Feeding Shrimp

Properly feeding shrimp (like cherry shrimp) requires a balance between allowing them to forage naturally and offering high-quality supplemental foods. When nutrition is right, shrimp stay active, colorful, resilient, molt well, and reproduce readily. Feed small amounts sparingly, as overfeeding is the leading cause of poor water quality. As a general rule of thumb, offer only what the colony can consume within 2 to 3 hours every 1 to 2 days.

Watching shrimp feed is a relaxing, rewarding experience. Because they are active, peaceful scavengers, the aquarium will always have a storm of natural activity as they graze on hardscape, sift through substrate, and interact with their surroundings. Watch their tiny front legs (pereiopods) go wild as they sift through substrate, picking up microscopic particles and eating biofilm. Healthy shrimp spend almost all their time grazing. If they are constantly picking at algae or biofilm across hardscape and plants, the colony is thriving. Occasionally, you might see them swimming frantically all over the water column. This usually happens when a female has molted and released pheromones, causing the males to frantically swim around to find her.

Overfeeding

  • Overfeeding shrimp is a common mistake that can easily cause colony failure
  • Shrimp do not overeat and suffer from bloating in the way fish do
    • They are constant grazers with a short, simple digestive tract
    • They know when they are full and ignore extra food
  • The primary risks of overfeeding shrimp include:
    • Water quality
      • Uneaten food decays/rots fouling the water
      • That rot produces ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates (see Nitrogen Cycle) which can spike, poisoning and killing sensitive shrimp
    • Aquarium pests
      • Excess food also encourages the spread of unwanted organisms like detritus worms, planaria, and hydra
      • These pests hunt and kill baby shrimp and stress adults, especially freshly molted adults
    • Rotting food can also cause bacterial blooms that deplete oxygen in the water column which can stress or kill the entire colony

Proper feeding guidelines

  • A safe baseline is a pea-sized portion of food (1 pellet) for every 15 to 20 adult shrimp. 2 to 3 times per week (shrimp will graze on biofilm or leftover fishfood in between)
  • Determine proper portioning through trial and error
    • If it's gone in 20 minutes, slightly increase the portion size next time
    • If it sits for several hours, that's overfeeding, remove any uneaten food after 3 hours to prevent water fouling
  • Tailor portions by food type
    • Pellets and algae wafers, 1 pellet for a small colony (15 to 20 adult shrimp), check after an hour
    • Powder/Bacter AE, for baby shrimp use a very light pinch per 5 gallons, overusing powders can ruin water parameters
    • Vegetables, offer a tiny slice of blanched zucchini, spinach, or green beans, remove after 12 hours so they don't decay in the water column
  • Use a feeding dish
    • A small glass dish on the substrate makes portion control significantly easier
    • A dish stops pellets from falling deep into the substrate and makes it easy to remove whatever is left over

Diet - Foods

  • A successful shrimp diet relies heavily on their natural foraging instinct
    • Shrimp are constant grazers, detritivores and scavengers, with the bulk of their diet consisting of biofilm, algae, and decaying plant matter
    • They spend most of their time foraging for microscopic foods rather than eating large meals
      • They have a simple digestive tract with no large stomach for storing food
      • Nutrients move through them quickly, so they rely on steady intake of very small food particles rather than occasional large feedings
    • In a mature aquarium, supplemental feeding may be necessary only a couple times a week
      • Biofilm is free shrimp food that grows on its own, stabilizes the ecosystem, and feeds shrimp as nature intends
        • Provide a lot of biofilm surface area, like plants, java fern, botanicals, driftwood, rocks, etc)
        • Avoid overcleaning the tank, clean front glass for viewing, but leave sides and back alone, don't clean the filter too aggressiviely, don't over-vacuum the substrate, etc, so that biofilm can develop undisturbed where shrimp feed naturally
        • Biofilm does consume oxygen, so good aeration is important
      • Algae is another natural food source for shrimp
        • Eliminating algae isn't realistic or desirable
        • The goal isn't a spotless aquarium, but balance
        • Of course, not all algae is the same, so take care not to encourage too much
        • Neocaridina shrimp prefer softer algae, brown algae, some hair algae, but avoid algae when other food sources are available
        • Amano shrimp consume a wider variety of algae and much more of it
        • Algae does not provide a complete diet, it provides fiber but lacks sufficient protein and minerals for long term health
    • Shrimp still require supplemental feeding to support growth, molting, and reproduction
  • Supplemental feeding (a couple times a week), help round out nutrition
    • Commercial foods like Ocean Nutrition Shrimp Wafers, Fluval Bug Bites, GlasGarten Bacter AE
      • Powdered foods are ultra-fine particles that disperse throughout the water column, settling on plants, hardscape, substrate
        • Shrimp graze on them, encountering food as they do in the wild, especially good for baby shrimp
        • Some powdered foods are geared for nurturing biofilm growth, so they can feed shrimp directly and indirectly
      • Pellet foods are good for targeted feeding (sink quickly, remain localized, easy to remove leftovers--especially if served in a dish)
    • Whole foods like blanched zucchini, spinach, carrot can help fill nutritional gaps, proteins, vitamins, minerals
  • Food for shrimplets
    • Baby shrimp cannot travel far to forage, but need microscopic foods, like biofilm wherever they happen to be
    • Use crushed adult food or powdered food (like GlasGarten Bacter AE which boosts biofilm growth, to spread nutrients)
    • Broadcast feeding: Sprinkle very small amounts across the water surface, allowing the particles to rain down gently throughout the aquarium
  • Botanicals
    • In the wild, shrimp live in streams and waterways filled with fallen leaves, seed pods, twigs, etc (called botanicals)
    • Eg., catappa leaves supply a continuous, natural food source directly eaten as they break down
    • They also provide a great surface for biofilm growth, good for baby shrimp and adults to graze on

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