Armoured Shrimp

[Craster]

I have a recently acquired Cameroon Armoured Shrimp, a lovely fellow. He's decided that the best place for him is buried under a large ornament, totally out of view, which concerns me a little.

I'm not bothered about not being able to see him, as I knew when I bought him that he was likely to be pretty secretive, but I'm worried that I don't know if he's OK, can't see if he's feeding, and wouldn't notice if there seemed to be anything wrong with him. He's also a long way away from the water flow, and without being able to see him I can't really use the turkey baster approach to feeding him.

While he's only just arrived, I've considered removing the bit of ornament that he's hiding under for a few days in the hopes that he'll take up residence in one of the other hideaways I've deliberately placed for him (near the flow of water, dark and secretive, with openings for him to feed through that I can get at with a turkey baster). I'm worried about stressing him out though.

Should I just leave him to it, or try and encourage him to move house?

Thanks.

 

[three-fingers]

First I'd see what he gets up to at night . Take a torch to the tank after the lights have been off for a couple of hours and have a look for him.

They tend to be more active at night time, he will probably be relocating himself to where the filter flow is at night.

If that's the case, would powder some flake food and load it into an automatic feeder set to release the food in the middle of the night when he's filtering.
The waste from any powder missed shouldn't be at all significant if you have a decent filter on the tank, and if you have any scavengers like trumpet snails (which are also night active) they will eat the remainder so you shouldn't worry too much about this.

If you cant do that, then yes, I would move the ornament or the filter outlet so he's in the flow.

 

[Craster]

Excellent, I'll have a look later tonight, thanks.

I have 6 cherry shrimp in there, so I'm not too worried about waste.

 

[Craster]

He did indeed come out to feed after dark. Thanks!

 

[~T~]

Any pics? I would so love a fan shrimp of some type but they are all too big for my little shrimp nano (I would love to see the godzilla effect with all the little cherries and bumbles bees zipping around one).

 

[Craster]

Any pics? I would so love a fan shrimp of some type but they are all too big for my little shrimp nano (I would love to see the godzilla effect with all the little cherries and bumbles bees zipping around one).

I'll put some up this evening. I managed to get some when he was first settling in.

 

[Canis-Equus]

My amano shrimp used to ride around on the back of one of these guys, hehe. Looked hmm... very silly.