Are my cherry shrimp eating enough?

[Gemtrox42]

For context, I have a 30 gal tank with Current Satellite LEDs, moderately planted with gravel bottom, mostly hornwart, water sprite, swords and java ferns, lots of driftwood, lots of tannins. My fish are 15 cardinals, 8 pygmy corys and 5 cherry shrimp. I have two female lyretail mollies and one black sailfin male molly. Water is 78 degrees, hang on back filter so should be well oxygenated. Water parameters are 7.3 pH, ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 5, GH 50~75, KH 140. I am using softened wellwater. I treat the water with aquavitro seed and dechlorinator/balancer. My shrimp don't get a lot of leftovers, as I feed my fish sparingly, but I give them about 10 hikari shrimp pellets a day, which they may or may not be eating as the cardinals and mollies also go for them. Luckily they are happy to munch on my driftwood fungus. Does this sound like a sustainable diet for my shrimp long term? If not, how can I be sure they get their pellets and not the fish?

 

[eatyourpeas]

Shrimp are great scavengers, so I would not worry to much about them. If you are really worried, get some organic zucchini, slice it and freeze it. Take a slice and blanch it until tender, cool it and then put in the tank. Zucchini frenzy!

 

[Gemtrox42]

Thanks, how often would you recommend doing this? And can any of my other fish eat this too? I would prefer a food that they don't have to compete for.

 

[eatyourpeas]

With 5 cherries, I would do a very thin quarter of a slice once a week. See if the other fish go for it and adjust to please your crowd. Make sure to take it out after a couple of hours if they are not eating it because it can foul the water. My 50 shrimp will decimate two slices and leave nothing. You could also try Hikari Shrimp cuisine every other day, one pellet per shrimp after all the others have eaten. They are sinking pellets and it helps the shrimp get the necessary nutrients for molting.

 

[Fishiemang]

Shrimp are, like stated, great scavengers. They will get enough to eat if they are hungry. Especially the small varieties. It's when you get into filter feeders that you have that worry. Even then, when ya see those guys pawing at the floor, you know there is a problem.

Use flake food as well. They go nuts for it. They will eat most anything you put in the tank, and if there is no food easily available, they will eat algae and biofilm and micro organisms. They're getting enough.

 

[Lazysavage]

If your shrimp are reproducing they are likely getting enough to eat. I agree with everyone else. With that said I have added bacter AE to my planted tank with no huge issues tank still looks nice and I feel better about the shrimp in there. Honestly in an established tank they seem to do fine without the food.