feeding red cherry shrimp

[Kuhlifan]

Hey, just got my first batch of cherries, and I was wondering about feeding them. I have them in a 5 gallon with a small school of neons and a buttload of MTS and ramshorns. I'm not too worried about them finding food, but for the little treat here and then, would algae wafers be better, and would giving them shrimp pellets (wait for it) be in bad taste?

[dixienut]

Hey, just got my first batch of cherries, and I was wondering about feeding them. I have them in a 5 gallon with a small school of neons and a buttload of MTS and ramshorns. I'm not too worried about them finding food, but for the little treat here and then, would algae wafers be better, and would giving them shrimp pellets (wait for it) be in bad taste?

they love shrimp pellets,.. and aglea wafers
but they really like bio film, and no see ums in the tanks,.. they will be fine just give something now and again for them,.. they find it quick and arn't shy about taking it off of mts,..

[xVitox]

Get frozen bulk spinach from your grocery store. When it is frozen smash it up with a hammer into tiny bits. Give them some of this every now and then they go nuts for it! Snello also works. I also feed calcium supplements (without vitamin d). Hikari i think sells special shrimp bites for inverts, i have used those and they love them as well!

[The Zigman]

they'll eat most anything.

I feed mine, spirulina wafers, shrimp pellets, crab bites, and Veggie & Calcium sticks from Kensfish.com

having only a few shrimp though, I wouldn't feed them every day, maybe every 2 days or so..

[Kuhlifan]

Yeah, I put mine in monday and dropped in a chunk of algae wafer. Within minutes, that 1/4 of a wafer was a golfball size glob of ramshorns and MTS, with no room left for the shrimp. They were mailed to me, so they are all still teeny-tiny. I do catch them grazing on the sponge I redneck engineered to put on my filter intake a lot.

[dougolasjr]

I feed mine Hikari Algae wafers and blanched zuchinni, and they swarm all over it in a matter or seconds.

[bigorangecar]

question: why is it that zucchini is the preferred vegetable for RCS? do they not like other green veggies, or is there a specific reason for the zuke? i've been wondering this for a while now...

[MGDMIRAGE]

I feed mine algae wafers, green beans, zucchini, lettuce they aren't too picky. I even started putting a little ocean nutrition formula 2 frozen food in there that is for my saltwater algae grazers lol.

[bazil323]

question: why is it that zucchini is the preferred vegetable for RCS? do they not like other green veggies, or is there a specific reason for the zuke? i've been wondering this for a while now...
Because zucchini is only suitable for human consumption when made into chocolate zucchini cake with chocolate chips. :Angel:

[excuzzzeme]

Because zucchini is only suitable for human consumption when made into chocolate zucchini cake with chocolate chips. :Angel:
Zucchini cookies are even better!


I feed my RCS every type of fishfood I have. Crab pellets, shrimp pellets, shrimp pellets w/ calcium, BBSE, Ken's Cichlid Supreme Flake, Ken's flake with nutrarose, veggie wafers, algae wafers . . . They are not overly picky and neither are my spixi's and other snails.

[blue2fyre]

Mine aren't picky at all. They really go crazy for Hikari sinking wafers. I break them into small pieces and scatter them around the tank because the shrimp fight over them so much. It's like Black Friday in there!
My shrimp also enjoy zucchini, snail jello, cat fish pellets and just about anything else I throw in there.

[SidtheMonkey]

So do cherry shrimp eat more than just veg matter? Do they eat other fish food, if small enough?

[dixienut]

they eat flakes, bloodworms, pellets, anything that dosen't get away,.. :)

[lake_tuna]

I have some shrimp in my 20g long with a bunch of small fish. My shrimp aren't all that active, and don't seek out food I put in for them. The fish seem to eat most of the shrimp food I put in the tank.

I'm guessing it's because of the fish? Does anyone else keep shrimp with active fish?

[bazil323]

Whenever I had shrimp with fish in the tank, the shrimp were always more skittish and hid most of the time. Once there were no fish in the tank (or very tiny ones like boraras urophthalmoides), the shrimp were much more active and were all over the tank.

I fed them anything from flake food, pellets, wafers, veggies (cucumbers were a hit), snail jello, frozen bloodworms, brine shrimp, etc.

[Kuhlifan]

Mine are getting braver, but they're very tiny. Some are still essentially clear. The only tankmates though are ramshorns, mts and a school of neons that basically sit in one place until you put food in the tank.

I just wanted to poll people to see what "extras" I could drop in from time to time. The snails will dogpile anything before the shrimp can get to it at this point, but I think that will change once the shrimp get bigger and more accustomed to the new digs.

[excuzzzeme]

I wouldn't stress over their diet as they are omnivores. They will eat ANYTHING! I have a piece of coral in my tank to help the Ph and I see them regularly picking at it. They also go after the flake that gets hung up on the moss. Just vary their diet and feed them with whatever you have.

[SidtheMonkey]

How big do RCS get? I have a couple that are red, maybe an inch (and that's being generous)

[Crispino Ramos]

Crush the wafers into fine pieces with your fingers and dip in the water to spread all over the tank. Crush the pellets with a pill crusher, glass bottle or plier into tiny pieces - mix with water in a cup, swirl and pour in the tank. It will give the shrimplets easier chance to find them and the fish and snails a harder time to consume too fast.

[Alexpatrascu]

In my 10 gal I alternate between wafers, zucchini, Cyclop-Eeze and some "no food for you today" stuff........they love all four of them !!!

[supersudo]

Because zucchini is only suitable for human consumption when made into chocolate zucchini cake with chocolate chips. :Angel:

fried zucchini from carls jr. = YUMMMMM!!!!! :thm: