plants and shrimps

If there are plants in tank, can dun feed shrimps?

u can put a dried ketapang leaf inside and the shrimps will feed on it. can last for weeks

I used to feed my shrimps with lots of pellets and never change water for more than half a year. The water become spoiled and lost all the shrimps. Now I redo the tank water. Was wondering if I can dun feed at all just let them eat the plants. Anyone can advice?

[ymmij]

shrimps are scavenger, additional food would be nice though.

[shinkuro]

i think its okay.. i just drop 1 pallet cut into small small pieces in at nite.. 2-3hours later take the leftover food out.. like tat i dont think will spoil ur water.. i think shrimps always eat plants or find food on the ground if u dint feed bah..

Originally Posted by rareluohan

I used to feed my shrimps with lots of pellets and never change water for more than half a year. The water become spoiled and lost all the shrimps. Now I redo the tank water. Was wondering if I can dun feed at all just let them eat the plants. Anyone can advice?

i suppose the key is variety of food. with more variety, ur shrimps get the different nutrients it lacks. hence it is better to have a few choices.

i suppose there are 2 points u need to take note of:
" I used to feed my shrimps with lots of pellets "

how much do u feed per day? how many shrimps do you have?

"never change water for more than half a year."

1) when water evaporates, there are particles and chemicals left behind. when you top up with water, these chemicals accumulates and increase the general hardness. when GH increases, shrimps will have problem.

2) carbonated hardness (KH) also affects the water condition. low kh means ph can be adjusted easily.

3) ph is a factor, it either becomes too acidic which is bad for cherry/snowball/sulawesi or too alkaline which is bad for CRS/BDS etc.

4) NH3 and NO2 accumulated can be toxic to aquatic livestocks.

hope these info shed some lights to help you understand what could possibly went wrong.


If you put plants in and the shrimps feed on these plants, NH3 NO2 and NO3 will increase also. so you need to do partial water change to dilute the toxic. if you really wish to do off with the water change for long time, look into el nature setting as you only need 50% water change every 6mths.

here's a link to help setup Walstad-type tank.
http://thegab.org/Plants/setting-up-...nted-tank.html

Originally Posted by rareluohan

I used to feed my shrimps with lots of pellets and never change water for more than half a year. The water become spoiled and lost all the shrimps. Now I redo the tank water. Was wondering if I can dun feed at all just let them eat the plants. Anyone can advice?

In actual fact, shrimps dont 'eat plants'.. They are just feeding off bio-films on the plants unless you are talking about Red Nose Shrimps which some actually EATS plant leaves.. But if you are saying about CRS, BDS, Cherry, etc... They can just feed on those bio-films on the plants, but is it enough? Food like algae wafers of different brands and different elements in them is just like giving them a balance diet. There are times when powder food are mixed into the tank to provide some food to the shrimps & shrimplets as well. But overall, to each his own to see what is the best food for their shrimps. You can have a huge variety of food, but do they finish everything? End up within 2-3hrs, unfinished food is just being taken out to prevent it from 'polluting' the water.

For example: Mosura Excel (Meat based), Ebitabreed Spinach Tab (obvious is Vegetable based)..

I see thanks for the info. Now I gonna do water change weekly. Once in a while put all my shrimps in one tank ( I have 2 tanks). Then do a total clean up for the tank. Is coral chips bad for cherry shrimp?

Originally Posted by rareluohan

I see thanks for the info. Now I gonna do water change weekly. Once in a while put all my shrimps in one tank ( I have 2 tanks). Then do a total clean up for the tank. Is coral chips bad for cherry shrimp?

No need to do clean up of tank, just water change will do.

You know how dirty is the stones? Now I have confidence to do total change. My 4 survivor shrimps from their previous end of world survive. I put them in the original near crash water. then add new cycle water from cleaned tank bit by bit over two hours. Then I add shrimps to the tank.