula. He has not once encountered a situation where opae ula stop breeding due to overcrowding. And looking at those crowded tanks by opae ula breeders, those shrimps seem happy to hang out around each other in close proximity. Although I have a 1 gallon tank with 50 shrimps, they don't seem to be overly crowded actually. Or rather that's my opinion. I'm open to more feedback!

[KenCotigirl]

I do not believe 50 per gallon is too much. I Poorly wrote that post. I may have over 100 in my 1.25 gallon tank and they are still breeding. I would suggest for a new opae keeper 10 to maybe 20 per gallon. This would leave plenty of room for growth and still see activity. I do not wish to dampen your enthusiasm. I am just worried with the amount of feeding you are doing or thinking of doing trouble may follow.

[junwei38]

Thanks for the clarification! Much appreciated. As a side note I have noticed that after the last feeding session they have reduced grazing by a great amount, and are mostly just standing still on the rock. So perhaps they are full? I will stop feeding for a while and see if they start grazing again.

[shwin]

Is it safe to assume that if they have a black line in their bodies they are fed enough?

[Harry]

It's true that overfeeding "the tank" can cause it to crash. Uneaten food is bad for water quality; you can get an algae bloom, etc. But on the other hand, we love to feed our Opae. It's one of the few ways to interact. My solution is to keep brackish nerite snails and dwarf hermit crabs. Then if you overfeed, they are the cleanup crew and you don't get left with uneaten food to rot.