# Bacter AE vs everything else



## dmastin (Jun 19, 2009)

I'm new to shrimp and have my first surviving batch growing and molting.
They are Sakura/fire red juveniles now in my possession for two weeks.
I've fed them Bacter AE, Shirakura Shrimp Food, and various Shrimp King (from a sample pack).
I assumed I'd see the shrimp clustered around the fancy shrimp food.
And they certainly do take an interest when happening upon the food, but they move on and don't seem all that excited.
Instead, they spend most of their time grazing randomly about the tank.
They all seem to be growing and molting regularly.
Why do they seem more interested in grazing the tank in general instead of eating the shrimp food?
Is it due to the Bacter AE powder? 
Or is it more an issue of age and when they get older they will be more interested in solid pieces of food?


----------



## aubie98 (Apr 22, 2017)

I don't use BacterAE, but do use a related product: ShrimpKing BioTase Active. I feed that and Boreno Wild Bebi once a week, the other two days I feed I Shrimps Forever Spinach, which my shrimp go bonkers for. I also feed Omega One shrimp and lobster pellets for the amanos I have in the tank.

I did notice that they didn't like algae wafers or another shrimp food (can't remember which one) when I first got them and they were younger, so maybe there is something to them acquiring taste for solid food as they grow up.


----------



## VRaverna (Jan 11, 2018)

When I first fed my shrimps, I used ADA red bee shrimp food and they're all over it. Then I got sample of shirakura ebi dama special and they didn't like it as much as ADA's but they also all over it. Also got a sample of kale based food and they're less interested in that but they're still eating. Got lowkeys ebi210! and they're also eating it.

But that was then. A month after that, they hardly touch the food that I gave them. I guess it was because the tank is matured and there are plenty of fresh food that they're more interested in. They are grazing over the substrate, leaves, roots of floating plant, and tank's wall.

I did use SL-Aqua Magic Powder a few times, a product that is probably about the same as Bacter AE but I don't think that is it since I haven't used it for over a month and still the shrimps rarely touch any food that I gave them. Maybe they're not hungry.


----------



## Zoidburg (Mar 8, 2016)

Each tank can vary on food preferences. You could have two tanks of shrimp, even of the same type, and they may prefer completely different foods. This is considered normal.

If they aren't really eating the food then you could look for alternative foods to feed them instead. Having a variety on hand helps!


----------



## kashif314 (Oct 11, 2017)

Shrimps preferred and first choice is biofilm which is produced by Bacter AE. All shrimp keepers see there shrimp don't go greedy for any other food when they introduced Bacter Ae. Flip aquatics on YouTube have a video in which he mentioned than once you start Bacter Ae shrimps don't go nuts for any other food. Bacter Ae is an amazing food. My Shrimps do same since I started Bacter Ae. 

What you can do is offfer them food after like three four days if you are using Bacter Ae and try to give little and see how they react. Or reduce the Bacter Ae feed if you want them to eat other foods which I don't think is fine. In my case I now feed them after four days shrimp king products and Bacter Ae once a week and after four days of interval they do eat other foods. But again if there is good biofilm available shrimps would love that and having biofilm is sign of a good matured tank. Some people don't use any product like Bacter Ae but there shrimps still graze here and there always instead of other food because of tank having biofilm available because of age of tank


----------



## dmastin (Jun 19, 2009)

Thank you aubie, VRaverna, Zoidburg, and kashif!
All of these thoughts certainly help.
Understanding that shrimp may prefer the biofilm created by a product such as BAE is helpful!


----------

