Feeding Filter Feeding Shrimps

[fishbguy]

There are many different species of filter feeding shrimp, the most common being Bamboo Shrimp. Filter feeding shrimps are some of the hardest species of shrimp to feed, seeing how they are filter feeders.

Filter feeding shrimp do not have claws or pinchers like other shrimp, instead, they are have small fans on their arms in place of the pinchers. When they are hungry, they sit on a plant, branch, rock, etc. usually in front of the filter output, or other place of high current, and open their fans, catching small particles of food. In our tanks, they often aren't enough food for filter feeding shrimp, so they walk along on the bottom of the tank, using their fans like little vacuum cleaners. And this isn't a very good habit for you to let your filter feeding shrimp to get into. So in this article, I'll discuss the different methods of feeding filter feeding shrimps, and the easiest ways I know possible.

1. Fry Food

This is the easiest way to feed filter feeding shrimps in my opinion, but it is some what expensive. Buy a container of liquid fry food. This normally comes in a small squeeze bottle, and you shake it, and squirt a few drops of food in the tank for the fish fry. For shrimps, you can do the same thing, but I reccomend spot feeding the shrimp. Meaning you drop the food directly in front of them, or put a few drops in the current directly in front of them so that they can be sure to get it. If the food goes right past them, it just sinks down into the gravel, and they can't get it, which just defeats the purpose of trying to feed shrimp.

This is probably the easiest way to feed them, but it gets expensive

2. Home-Made Shrimp Food

Okay..well..it's not all the way homemade, it's just prepared at home. This is my favorite way of feeding filter feeding shrimps because it is cheap, and reletivily easy to make.

In a small bowl...now by small, I mean really small. Shrimp don't eat that much food...lol Take a few flakes, and some bottom feeder pellets, or a combination of algae pellets and a good meat based pellet, and powder them in a small bowl. You want the pieces of food as small as possible so it is easier for the shrimp to eat it. When it is all powdered, take some water, only a little bit, just enough to be able to mix it with the flakes so that it can mix well. So take some water and put it in the bowl with the flakes and pellets, and mix it up, so that the flakes and the pellets get soft and mushy. Then, take an eye dropper, and suck some of the mixture up, and squeeze it out directly in front of your shrimp when he is feeding. Naturally, he won't eat all of it, but the food tends to stay on top of the gravel, so when he is walking around looking for food, he can still eat it.

If I missed anything, or you have other ways of feeding your filter feeding shrimp, please post, and I"ll add it to the main topic.

Andrew

[fishbone]

Good guide Andrew, I'd like to chime in with some personal experience.
This was an impulse purchase almost a year ago when I knew little about their requirements. I now have 2 bamboo shrimp in a 10 gallon tank. Their chances of survival and being happy, I was told, were pretty slim. I'm doing something right because they haven't starved and even take on that deep red color at night [which indicates they are content].
What I feed mine is Hikari First Bites, PhytoPlan by Two Little Fishies, which is basically phytoplankton, a natural source of food for bamboo shrimp. You can also feed them ZoPlan which is zooplankton, also a natural source of food for these guys. Dr Foster and Smith carries both.
Tetramin tropical tablets also work. They are sinking tablets that look like aspirin and are cheaper than the foods mentioned above. You would have to use a shotglass with a little water in it though to get them to soften up and break down into powder.

Ever since I've started using these foods, my bamboo shrimp have stopped scavanging the substrate [when they do that it means means they're starving and it's somewhat stressful for them]. Only times I see them do that is when I neglect feeding them. With a fairly aged aquarium, I don't have to spot-feed that often, maybe 3 times a week.

I prefer letting the food float instead of wetting it. What I do is drop a small pinch of either First Bites or PhytoPlan. This floats on the surface and the filter current [which is a standard Tetra Whisper PF-10i] draws it to the outlet and the current takes it to the bamboos. Another thing I have done in the past is drop a quarter of a tetramin tropical tablet right between the chemical and biological filters. The current is strong there and the piece slowly breaks down and the bits and pieces get into the water column. Not sure how effective this is but by my reasoning, works pretty well. Whatever is left gets picked up by my clean-up crew which consists of a hoard of malaysian trumpet snails and ghost shrimp. BTW, the ghost shrimp go CRAZY when they sense the phytoplankton. They seem to really, I mean REALLY like it. Alas, they have a hard time feeding on it from what I can tell because it is a VERY fine type of food, almost like dust.

So there you have it. Any other suggestions are more than welcome as I'm no expert at this, I just stated what I'm doing and what seems to work for me