Starvation Prevention

[moonbrooke]

I’ve had my shrimp about 6 weeks and I have not fed them anything yet. I have not seen any visible algae growth in the tank at all, but I see the shrimp doing their thing and picking at all available surfaces. So I assume that they are happily munching on the non-visible biofilm. They are in a 2 gallon jar with about 1” deep black sand, 3 pieces of dragon stone arranged with lots of hidey holes, a few pieces of the calcium carbonate rocks, and a clump of the macroalgae. I also got a pack of 10 snails.

I’m completely comfortable with the idea of treating their tank (jar) as if it was a sealed ecosystem, and just never feeding them. I’m actually sort of afraid to disturb their system at all, beyond periodically taking off the lid and adding distilled water (slowly and carefully). And I understand the risks of over feeding, so I feel better just leaving them alone completely. However, I don’t want to be stupid and accidentally let them starve either.

So I guess what I’m looking for is someone to tell me that unless the shrimp actually start dying, it’s okay to just leave them alone and never worry about feeding them...

[Varanus]

Its generally recommended here that if you see no algae then its okay to feed them a small amount once a month or so. Just make sure its an amount that gets fully consumed within a few hours. That's what I did with my original tank (the one I moved to later has a lot of algae) and the shrimp did very well.

[mike.d]

It's okay to just leave them alone and never worry about feeding them. If you feel uncomfortable with that, then what Varanus said is the accepted wisdom of the board. (My personal opinion is don't bother removing uneaten food: 1. I'm lazy. 2. Why disturb the shrimp by fishing out food? 3. Leave it for the snails. 4. Extra rotting food may provide nitrates for algae growth.)

Consider:
* These are the shrimp they put in completely sealed EcoSpheres, where they can survive for years (still only a fraction of their lifespan) without additional food. You've already provided them with a better home than that.
* The snails will die of starvation first. Then the shrimp can eat the dead snails. If this happens, just buy a new pack of 10 snails every 5 years.

You didn't ask, but I'm also not a fan of adding distilled water carefully. Salty water is denser than distilled and if you're too careful the new water will float on top of the older saltier water. I just aim for a rock at the bottom of the tank and pour away. I only add water once every 3-6 months. I suspect this is less stressful to the shrimp: A big wash of water vs. a hand/giant predator "swimming" around in their immediate vicinity to mix the water.

[sbube]

I've had my shrimp close to a year and have never fed them. What I do though, is to feed the algae. Every few months I'll put in a drop of F/2 medium which gives the algae the nutrients they need. By the next day the shrimp foraging activity has already noticeably increased. I'm still working out how often to do this, because I don't want to have too much problem with algae forming on the glass.

[sbube]

I can start a thread if anything interesting or unusual comes of it.

[Mustafa]

I can start a thread if anything interesting or unusual comes of it.

Start it! Did they reproduce? Make sure you post pictures, too!

[sbube]

Yes, in May 3 of the 10 original shrimp got berried. It seemed like only about a third of the brood ultimately survived, maybe because of the size of the tank, less than 1/2 gallon. Actually, I had moved them between 4 different tanks before the births, so the "decision" to reproduce might have happened in a larger tank.

I have a second set of shrimp, obtained in April, that have not yet reproduced. They are in a larger tank, a little over 1 gallon. Awhile back I created a post with photos of it (back when it housed the first set of shrimp): https://www.petshrimp.com/discussions/v ... 076#p42076

For anyone curious, this is the product I use to feed the algae:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PB ... UTF8&psc=1
They actually sent me 2 tubes of it, though the description shows one. I use one drop in my larger tank, and diluted to 1/4 drop in the smaller one; currently on pace to add the nutrients 3 to 4 times per year. These amounts and the timing are subject to revision going forward.

[sbube]

I'll try to start a new thread in a few days to show photos, so I don't continue to hijack this one.

[mike.d]

I wonder if a few drops of regular plant food/fertilizer (without copper, of course) would help algae grow as well? Has anyone tried that with supershrimp?

I did put some Miracl-Gro in my planted freshwater tank with cherry shrimp and they seemed unaffected.

[mike.d]

Thanks Vorteil. That's good info. I don't have any macroalgae, but my tank has a ton of regular brackish algae. I might try it anyway just to see if it hurts anything.

[mike.d]

No clarification needed. I understood that you took out the macroalgae, treated with Miracle Gro, rinsed, and returned to the tank.

I was just saying I feel like trying a few drops in my tank to see if it hurts anything. I don't have pics of the current algae levels, but I'll take some and post. Basically, I have a coating of green puffy algae on my lava rocks and substrate. It almost looks like mini marimo if marimo were less than 1 cm in diameter. This is despite having 3 nerites and too many to count MTS. The nerites keep the glass clean and that's all I care about.

Here's a pic:

It's not the greatest, but you can see the algae I'm talking about. This is a 10 gallon tank with lava rock decor and aragonite substrate.