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Feeding few shrimp in fully planted tank

Androo

By Androo
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Androo Shrimp Enthusiast

Androo

Posted
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Hi guys, so my first nano tank is set up, and the plants are powering along (almost doubled in vegetation in the last week. Iv got 6 shrimp in there, 2 cherries and 4 chameleons. I will add more later.

Iv placed food in there and it's not really being touched at all. Sometimes see one having a nibble but iv had to remove food due to not being eaten fast enough. When I started with shrimp I only had 6 cherries and 10 chameleons (desperate tanks) and I'd feed the same as they are getting now and it would go over night.

Get to the point:Are the shrimp living off plants and algae growth? They had very little plant life in their previous tanks and now they spend all their time on the plants

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Squiggle Shrimp Guru

Squiggle

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Short answer, yes! They are living of the biofilm & bacteria growing on all the surfaces in your tank. You would only need to feed them once or twice a week & only a very small amount. Shrimp are very economical animals, they eat very little & in return, give off very little waste. This is why you feed a lot less & do a lot less WC's than fish :encouragement:

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DeagonTheo Shrimp Enthusiast

DeagonTheo

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Shrimp don't eat much

That's funny Squiggles, I reckon shrimp eat more than any living thing on the planet. If they were our size we wouldn't be around.

I haven't been keeping them long but the first thing I noticed was how much they eat, I've thrown handfuls of slimy stringy algae into a tank of around 50 Cherry shrimp and in less than 24 hours it's gone. Pound for pound they would absolutely win over Bristlenose and they're no slouch either.

I've thrown large lettuce leaves in there and within 2 days every part of it has been eaten including the stalk, that's eating.

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Squiggle Shrimp Guru

Squiggle

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Hahaha, it's very deceiving, if you actually do the maths pound for pound of one shrimp compared to one of any fish or any other animal you would be surprised, they eat a very small amount. It only appears they are eating a lot cause of the volume of shrimp. If you put the same amount of food in with fifty BN's the food wouldn't last 5mins. :encouragement:

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DeagonTheo Shrimp Enthusiast

DeagonTheo

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Bristlenose

I've bred many many thousands of Bristlenose over the years and they sure can eat, but I've got a funny feeling the shrimp would beat them, especially when it comes to boiled Lettuce, Siverbeet and hair Algae.

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DeagonTheo Shrimp Enthusiast

DeagonTheo

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Contest

Show me a photo or it didn't happen.

16 CRS against 50 Cherries against 10 Bristlenose, and I've given the Cherries a portion about 5 times as large as the rest as you can see.

Although the way the Endlers are getting stuck in they might beat the lot.

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DeagonTheo Shrimp Enthusiast

DeagonTheo

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I can't believe it, just over 2 hours later the Endlers have finished theirs and the Cherry Shrimp aren't far behind. And the Bristlenose, well non event really they hardly even touched the hair algae.

i wasn't expecting this I thought it would take at least 12 hours. I've kept a lot of Guppies but it seems the Endlers like hair algae a lot more than normals.

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