How do I know my shrimp are eating?

[doubletail]

I have 3 balls of java moss in their tank and I try to feed them hikari algae wafers. They just stand on top of the wafer but dont look like they are eating because they are still clear even after a couple of hours of th wafer being in the tank. These wafers are the only thing Ive tried to feed them...

:help:

thanks

[Mgamer20o0]

well if they are at it moving around they are eating it. just hard to see it. another way is to find it gone....

[msjinkzd]

they only need a tiny amount of the algae wafer, be careful you aren't overfeeding as they are extremely sensitive to water quality.
I would think a good way to gauge if they are eating or not is to feed less..maybe every other day. My shrimp swarm to food as soon as it is placed in the tank and are reproducing readily (another good gauge).

[doubletail]

ok so feed less like 1/4 of a wafer and feed every other day. today I saw what I thought was a dead shrimp but it was just that one of them molted :) Ill take that as a good sign

[msjinkzd]

that is a good sign. How many shrimp do you have in the tank?

[pacalan]

You could also try feeding them something other than the algae wafer, like a little flake food. The Amano in my main tank have never cared for algae wafers. They won't even touch it, but rather eat the flakes that the fish don't get to. It's strange though. My baby amano absolutely devour the wafers. It could be beacuse that is their main food source, but I almost wonder if the original shrimp I bought never aquired the taste for wafers when they were growing up since they won't have anything to do with them. Or, it could be that they like the flakes better. I really don't know.

[doubletail]

that is a good sign. How many shrimp do you have in the tank?

thas a good question well I orderd 5 but I actually got like 7 2 of them jump to the 10gal and the betta got them so I have 5 in total. Will order more after christmas though :) they are in a fish net breeder untill the 2.5 gal cycles. Ill try flake food

[msjinkzd]

with that few shrimp, try dropping a flake, they don't eat much and are probably grazing on algae/microorganisms on your moss.

[doubletail]

alright dropped one flake and they ate :) still some was left over so I just took it out

[pacalan]

Glad to hear that they are eating and liked the flake.

[thebullit]

i have just read in another thread here that a shrimp can go straight into an uncycled tank......i am not sure about this i just read it .

no experience in shrimp keeping, well untill tomorrow when 8 red cherries are delivered:headbang2:

[Mgamer20o0]

they dont have a very big bio load. 100 can fit in a 10 gal. i just use media from a cycled tank already.

[theotheragentm]

When I drop sinking food in, I see my shrimp run out from the corner they like to hide in and grab the food and run. The food chunks are sometimes bigger than they are as they are intended for the fish. I know my shrimp are eating.

[msjinkzd]

here is what it looks like during feeding time in my tank

[doubletail]

lol looks like they are ambushing the snail

what type of snail is that? looks really nice

[thebullit]

cool looks like you have a few/alot gravid fems in there.

[msjinkzd]

those are dark purple striped pomacea bridgessi snails (brig/apple). and yeah, i got lots of berried female shrimp, its great!

[Dwarf Puffers]

Wow, at least 10 berried females in that pic, out of the 15 I can count! Congrats!

[FtwayneFish]

that is a awesome pic. ive never seen snails like that before. ever! i cant wait till you get your clutch soon i hope. id love to own some of those.

and off topic i guess, but ive read a bit about mystery and apple. the diff i can get is that the apple have a extra "tube" and will breath water from the top of the tank by sticking this tube up there.

i cant find any apples at my lfs's boooooo. they do get nice and big too.

i belive bigger than mystery snails right?

[StereoKills]

That's a great pic msjinkzd! I get the same thing in my rcs tank except I get ~40 babies swarming the food :) Looks like your already in demand!

[msjinkzd]

i belive bigger than mystery snails right?

apple snail is like saying dog.
mystery snail, brig, etc is like saying Labrador.
The Canas are the snails that get very very large, they are restricted as they are plant-eating machines but are still commonly available under the name "gold apple".
They are all apple snails, just different types and they all have the siphon to breath from the surface (I believe).

[FtwayneFish]

i know you know your stuff.

but im pretty sure theres a diff between mystery and apple. i know maybe your thinkin or its a class, genus thing.

but i know my mystery snails never go to the top and hang below the water line and "siphon" air from the top surface. and my apple when i had my 55g setup at parents when i lived at home years back; would do that and grew alot faster.

im even a bit less positive, but apple can lay eggs under and mystery do the low water level rasberry clutch thing that has to be kept humid.

[FtwayneFish]

o and ive read that the dang name changes with genus and whatnot too. like the diff colored or morphed shrimp.?.

brig, gold mystery, blue mystery. they should all have diff scientific names.

but they siphon thing and size was what i read were the few differences.

but again, you do this for a living like and actually have those snails (awesome snails) so im gonna go with your answer. just im sure i read and seen pictures and had a diff experience.

[msjinkzd]

here are some excerpts from applesnail.net
In general, it's quite simple: if you bought your animal from a pet shop, you probably have a Pomacea bridgesii (http://www.applesnail.net/content/species/pomacea_bridgesi.htm)apple snail or a snail from the Pomacea canaliculata group. The latter is a group of very similar and closely related species. In most cases, the offered snail is a real Pomacea canaliculata (http://www.applesnail.net/content/species/pomacea_canaliculata.htm), but occasionally Pomacea haustrum (http://www.applesnail.net/content/species/pomacea_haustrum.htm) and possibly other species from the canaliculata group, like Pomacea maculata (http://www.applesnail.net/content/species/pomacea_maculata.htm) are available as well.
For the snails of the Pomacea canaliculata group, it's quite hard to distinguish the species as the external differences are subtle and the variation within species is high. A possible way do distinguish these snails is the colour of the eggs*:

Common names for brigs/mystery snails
Pomacea bridgesii (http://www.applesnail.net/content/species/pomacea_bridgesi.htm) (spike-topped apple snail, Brazilian apple snail, golden mystery snail and ivory snail)

the colors of the snails are not usually very valuable in determining what kind of snail it is as many species come in many colors, shell shape is the best determining factor. Mystery snails most certainly do have a siphon, that being said, inthe aquarium trade often any snail that the store is unsure of the species may be sold under the name "mystery". Most commonly the mystery snails are apple snails (brigs). There are species of apple snails that lay eggs under the water line or above the water line. most commonly the ones found in stores lay them above the water line but this is not always the case.

[FtwayneFish]

dang all those scientific names is like speaking french to me lol. is there one that breathes alot or more than others with its siphon? like the pics on that site? mine nver do.

[Just5398]

thas a good question well I orderd 5 but I actually got like 7 2 of them jump to the 10gal and the betta got them so I have 5 in total. Will order more after christmas though :) they are in a fish net breeder untill the 2.5 gal cycles. Ill try flake food

Where do you order your shrimp from? I live in NJ - do they ship in the winter to here?

[doubletail]

I bought them from Mgamer2000. I'm sure he shippes there too, dont know if he started shipping again said he will in January. pm him hes in the beginning of the thread for the cost. You also couild look in the classifieds there are like 3 other people selling rcs