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My shrimp (adult M. rosenbergii) has been chewing off the tips of my plastic plants. Is this normal? Is this harmful?

It is normal. He need to be fed more green food.
Ron Spots, a published professional Rosenbergii breeder writes:

Plants can also be uprooted or devoured: the nibble marks on my plastic plants will attest to how far a prawn will go.

I suspect you are not giving him enough green food. Get some dandilions or what ever weed is handy and boil it for a few minutes. Dump it in and he'll devour it. Look for weeds high in calcium and low in phosphorus. Collard greens work well.

Right now I feed him Wardley's algae discs, and occasionally egg white. Are the algae discs considered a subsitute for the greens? He use to eat anything i throw in there, but now he is very picky and only goes after the algae discs.

They need a variety. Just algae isn't enough. Give him some cooked weeds. Collards & dandilion are the best followed by Turnip greens.

Also, what I'm feeding as a "treat" is 3 eggs, shell & all+1/2 tsp of calcium gluconate. You can get that at any healthfood store. I mix the eggs in a blender for 5 minutes until the egg shells are really fine, then add the calcium gluconate. I zap it in the microwave, then chop it into bit sized chunks in a food processor.

Man my guys love this! This lasts my 800+ babies a week.

Most algae discs are less than 10% algae. I don't really know why they named them "algae discs" but most of the ingredients are meats/fish etc.

badflash wrote:It is normal. He need to be fed more green food.
Ron Spots, a published professional Rosenbergii breeder writes:

Plants can also be uprooted or devoured: the nibble marks on my plastic plants will attest to how far a prawn will go.

I suspect you are not giving him enough green food. Get some dandilions or what ever weed is handy and boil it for a few minutes. Dump it in and he'll devour it. Look for weeds high in calcium and low in phosphorus. Collard greens work well.

Do they really eat them or do they chew them and spit them out?

Omega One makes an algae disc that has spirulina and kelp as the first 2 ingredients. My shrimp love it!

He doesn't consume it, just chews the hell out of the tips of each leaf. Also he only does it to one set of fake plants next to his hideout and not the other in the open.