Anorexic shrimps

[torface]

I have 3 tanks: reds, blues and yellows/CBS. All the shrimps are fed the same amount yet the blues hardly seem to eat? The CBS, yellows and reds all eat ravenously when I put food in (every other day and recently a bit of biozyme everyday for the shrimplets), but when I put the same food in to the blues tank, maybe one will pick at it for a few minutes, but that's it. I would put it down to them not being hungry because of eating biofilm etc but then surely the other shrimps wouldn't be hungry either? Particularily as my CBS/yellow tank has loads of plants and biofilm...

Anyone else experience this? Could my blue shrimps just be picky or have low appetites? Dean sold me anorexic shrimps? LOL

[CNgo2006]

Have you seen them sticking a leg down their mouth and spewing something back out?

[torface]

Bahaha no they're not bulemic ;)

I've heard rumous they've been eating toilet paper to fill themselves up...

[ineke]

I used to have the same trouble with my shrimp so I just cut back for a while and then fed a different food each feed. I have found that the absolute favourite for all is spinach- if thats in the water nothing else will be touched. Also they eat a lot after lights out so you may not see what they are actually eating. I do however feed biozyme every night to all tanks regardless of babies.

[OzShrimp]

i actually had this problem when i first had yellows. my WP's were great but my shrimp wouldnt eat. in the end most ended up dieing.

[torface]

Eek! I hope mine don't die cos they wont eat! Hopefully they get enough nutrients from eating the biofilm and maybe like Ineke said, they eat at night....

But i've had them for over a month now so i would've thought they would've died already if they were going to die of malnutrition...

[KiwiBigD]

Switch food, try some pumpkin or fresh vegetables such as spinach, silverbeet, cauliflower etc. Most will jump on it pretty quickly, even the most fussy of shrimps

[torface]

I tend to alternate between cucumber, spinach, banana, hikari crab cuisine, bee pollen and I've just introduced bloodworms. So it's not like they don't get variety, but I will try something new when I get home :)

[BlueBolts]

I'd stop feeding them for 2 days, and perhaps even throw in a almond leave .... then feed them something you'd think they enjoy the most, and see what happens...

[torface]

They have 2 almond leaves so maybe that's what they're eating? I've tried leaving them for a couple of days and same reaction... They're normal otherwise (lots of moults, shrimplets and a new berried female!) so it's not a major issue, I just thought it was weird...

I have 2 Darwin Red Noses in there who are always keen on the food. I've previously thought they bullied the blues away, but i removed them for a while and still the same. Plus the red noses reds, yellows and CBS happily share food in the other tanks...

[ineke]

I just went into my shrimp room - lights were all out so room dark and used my torch everyone was out eating. I am still finding my chocolates don't come out much during the day and get worried about them but there they were munching away.

Take BB's advice like I did and don't feed for a few days and then feed again but cut back on how much you feed. It worked really well for me( thanks again BB) it was also a real eye opener for me when I changed most of my tanks substrate last week. The amount of dirt in the gravel was surprising considering they were newly setup in January. I now feed about a quarter of what I had already cut back. I also siphon out left over food every morning. It seems to have worked.:encouragement:

[torface]

By not feeding for 2 days, do you mean no biozyme too?

[ineke]

I give biozyme every day. I don't know if biozyme is counted as a proper food or not and I suppose that could be another reason they don't need much extra food.

[torface]

Ive only been feeding the biozyme for the last week or so though, the shrimps have been picky the whole time ive had them! I'll try not feeding them for a few days again and see what happens. I'll also try looking to see if theyre eating after dark :encouragement:

[ineke]

You sound like me I tend to over feed everything and get worried when they lose interest in food. Just remember the actual dried foods we feed them are very concentrated so they don't need much. Every stone , plant and other surface you don't clean has biofilm on it. An empty looking tank can feed them for quite a while. Fresh food as the main food with dried shrimp food as a supplement is best. AND I wish I could take my advice too!,

[neosin]

Have you seen them sticking a leg down their mouth and spewing something back out?

ROFL!

Gold mate!