What food do you guys feed your shrimps

[doublefake]

I never feed my shrimps, they are always eating the algae growing in the tank. But I am afraid these are not enough.
What food do you feed your shrimps? Especially cherry shrimps.

[kingkano]

Rarely go out my way to feed them especially. They get whatever scraps of fish food they can get, bits of veg also shared with the fish, and algae of course. Always plenty of that around

[amanda_h]

I don't have any fish in my shrimp tank, so they don't get "leftovers", and I hardly have any algae, so I give the shrimp food once a day.

I usually feed them Veggie Wafers (broken into small pieces) and Hikari Crab Cuisine. Sometimes I give them other fish foods, or some frozen spinach.

[Bradimus]

Primarily, flake fish food. As time goes on, I am feeding them less specialized foods. A high quality flake has all the nutrients they need,

[Mustafa]

Doublefake, just make sure that you feed very sparingly. Too much of a good thing is a bad thing. Besided, algae eating shrimp can find a lot of food in a planted tank, such as dead plant parts and even algae growing on the substrate that is not all that easily visible. As long as their intestines are always filled, they should be fine.

Flake food is totally sufficient and appropriate if your shrimp population grows to a level where they need to consume additional food. They don't need any specialized food at all (so don't pay more for "specialty crustacean food" that has absolutetely no advantage over normal flake food despite the claims.

Mustafa

[Veneer]

Processed: Several brands of generic "tropical flakes"; "gel-packet" bloodworms; "shrimp pellets"; freeze-dried krill; liquid dietary supplement.

Frozen: ghost shrimp (P. paludosus)

Live: Juvenile livebearers; small frogs; Oryzias javanicus (see http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/guidebook ... xt/236.htm).

[Admittedly mostly out of the question with cherry shrimp]

[amanda_h]

...so don't pay more for "specialty crustacean food" that has absolutetely no advantage to normal flake food despite the claims.

Just wanted to say that I originally tried the crab cuisine because someone else here pointed out that it's a good source of iodine. The reason I still feed it is because the shrimp seem to LOVE it -- they come from all over the tank to fight over it. Same with the veggie wafers. None of this food ends up going to waste in my tank.

Also, I prefer feeding a pellet-type food because I can control where it goes in the tank (unlike flake food which drifts down wherever) -- this way I can drop it near the front and get a good show.

[Mustafa]

There is nothing wrong with pellet food. And you're right, it is more practical. I am just criticizing the companies that want to sell you "crustacian food" which is just normal pellet food in a different packaging.

By the way...I only feed like once a week at the most. My shrimp are always well fed all bythemselves. Of course that's different in my breeding tanks where I feed daily (and have hundreds of shrimp per tank).

Take care,
Mustafa

[Mustafa]

Are you saying that you are feeding frozen ghost shrimp? Who freezes those poor guys? Are you sure those are Palaemonetes species? Are you from the US?

Processed: Several brands of generic "tropical flakes"; "gel-packet" bloodworms; "shrimp pellets"; freeze-dried krill; liquid dietary supplement.

Frozen: ghost shrimp (P. paludosus)

Live: Juvenile livebearers; small frogs; Oryzias javanicus (see http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/guidebook ... xt/236.htm).

[Admittedly mostly out of the question with cherry shrimp]

[rs79]

Processed: Several brands of generic "tropical flakes"; "gel-packet" bloodworms; "shrimp pellets"; freeze-dried krill; liquid dietary supplement.

Frozen: ghost shrimp (P. paludosus)

Live: Juvenile livebearers; small frogs; Oryzias javanicus (see http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/guidebook ... xt/236.htm).

[Admittedly mostly out of the question with cherry shrimp]

Has anybody else noticed Ammanos go absolutely crazy over live white worms? I'm betting grindal worms would be great for smaller shrimp.

[cich]

Can't say I have. Never fed them that before.

I feed mine either shrimp pellets, or sinking pellets, or flake food. I like how the flake food gets everywhere so they can find it easily and not fight over anything either.

[MXgirl]

I don't feed my cherry or amano shrimps unless I don't see their "food line". If I can't see any food travelling through them and they look empty inside(it's a little harder to see on the cherry shrimps), then I give them a Hikari Algae tablet. Now if it were only that easy to tell for my Wood Shrimps. I can never tell if they are getting enough to eat and constantly worry about them :/

[Bradimus]

Now if it were only that easy to tell for my Wood Shrimps. I can never tell if they are getting enough to eat and constantly worry about them :/

Watch their behavior. If they are combing the substrate or filter with their fans, they are hungry.

[MXgirl]

Yes, one is doing that right now. They never both do that at the same time, unfortunately, so I get confused if they are just doing that to mix up their routine of sitting all day filtering the water, or if they are really hungry If I see one scavenging the bottom I squirt in some Kent Micro-vert food for them. Is that the best thing to do? Or should I wait until I see both at the bottom?

[Veneer]

Are you saying that you are feeding frozen ghost shrimp? Who freezes those poor guys? Are you sure those are Palaemonetes species? Are you from the US?

Once, yes; not from a commercial brand, though frozen "freshwater grass shrimp" (probably Palaemonetes of some sort; may actually be of brackish/marine extraction), as distinct from "river prawns" (Macrobrachium sp.) and marine krill, are marketed by some companies - scroll down to the "frozen foods" segment of http://www.seahorse.org/library/article ... eFoods.php.