Feeding bamboo shrimp

[fishbone]

I've had a pair of bamboo shrimp in my 10g planted for 2 months now and I'm looking to make their existence more comfortable. The planted tank houses 6 neon tetras, 2 fancy guppies, a handful of ghost shrimp and a load of mts. The trouble is, my bamboo shrimp don't seem to be getting enough food. I say this because of 2 reasons:
-I sometimes see them scavenging for food instead of filter feeding
-they have yet to turn that nice dark red color with the white stripe down their back.
They're still a pale shade of brown with a whitish line down their back
-absence of any noticeable quantity of bamboo shrimp poop

What I've tried:
-dropping half of an algae wafer at night into the water
- propping up a quarter of a sinking pellet for bottom feeders between the filter media right in the path of the water current

Yes, there is enough of a current on one side of the tank, underneath which there's a rock on which the shrimp climb up to feed on a regular basis.

Any ideas?

[pixl8r]

Try taking the algae wavers and pulverizing them into a powder. Then mix it into the water. Use a mortar and pestle to grind the wafers down. That will create a fine sediment that closely replicates their natural food. Mix the power in the water so that it doesn't just make a film on the top.

Good luck

[fishbone]

I've actually been feeding them some hikari first bites. The amount of poop has increased slightly, haha, and they seem to be happy overall. I've also been doing what you've said but instead of algae wafers, which they are not big fans of, I've been using other stuff like brine shrimp.

[pixl8r]

You shouldn't need to specificly feed the bamboo shrimp for long. Once the microb population is up (from the other fish fecies; 'poop'), you should only 'feed' them if you don't see them filtering at all.

FYI, I keep bamboo shrimp in a tank with a HOB filter, and a power head. They love to climb the driftwood and get slammed by the jet of water.

[fishbguy]

i keep my 2 in a 10 gallon with a pearl gourami and 5 harlies. i attatched some plants directly to the HOB filter and they love to hang out on the plants and filter for food. 3 times a week, i squeeze a few drops of that liquid fry food that some lfs's sell. all of my shrimp and my fish seem to love it.

these shrimp are by far my favorite inverts. i have ever owned. very cool shrimp.

[pixl8r]

fishbguy,
They are indeed, filter feeders can do a hypnotic 'fan dance'! I'm also a huge fan of Macrobrachium shrimp. They behave so differently then dwarf species, but require more room and can be very aggressive. So they can't be added to most community tanks.