Aquarium shrimp have become increasingly popular over the last few years. They add a new, fun element to aquariums and come in a range of colors and sizes.
Some people think shrimp are hard to take care of, but once you know how, they’re pretty simple. Here’s what you need to know about keeping shrimp in an aquarium.
What Does a Freshwater Shrimp Eat? A Detailed Guide to Their Diet
Freshwater shrimp keeping is a rewarding and fun hobby that is rapidly growing in popularity. From colorful cherry shrimp to larger amano shrimp, these invertebrates make excellent additions to planted tanks and species-only setups.
While shrimp are relatively easy to care for feeding them properly is essential for their health and longevity. In this comprehensive guide we’ll explore what freshwater shrimp eat in detail, including quantity, frequency, and the best diet and foods for optimal nutrition.
The Basics of Freshwater Shrimp Diets
Freshwater shrimp are omnivorous scavengers and will eat almost anything they can find. Their versatile diets in home aquariums can include:
- Fish food: flakes, pellets, wafers
- Algae: soft green varieties, diatoms
- Biofilm: bacteria and microorganisms coating surfaces
- Decaying plant matter: leaves, stems
- Microorganisms: protozoa, small worms
In the wild, shrimp spend most of their time foraging and grazing on biofilm, algae, and decaying plant material. They use their front appendages and mouthparts to scrape food sources from surfaces.
This natural behavior is important to replicate in home aquariums through proper feeding techniques and a varied, nutrient-rich diet.
How Much and How Often to Feed
When first setting up a freshwater shrimp tank, it’s recommended to feed conservatively until the biofilm has had time to establish (2-6 weeks). Shrimp will naturally graze on this biofilm between feedings.
For an established tank, here are some general feeding guidelines:
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Amount: Only feed as much as shrimp can consume within 2-3 hours. Observe their feeding rate and adjust quantity accordingly. Start with small amounts.
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Frequency: Feed shrimp colonies every 1-3 days on average. Well-aged tanks with lots of biofilm may only need feeding every 3 days.
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Remove uneaten food within a few hours to prevent fouling the water, especially with greens and vegetables.
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Use feeding dishes to contain mess and make removal easier.
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When away for 1-2 weeks, add some snowflake food before leaving. Do a water change before departing.
Best Foods and Diet for Freshwater Shrimp
To thrive, shrimp need a varied diet high in fiber, protein, and calcium. Here are some of the best foods to include:
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Biofilm: Promote natural growth with leaves (Indian almond), wood, cones, and biofilm boosters (Bacter AE). Essential natural food source.
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Snowflake foods: Soybean husk pellets high in protein. Expand in water and won’t foul it.
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Specially formulated shrimp pellets and wafers: Nutritionally balanced for invert needs. Popular choices include Shrimp King Complete and Hikari Cuisine.
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Blanched vegetables: Spinach, broccoli, zucchini, cucumber. Need to remove uneaten portions within hours.
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Occasional treats: Shrimp lollies, bee pollen, algae wafers. Provides diversity.
Avoid Overfeeding and Watch for Signs of Excess
It’s easy to overfeed shrimp without realizing it. Signs of overfeeding include excessive algae growth, foul water/substrate, lethargic shrimp, and uneaten food accumulating.
Stick to the feeding guidelines outlined and observe shrimp behavior closely, especially after molts when protein needs are higher. Supplement their diet with calcium-rich foods like blanched veggies.
Maintain pristine water quality and use feeding dishes to prevent issues. Consider adding clean up crew (snails, crabs) to help eat excess food.
Feeding shrimp a varied, rotating diet while avoiding overfeeding is crucial to their health and colors. By following these shrimp feeding tips and techniques, your freshwater shrimp will thrive! Let us know if you have any other food recommendations or tips.
Shrimp Will Eat Anything
What do shrimp eat? A lot. As scavengers, shrimp spend most of their time in the wild eating anything that falls to the bottom of the water. They are opportunistic omnivores, which means they will eat both plants and animals, dead or alive.
As larvae, shrimp don’t have much of a choice about where they are carried with the water current. So they eat whatever is floating along with them, which is usually plankton (microscopic plants and animals).
As they grow, shrimp will also eat:
- Algae
- Dead and living plants
- Worms (even decaying worms)
- Fish
- Snails
- Other dead shrimp
Shrimp in a fish aquarium will feed on algae growing in the tank. They will also clear up any leftover bits of fish food.
Shrimp Are Brilliant Swimmers
While their primary mode of moving around is walking, shrimp are actually really good at swimming. Because shrimp don’t have fins, they swim in a way that is different from how fish usually swim. However, shrimp can move quickly through the water.
Shrimp are best at swimming backward. These arthropods can propel themselves backward by flexing the muscles in their abdomen and tail quickly. They move their abdomen toward their body, and this projects them quite quickly through the water.
With the help of the legs on the bottom of their bodies, shrimp can swim forward, though it’s slower than swimming backward.
By Robert Woods of Fishkeepingworld.com
Featured : Adobe/Swapan
What Do Red Cherry Shrimp Eat? FEEDING RED CHERRY SHRIMP THE BEST FOODS FOR COLOR, GROWTH AND EGGS!
FAQ
What can I feed my freshwater shrimp?
How to keep freshwater shrimp alive?
Are freshwater shrimp hard to keep?
How long do fresh water shrimp live?
What do shrimp eat?
Shrimp are one of nature’s scavengers, spending much of their time grazing on certain species of algae or picking scraps of leftover fish food and general detritus from around the tank. In the wild, shrimps eat pretty much whatever they can find, including dead fish, other shrimp, worms, decaying plant matter, and algae.
Is shrimp healthy to eat?
Shrimp is very healthy to eat, unless you have an allergy to shellfish. Shrimp is great because it is a low calorie, high protein food that is relatively inexpensive. Shrimp is also very versatile, so there are many recipes out there, meaning that you can eat shrimp multiple times a week each time in a different way. Don’t make shrimp your only protein source, because a healthy diet is also a varied diet.
How to feed freshwater shrimp?
The right amount of food can fit into the shrimp’s claw. Feeding shrimp during daytime is the most ideal, and overfeeding should be avoided. Additionally, ensure the shrimps eat the leftover food, avoid using copper-based food supplements, and supplement the shrimp’s diet with blanched vegetables. Follow these tips to feed your freshwater shrimp.
What do dwarf freshwater shrimp eat?
Dwarf freshwater shrimp are active and almost always engaged in harvesting algae or some other food source. Most species stay relatively small, so they are vulnerable to predation by larger fish.