Petshrimp.com Discussion Forum

I have 2 Bamboo shrimps in my 2 month old setup. Someone in the practical fishkeeping forum is saying that they are going to die bearing in mind that both of them are constantly fanning the filter flow and very rarely scavenge on the substrate. one has turned a nice dark red recently and the other is a brownish colour. Was he right or wrong I am asking you lot because you know more about shrimps than people in the PFK forum. thanks

Fanning is actually a good sign. That means that they're able to get food from the water column. My bamboo shrimp spend 80-90% of the time fanning, 10-20% scavenging around. You might want to put a power head in the tank, just to create a stronger current to provide a fine dining establishment for filter feeding shrimp.

If you don't know if your bamboo's are eating enough, check and see if they're pooing regularly. No poop means poor food source.

I already have a air pump in the tank, will a powerhead still help.

my shrimps spend about the same time fanning as your shrimps. I forgot to mention that I added live bacteria to the water when I first set it up. Do they feed on these?

The microbial food that the shrimp eat mainly comes from the water column, I can't say for sure if it's the same microbes that keep the tank cycled. Mine sometimes eat small bits of fish food, but not often. The tank my bamboo shrimp live in has a HOB filter, and a power head that I stuck onto the top of a sponge filter, so no baby shrimp get sucked up. I aimed the jet at a chunk of driftwood, where the bamboo shrimp spend most of their time, buffeted by the water flowing past.