How Long Can Food Stay in the Tank?

[Cakelake]

I know I've seen comments before on here saying not to leave food in the tank for more then an hour but today I fed my shrimp an algae wafer and they didn't even notice it in their until after an hour, at which point I kept checking every half an hour to find each time 1-3 shrimp eating the wafer. I finally just took it out about 8 hours after I put it in the tank even though there were still shrimp picking at it. My question is - should you leave the food in there indefinitely if you continue to see them eating it, or should the piece of food that you put in be small enough to where they eat it all in 1 hours? Also how often should I feed my shrimp? This is the first time they displayed interest in eating any food I've put in their tank. I noticed a snail die off recently and took that as a sign that they might be low on food. Thanks!

[Varanus]

Typically if the shrimp are not showing much interest its because they aren't hungry, that is there is plenty of biofilm and other nutrients to eat. Hungry shrimp are easy to recognize as they will swarm over offered food almost like ants (and supershrimp will often chase around shrimp holding bits of food).

Leaving food in for more than a few hours isn't recommended because all its going to do if not eaten is decay and potentially pollute the tank, and a few hours is plenty of time for every shrimp in the tank to eat.

Can't say why you had a snail die off, but the lack of appetite in the shrimp suggests it was not due to lack of food. It may have just been that a particular generation of snails had reached the end of their lifespan.

[Mustafa]

Judging by the pictures you posted of your "sick" shrimp in the other thread I can *definitely* say that you don't need to feed at all at this point. There is algae all over the place, which is a sign that there is more than enough food. If the shrimp are hungry they'll swarm the food as Varanus already said.