fed my juvenile opae's they cant find the food?

[Mech]

So i decided to try a really small dusting of shrimp grade spirulina powder and they all came crawling out of there holey rocks and started doing laps of the tank looking for what they could smell/taste. Thing is they wouldn't swim up to the surface to eat it, one dared to go to the top and flicked its self down as soon as it touched the surface. cant really remove the fine sprinkle i added so ive just left it.

Anyone else experience this? I have a glass bowl and a feeding tube coming to try a algy pellet next month to see if they get on better with that.

[Mustafa]

I find powdered food like spirulina messy and hard to dose properly. One reason the shrimp may not go up there to eat it all is probably because there is more than enough food down there already. They don't have much motivation.

[Mech]

Yes I agree it is messy, but like I said I put in the smallest amount, and they did want the food as they all got really excited.

Shame really.

[mcdaney]

Maybe some of the spirulina dust sank in and the shrimps just swim around and grab whatever they can? They're pretty skilled at that yknow

[KenCotigirl]

There was a vendor in Hawaii that sold the spirulina. He provided a wooden match stick that was painted on one end. You used only enough to cover the painted end. Truely a small amount. He also said that their feeding upsidedown at the surface is a 'learned' behavior. I purchased some several years ago. I would agree that it took several feedings over a period of a couple months for the shrimp to become aware of the food at the surface. Now when i feed them the srirulina they are at the surface actively feeding. What i like about the spirulina is you can see the green in their digestive system soon after feeding.

Ken

[Mech]

Ahhh that makes sense, the quantity I put in was so small it was almost transparent and about 3" across. The air bubbles released by the algy on my ocean rock was hitting it and making granules drop down.

Will have a look what's left when I'm home from work.