Does feeding brine shimp "teach" fish to eat aquarium shrimp?

  • Get the NEW AquariaCentral iOS app --> http://itunes.apple.com/app/id1227181058 // Android version will be out soon!
vwill279

vwill279

AC Members
Oct 7, 2011
865
0
16
39
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Real Name
Vanessa
I feed all of my fish frozen food every other day to supplement their flake and pellet foods. My neon and ember tetra schools get brine shrimp, which they seem to love! My boyfriend says I'm teaching them that shrimp are food and that they're going to start eating my younger cherry shrimp if I continue to give them brine shrimp.

I have never seen them go after one of my cherries, even the smallest babies, but if I can reduce the risk to them by feeding a different frozen food, maybe chopping up blood worms or feeding daphnia instead, I would be willing.

Funny thing is though, the RCS seem to like the brine shrimp as much as the tetras and always go right for the ones that the tetras dont eat fast enough and fall to the gravel (tetras wont touch any food that lands on the substrate except occasionally the Captain Bob's pellets I feed the shrimp)

Should I switch their frozen diet or stop feeding frozen foods altogether to protect my shrimp? I'm planning on starting a shrimp only tank for breeding while keeping larger shrimp in with the tetras for ecosystem enhancement (I love having diversity in all of my tanks). I know that keeping shrimp with fish will in general lower their breeding rate anyways.
 
D

dbosman

AC Members
Dec 5, 2010
1,481
0
0
East Lansing, MI USA
As your boyfriend failed to notice, frozen brine shrimp don't resemble cherry shrimp and unless they've already eaten cherry shrimp, your fish will not have noticed any flavor similarities.
That said, most fish will eat anything that fits in their mouth. The only known cherry shrimp safe fish are Otos. All other fish will eat cherry shrimp sooner or later. If there is enough cover and you feed well the cherrys may breed fast enough to keep the tank stocked.

I'd not feed the same frozen food every other day though. Unless you are conditioning breeders, which you wouldn't be keeping in a community tank. Vary your frozen foods, just as vary the flake and pellets. Do be aware that handling blood worms can cause an allergic reaction in some people.
 
excuzzzeme

excuzzzeme

Stroke Survivor '05
Mar 29, 2007
5,531
2
62
100 miles from water and 2 feet from Hell
Most community fish are too small to have any interest in RCS. I keep a large population of various community fish and yet my RCS population does not suffer. I actually have the opposite problem - too many. Even the young RCS are too big to bother with for many. If a breeding mother drops an egg it is possible it will get eaten but that is about the extent of it.

Big fish eats small fish, a fact of life. What you feed does not induce a fish to attack an unrelated fish as food when dealing with community fish. A varied diet to include brine shrimp is healthier than a single food everyday. Please understand that I am talking community fish and not the larger predatory ones.
 
vwill279

vwill279

AC Members
Oct 7, 2011
865
0
16
39
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Real Name
Vanessa
Yeah, I read on multiple websites and also heard from my guy at the LFS that neons and embers would be just fine with cherries and not bug them and I have yet to see them show any interest in even the baby ones. I just wanted to make sure that by feeding them shrimp as food it might make them realize that shrimp are good eating and have them start bugging my baby shrimp.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
zoomed.com
hikariusa.com
aqaimports.com
Store
Top Bottom