Do you have Cherry Shrimp?

Have we talked about our favorite foods for these critters yet... I may be adding some Blue ones to a different tank, & am looking for something good enough to attract the shrimp to congregate at the food...
mine have a lot to graze on in the tank, so I rarely see them congregate on anything right now...

I'm thinking of trying this...
if I can find something they really like, that I can position at the front of the tank, will make it easier to inspect them for condition, & get a general idea if there are new ones, & how many...

Unsalted green beans

Magnum Man said:

Have we talked about our favorite foods for these critters yet... I may be adding some Blue ones to a different tank, & am looking for something good enough to attract the shrimp to congregate at the food...
mine have a lot to graze on in the tank, so I rarely see them congregate on anything right now...

I'm thinking of trying this...

if I can find something they really like, that I can position at the front of the tank, will make it easier to inspect them for condition, & get a general idea if there are new ones, & how many...

Click to expand...

Mine prefer the Aqueon Herbivore food, the Omnivore stuff seems to be left in the bottom of the dish and the nerites don't seems to be fond of it too.

They also love the Omega One Shrimp and Lobster pellets. They are smaller and the shrimps can grab one and flee with it.

Glassgarten Shrimp Baby in a dish on the bottom is sure to bring the whole family.

But the thing that draws the most, is the occasional boiled slice of cucumber (boiled until it sinks alone) very tender, they love it. most of the time there is nothing left in a day or two.

MaloK said:

Remark that the second pleuron is overlapping the first one in the opposite direction. Normally they go inward up to the Cephalothorax, That is a sign of ripeness.

Edit: And the mom who have given birth will often remain with the second pleuron in that manner after.

Click to expand...

One of my shrimp has this, but doesn't seem to be currently berried. I never knowingly had a berried shrimp. Does this just mean it was berried at some point without me noticing?

MaloK said:

Mine prefer the Aqueon Herbivore food, the Omnivore stuff seems to be left in the bottom of the dish and the nerites don't seems to be fond of it too.

They also love the Omega One Shrimp and Lobster pellets. They are smaller and the shrimps can grab one and flee with it.

Glassgarten Shrimp Baby in a dish on the bottom is sure to bring the whole family.

But the thing that draws the most, is the occasional boiled slice of cucumber (boiled until it sinks alone) very tender, they love it. most of the time there is nothing left in a day or two.

Click to expand...

I've never really understood how to specifically feed the shrimp in my community tank. They don't explore the tank very quickly, so the fish always find it first. (They scavenge enough to eat, but don't usually come around AT feeding time)

JackGulley said:

One of my shrimp has this, but doesn't seem to be currently berried. I never knowingly had a berried shrimp. Does this just mean it was berried at some point without me noticing?

Click to expand...

Good chances, But they will also display this when becoming adults and molting rate will slow down. mommy shrimp will molt before releasing pheromones and a new berried shrimp will look freshly molted. But at this moment the eggs are super small and it can be missed easily.

It's very hard to size the baby survival rate in a community tank, most of the time you never see them until they feel confident enough to start swimming in the open. In a species tank they can start swimming around at 1.5 mm in a community they can stay hidden a long time up to 90+ days, If the adults are also hiding because of the other fish in the tanks it could be even longer.

JackGulley said:

I've never really understood how to specifically feed the shrimp in my community tank. They don't explore the tank very quickly, so the fish always find it first. (They scavenge enough to eat, but don't usually come around AT feeding time)

Click to expand...

In a community tank, just overfeeding a little your fish will leave enough for a good bunch of adult to make a living.

The babies are a slightly different story. In the first 15-20 days they rely on biofilm and fresh algae, after that they go for the baby food.

It's not easy to find the hiding spot of the babies, once they start getting out in the open you can guess where they come from... Once established they always seems to get out and hang around the same place. When too much tiny babies are coming out in the open, it shows that they have trouble finding biofilm and dose their resting area with Bacter AE and baby food to help.

So... you can target feed this area with soaked finely crushed fish food with a pipette or a coral feeder. While your other fish are busy feeding on their side.

Shrimps will find the smallest pieces with no problems and at this size it might not interest the rest of your fish that much, leaving more for them.

Magnum Man said:

Have we talked about our favorite foods for these critters yet... I may be adding some Blue ones to a different tank, & am looking for something good enough to attract the shrimp to congregate at the food...
mine have a lot to graze on in the tank, so I rarely see them congregate on anything right now...

Click to expand...

The blues are my favourites, wish I'd started with them to be honest, but will have a blue dream colony one day!


I've done these as a treat, rather than a regular feeding food, but they're really good for drawing most of the colony out and getting photos/an idea of numbers or culling for colours

Edited, because I forgot to say what they are! Called shrimp lollies, available a few places, I'd only trust name brands and not cheap dodgy ones from Amazon or Ebay. You can also make your own. Just get a (non-toxic, no bark) stick, or use anything from their tank like a pleco cave or piece of decor, so long as there's a decent amount of surface area, and coat it in any of the repashy gel foods and the shrimp will come... you have my word on that!




(Not my shrimp/photos, pinched from Google as an example)

looks like there are a lot of different lollie sticks listed on Amazon... ya can't always believe the advertising pictures, I bought some shrimp mineral blocks, that the advertising picture showed the block fully covered in shrimp... & yet I have tanks of shrimp, & have never seen one on the blocks...

I would ideally want to hear from members as to which work best for them
those lollies look like my Repashi sticks

I've had really good experience with this brand, but not tried their shrimp food... anyone else tried this???

@Magnum Man

Well I can tell that the Glasgarten Mineral junkie gets eaten fast here... It's a gel based pellet that remain intact a good while if untouched. ( not able to prove at the moment )

But your problem is that your tank is so fitly full of natural shrimp food that is more interesting, it's absolutely normal... Why would you open a can of corned beef when there's fresh t-bones in the fridge.

I would try to do home made lolies, My concern is how long a repashy painted stick can last uneaten in a tank before it spoils. I know yours are not a reference on that

I try to gauge to always have minimum spoil, because at this point it's always unmanageable.

Magnum Man said:

I've had really good experience with this brand, but not tried their shrimp food... anyone else tried this???

Amazon.com

Click to expand...

I feed my shrimp and dwarf crayfish this shrimp food. They love it.