# Bamboo Fan Shrimp - Not Eating at All



## Nambroth (Apr 21, 2012)

I used to work at a store that carried these. I hated that my management ordered them. Anyhow, I had a fondness for shrimp even then and I tried to take extra good care of them. Sometimes we'd get them in as you described-- keeping their fans clamped and not eating by filtering OR picking. I would make sure they were in a tank by themselves with varied hardscape in case they were stressed. I wouldn't sell them when they were like this, and sadly they always perished within a week. There was no information about them online back then so I never knew if there was more I could have done. I do hope someone here chimes in that has more experience with these guys. I'd love to know if you can help them once they are at this point.
I believe these guys are still harvested from the wild so it might be very hard to pinpoint a cause.


----------



## jeremy va (Dec 22, 2012)

If they haven't eaten in 2 weeks and one is lying on its side it sounds like you may want to take them back to p-co. This is not normal behavior (in my experience). The ph etc is OK and they should have hid for a day or two and been shy for a few more days but, by now, they should be clinging to something and fanning or sitting on the bottom and picking over the substrate. If they aren't, things are not going well. 

Shrimp often molt soon after you get them and the one on its side may be having a molting that is going badly.

As you say, you have no idea what p-co did to them (or didn't do). If it is anything like my local one there is a new teenager in the fish department every couple of months, s(he) is probably well meaning but completely clueless. I've heard them tell people the most bizarre things -- they will frequently say things that are dead wrong. You only have to look in their tanks to see that they are capable of killing large numbers of the fish in their care. When I go into their fish department Dachau comes to mind.


----------



## GavSmith (Feb 18, 2013)

I always dislike when it comes to this... I hate the idea that petstores have that life is cheap, and because that one died "here have another one!".

Well the red one is on his side again thismorning, still twitching now and again. The red-brown one is sitting about 2 feet from the powerhead with it's back to it, still not a single fan deployed. I'm starting to wonder if their fans were damaged at the pet store. I remember when I got them that they were all hiding in a fake log they had, and only one had it's fans out. I don't think I got the one that had it's fans out, and I have a sneaking suspicion that they only just got them in, hence why they were hiding. 

The ones at my more local Petco are at least fanning and moving around their tanks (though picking up substrate). And yes it was a teenager who was in charge there. He was telling me that he moves them from tank to tank so that they always have plenty of food (because I asked why he was letting them sift substrate), but I know that they have never moved them from their current tank. It just shows what bad conditions they're in before you buy them, though I do know that Petco does much better than Petsmart (who had like 50 dead fish one morning when I went in).

I think I'll try taking them back today, alive or dead, as I can't stand to sit and watch them both die.


----------



## Aquatic Delight (Mar 2, 2012)

couple questions for ya. do you dose anything? and what fish are you keeping? do you use tap or Ro water? How old is that tank you put them in?

bamboos are very shy, and tempermental. i lost 3 before i was able to keep them, currently i'm keeping 3 and 1 vampire shrimp.


that fire red one molted in store, and his color should begin to fade in the coming weeks. the other one seems to be having trouble with his molt, as was said above. do you have a cave or some hiding spot for the one that is trying molt? sorry more questions than answers right now. just trying to get an idea of what is going on in the tank to help figure out what is going wrong here.


OH! and what did you spot feed them?

in the mean time, if you have zucchini or squash boil it until soft and place in the tank near them.


----------



## GavSmith (Feb 18, 2013)

Dose? if you mean Meds, then no I haven't dosed anything. The fish I have in there currently:
2 female bettas (2")
3 small cory catfish (3" max ones, currently 1.5")
Emerald cory catfish (4" max, currently 3")
4 Ghost Catfish (2")
5 Leopard Danios (1.5")
a Red Tailed Shark (2")
3 Otocinclus (1")
2 Tiger Loaches (2")
3 Black Loaches (3")
and 2 African Frogs (1")

Everyone gets along well and the only aggressiveness I've seen is between the 2 tiger loaches spinning in circles with eachother, though that dosn't happen very often at all. Otherwise everyone gets along well and no one even gives the bamboo shrimp a 2nd look.

It's all in a 55 gallon planted tank (plants are still growing in but somewhat established) with at least 3 decent places to hide (a fake hollow rock, a fake hollow thick branch, and a Tiki idol). It was tap water that went into the tank, but was treated prior and left to age for 24 hours after treatment. I have no idea where you get RO water, my local shops only carry Betta water in gallon jugs for extortionate prices.

The tank is about 5 months old now. It's been cycled for over 4 months and the only issue I've had is one of my Oco's and a frog getting caught in the filter intake (which I now have put a net over to stop that happening again). All my levels are fine, temps at 81F, the only thing I don't have a check for is hardness and iodine, though I don't see how this would make them not eat at all.

I tried spot feeding them algae wafers and a few fish flakes that I'd dissolved into a watery paste, with a piece of air tube slightly in front of them so that it clouded near their fans. Neither responded at all. I've also tried frozen brine shrimp after it was mentioned that they like them, and again no responce.

I just don't understand why they don't even TRY to feed... I read countless postings about them pulling up substrate when starving, but mine don't even try to eat anything. They just sit there all day with fans clamped shut and have got progressively weaker over the last week. If they'd at least try to feed then I'd at least know if there wasn't enough food in the water column by them picking at the floor, but this is just downright baffling as to why they won't even try.

Is the squash or zucchini even going to help if they're not trying to eat? I don't want to pollute the tank with something if it's not even going to help them. I mean I'll do it... but I just don't see how it's going to get them to eat when they're not even trying to already.


----------



## binbin9 (Jan 31, 2012)

these guys are filter feeders. they won't eat flakes or pellets they typically hangout by the outflow to catch microscopic food. the fans act like balleen ona whale. try powdered algae


----------



## GavSmith (Feb 18, 2013)

Not really my point, and somewhat unuseful if they won't even try to eat. As I've said they won't even deploy their fans so how can they eat anything if they won't even try? But anyway, I liquified the fish flakes and algae wafers so that it was particles, not solid chunks. I did my research on these guys, but there is nothing anywhere about them not even trying to eat. 

I ordered some powdered algae several days ago but nothing has turned up yet. But again... how is this going to help when they won't even "open their mouthes" to be fed?


----------



## Aquatic Delight (Mar 2, 2012)

i wasn't speaking of meds i meant fertz, i have a working theory that excel also kills many of the mirco-organisms that fliter feeders eat.

your loaches were actually fighting, its really cool to watch, and one of the few territory battles where the fish do no injure each other in the fight.

with all of the bottom dwelling fish you have, i think you need more caves. 

i asked about water because petcomarts use tap and if you had R/o that could have been part of the problem, however i guess it is not.

your tank is very warm, mine generally dont feed when it warms up like that. i would cool it down to at least 78. i think that this is your biggest problem. most of the people i know who have success keeping these guys, keep their tanks between 74-78. mine sits between 73-79 depending on the time of day. when the tank is around 79 or up my guys feed less or not at all.


as for the spot feeding, there is nothing in flake food that appeals to filter feeders. its the same thing as when some one puts food infront of you that you don't like, or even recognize as food, they won't eat it. i would try this again with just the algae waffers crushed up and not as a paste, but as a slurry. the zucchini or squash (i have had better luck with zucchini) will not muck up your tank, and is used by many shrimpers for food, otos, and various other bottom feeds will also find it to be a tasty treat. you can safely remove it after a few days, no harm to tank.


----------



## GavSmith (Feb 18, 2013)

I'll grab some zucchini on my way home and try that boiled up. I'll also try setting my tank cooler, though I wouldn't have thought they'd starve themselves to death for a few degreesF for 2 weeks. I'll also see about adding more hiding spots as soon as I get chance to.

I appreciate the info and I'll see if at least the still mostly mobile one perks up. The red one is still moving a little, but just twitching her swim legs now and again.


----------



## Dave-H (Jul 29, 2010)

The sure-fire way to get my bamboo shrimp out fanning is to take some Ken's veggie sticks with calcium AND a little bit of flake, then grind up up as much as possible in my fingers. I grind it up as much as I possibly can, then toss it in. Within 20 minutes, he's out fanning.

But you know, 2 weeks isn't that long. Maybe he's just settling in? Mine got hungry and pale for a few weeks, then made a great comeback.


----------



## GavSmith (Feb 18, 2013)

Well my main issue with them is that they're now barely moving and the red one is on his side laying on the bottom nearly all the time. I've tried perching him back up on stuff but he just falls back off shortly after. I wouldn't be as worried if they were at least able to stand up and move around but now it just looks like they're dieing.

I turned down my heater but seems that the tank is staying around 81F, I may have to put a bit of colder water in slowly to help lose a few degrees.


----------



## Dave-H (Jul 29, 2010)

Oh I don't like the sound of that 

I don't have any expert advice, but if it were me I would try to help the little guy out by keeping the water as perfect as possible for him. Maybe do a small w/c multiple times per day (so that you keep the water clean/nice without swinging the conditions), and skip the ferts and anything else until he's ok.


----------



## GavSmith (Feb 18, 2013)

well the water comes out fine in all the chem tests I'm doing... 7.4ph, 0 amonia, 0 nitrates/ites. Trying to get the temp down a little... it's at 80.8 right now and dropping very slowly. Got some green squash in the microwave right now with some water to boil it up some. I'm hoping it'll perk them up enough to at least try to eat.

I just wish I knew what was going on with them. If I was starving I'd be doing whatever I could to get a bit of food.


----------



## Aquatic Delight (Mar 2, 2012)

to speed up the cooling you can put a few ice cubes in a plastic bag, and that will help.


----------



## GavSmith (Feb 18, 2013)

I'll give that a try, cheers Will.

Got the squash stuck on the fake log end and placed the shrimp so that the current is blowing right at them. Not seeing any fans but they have to be sucking up some of it as it flows through their mouthes.

Seems the red-brown one decided to go hide for now. Just slowly waddled into the hollow log and sat on the bottom of it.


----------



## GavSmith (Feb 18, 2013)

Ok temp is starting to drop from the ice cubes in a zip-lock bag. I took a few snaps of the red guy as it may help to actually see him I guess. 



















I'm worried about the look of his fans when I zoomed in... they look disconnected from the fan arms... I couldn't get a close-up shot of the arms online to compare them to so I honestly don't know. I'm not sure if the other's are the same because she's keeping hers a little more hidden and tight to her mouth.


----------



## Aquatic Delight (Mar 2, 2012)

those fans do not look right.


----------



## GavSmith (Feb 18, 2013)

Temp is now 79.2 and still dropping. Looking to get it down to a good 76/77. The red-brown one has started turning a little more red suddenly.

Yeah I was concerned when I saw the fans up close... it looks like they're hanging on by a thread. They came home with me just like that and I didn't think anything of it untill now. I'm starting to wonder if they were injured in, or before, the pet shop.


----------



## Aquatic Delight (Mar 2, 2012)

they should not be clear like that and they should come to a nice point, with a glodenish shine....i wonder if they will grow back.


----------



## GavSmith (Feb 18, 2013)

Somewhere I was reading about one that lost it's fans and they did grow back... my worry is that if these guys would be able to survive long enough. It looks like the one in the photo is trying to flex the fans but because of the disconnect they're just twitching.

Yeah to look at them closely it looks like the muscle holding the top of the fans is snapped on all the fans on both the shrimp. That would explain why there's no fanning. I'll have to find out where that post was about the fans growing back and see how long it took.

Edit: Found the posts... completely lost the fan appendages and grew them back in about 14 days. I'm wondering with them still being attached to the bottom tendons if they'll grow another set, or if they need to be fully removed before they'll re-grow?

Also a lot of posts saying that they will regrow limbs when they molt... any way to help them get to that point sooner? I know it said they will molt within the first month, and having them 13 days now means another week or so...


----------



## Aquatic Delight (Mar 2, 2012)

i'm thinking with a good molt they will be okay. you should not need to remove them. o have found a couple articles that say they will re-grow. but very few discuss it.


----------



## GavSmith (Feb 18, 2013)

Cheers Will, I really appreciate all the help. You'll be my go-to guru for bamboo shrimp in the future.

I have some Spirulina powder on the way (may take a couple of days to get here). For the moment I guess I'll keep up with the green squash feeding, and then when it arrives I can target-feed them untill they molt. Right now I'm just trying to get them strong enough to be able to make it to molting.


----------



## Aquatic Delight (Mar 2, 2012)

no worries 

are they eating the squash? if you have another tank you can put them in? i worry about them after molt with all of those loaches and bettas in the tank.


----------



## GavSmith (Feb 18, 2013)

I do have another tank, but it's cycling right now with some tetras in it.

As for the squash... I'm not sure they even know it exists. The weakest one is clinging to where I put her (about 2" from the squash, with the current blowing it to her), and the other is sat on top of the fake log away from it. I'm just hoping it's getting enough from the current pushing the particles to it's mouth. At least enough to help them regain enough strength to feed more.

I'm going to look for more hidey-hole options tomorrow, maybe even something to section off an area so they can be by themselves. Maybe netting to go over the fake log, that way they're safe and get current running through it for food.


----------



## Aquatic Delight (Mar 2, 2012)

if you can find something that is taller than the other stuff with a perch or something for them and put it in the current it could be nice for them. keeps them off the bottom, and as your loaches reach full size will help to protect them.


----------



## Rigio (Feb 22, 2013)

Hey, I just bought one of these Flower shrimp/bamboo shrimp for my tank and my guys has been hiding for the past 3-4 days and i got concerned about him so i always look for him specifically in the tank and to make sure hes not dead. however I work night shifts and my light timer is set to go on during the daytime so one night i came home and was looking in the dark tank see if i could see him in his hiding spot and to my surprise he wasn't in his spot... but i found him wandering around the tank foraging I realize this isn't that good but its better than him not eating at all. 

Okay so long-drawn out story out of the way... Have you tried looking for him at night to see if he comes out when he feels safer(question mark..not working apparently)


----------



## CoffeeLove (Oct 31, 2012)

I had a couple bamboo shrimp. One was great for a few months but turned a deep red a died.

---
I give my fish coffee


----------



## GavSmith (Feb 18, 2013)

Well it's not so much that they are hiding and I don't see them... they're right in front of me every day. The red one barely moves at all (right now he's on his side touching the bottom and the new large tree hidey-hole I got them. The other is still moving about a little but not fan feeding at all. Though I did catch her licking one of her fans the other day, even though it was closed.

I live pretty close to "that fish place" so I took a ride over this afternoon to see if they had any tricks. I was told to test for copper (because I used tap water and have copper pipes) and GH/KH. I just got done testing all 3 and I'm 0 copper, and I'm 120's for GH/KH so all is good with the tank. Still 0 nitrates/ites so I honestly still have no clue why they don't even try to feed.

I fear the red one will die in the next few days. She's held on this long, but she's deffinately getting very weak. I keep seeing her pooping so I guess she's getting a bit of food from whatever flows through her mouth but it baffles me why I aint seeing a single fan out since I bought them. Trust me to get the oddball pair that do something unheard of like hunger-strikeing.


----------



## Hmoobthor (Aug 15, 2011)

I have keep bamboo shrimp for quiet some time now...

Most of them when i get from petco will not surivive a week or more due to stress, starvation, hungry strike, and parasite ( have one that drop on the floor for no reason and found a big bump on the side fo the body)

The most I went with keeping 1 is about 2 month then it die.

I pretty much keep my recieipts for as long as the Live Guarantee is active for a month. If they die, freeze them and bring it in whenever you can.

Keeping them at 80F or above seem to make them turn Bright Red! And to my experience, they would die later. (you could say it's like cooking a lobster slowly, i could be wrong)



Your water parameter is much better than mine....LOL!!

I would suggest lowering the tempture down more to 76-78. I use to keep my tank at 80-81F but now I am keeping it at 77F. Mine haven't turn red. They are staying at their original brown/stripe color which is a good sign.

I do have a high nitrate of 10-20ppm and this guy is still fine.

After trail and error, and adding some plants to help lower the nitrate a bit, I think mine are doing fine. 

Got two of them. 8 more days and one of them will reach the 1 month mark!! One came with missing two legs but have recover back.

I have small size fish in there and I feed ken's veggie and earthworm stick. The little fish eat the stick and particlue float around. The shrimp fan and eats them! 

I have seen 2-3 molt since i got them.

i also keep green lace shrimp in my other tank without much current


----------



## GavSmith (Feb 18, 2013)

Oh I have the tank at 76.6F right now after Will informed me to drop the temp down. 

Well a little good news.... the brown one is finally fanning! She's sat on the net near the filter outflow and is fanning 1 fan at a time and then licking her fan. She's gone from dark red-brown to a very light pale brown. Hopefully that's a good sign and she'll recover to full strength.

The red one is still refusing to fan thoughand dosn't seem to have the strength to hang on to anything. I have her perched in a plant in the lower end of the powerhead stream.

Looking again now, the brown one has all 4 fans out and is fanning like a champion. Deffinately a good sign. Over 2 weeks without a single fan out and now all fans to the wind.


----------



## Nambroth (Apr 21, 2012)

Fantastic news for the brown one!


----------



## Hmoobthor (Aug 15, 2011)

let us know how they doing later on


----------



## Aquatic Delight (Mar 2, 2012)

GavSmith said:


> Oh I have the tank at 76.6F right now after Will informed me to drop the temp down.
> 
> Well a little good news.... the brown one is finally fanning! She's sat on the net near the filter outflow and is fanning 1 fan at a time and then licking her fan. She's gone from dark red-brown to a very light pale brown. Hopefully that's a good sign and she'll recover to full strength.
> 
> ...



oh i'm so glad to hear that!  thats great news!

you said the one with the messed up fans is pooping? is it alot? (that may be hard for you answer). my vampire shrimp will go weeks with out coming out and feeding..


----------



## GavSmith (Feb 18, 2013)

well, it's like a thread with white bits on it. decent sized strings usualy, around 2-3". I just did a water change with 20% RO water (35c per gallon at wise... never knew they had it) so hopefully that might help them a little. The brown one is fanning on and off daily now so that's deffinately good news.


----------



## jshoker (Jun 27, 2010)

I don't have experience with these but I was thinking since they're filter feeders, maybe you can culture infusoria and add them to the tank once or twice a week for the shrimp to feed on? 

I'm not sure there's enough microscopic life in the tank for them to survive and thrive on


----------



## ravensgate (May 24, 2012)

Read the latest post by the OP here, post #7

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=241818


----------



## GavSmith (Feb 18, 2013)

I appreciate the replies guys. Where the OP was having an issue with shrimp not getting enough food and searching the tank for it, mine are not moving around the tank looking for current or food. They just sat there, no fans deployed ever, and got progressively weaker from not trying to feed. There's deffinately enough food in the water column, as the brown one now sits under the filter outflow and fans from time to time.

Thinking I'd gotten a pair that have issues (I never saw them fan in the pet store either) I got another one recently that I knew was healthy. This one was out fanning like crazy last night under the outflow. All 4 fans and was licking them in sequence very quickly. So food isn't the issue, I just have 2 shrimp who refused to try to eat.

My spirulina arrived yesterday so I'm going to try a little spot feeding today. I may take a look for the suggested biozyme, but fear the shipping would take too long.


----------



## Aquatic Delight (Mar 2, 2012)

i'm hoping that the R/O water will help pressure the injured one to molt, and repair her fans. 

when i initially got mine they were shy for a few months only coming out to feed at night, and scurrying away when i would turn the light on. as they get comfortable in the tank, they will feed more and more often. i just picked up another one on thursday because she was the only one left in the tank at one of my LFS, she still is only feeding at night, and scurries away when the light goes one. which is funny because my other three bamboos and my vampire are out all day and night fanning.

oh did they ever try to eat the zucchini? or did all of your other bottom feeders eat it?


----------



## GavSmith (Feb 18, 2013)

Well I sat them in front of the green squash I put in but no fanning took place from either of them. The red guy is acctually doing a little better today, she's got a bit more strength today (able to get back on her feet at least) so hopefully another good sign.

My new one is doing the same thing, comes out when the lights are off and fans like crazy but is AWOL during the day. I just wanted to prove that it was the shrimp, and not me, which seems to be the case with this new one feeding perfectly normally.

Going to try spirulina target-feeding the original 2 for a few days to see if I can bring them back to strength.


----------



## Aquatic Delight (Mar 2, 2012)

i hope they are continuing to do better!


----------



## devilduck (May 9, 2012)

I have a couple of Petco bamboo shrimp for about 3 months now. They've both molted twice now. Before molting I notice they turn red and are either very active or go into hiding for a few days. Next day I usually find the discarded molt and they go back into hiding for a day or two.

I target feed them once a week with a either green water that I culture in mason jars, First Bites, or my own mix of crushed up food delivered by a turkey baster. When I'm feeling lazy I just dump it into the tank.

They seem to respond to the green water and First Bites with more enthusiasm. I don't think my crushed food mix is fine enough although I've seen them eat it.

I have some pathos ivy and frog floating in my tank and they are on the leaves fanning by the spray bar or upside down on the ivy leaves/frogbit feeding on the oily biofilm on the surface of the water. Sometimes when they have their fill there they go to the substrate and pick around. I've read that this is supposedly a sign of starvation but in my observations it's just another way to get food. One shrimp does like to pick more than the other.

If your using RO make sure your water contains calcium. I've read that one shrimp keeper doses a bit of reef calcium to ensure healthy molts.


----------



## GavSmith (Feb 18, 2013)

My GH and KH comes out well within the good range for the bamboo shrimp, not sure if adding calcium would make it spike a little too high.

Well some bad news thismorning, the red one must have died in the night. I found her on the floor of the tank and had turned a milky white color. I took her back to Petco and chose a healthy one this time that I saw fanning for food (the substrate because they never feed their shrimp...). Soon as she was into my tank she was fanning away like a champ.

The other (red-brown one that I got with the red one) shrimp seems to still be doing ok. Moving around without much bother (though not quite up to strength). She's usualy hanging around the fiter outflow so I think she's eating during the night only.

In other news my moss finally arrived. I put it in my 20gal for now to let it settle in some and to make sure there's no nasties in it. Once it's settled for a few weeks I'll start making my moss background for the 55gal.


----------



## Aquatic Delight (Mar 2, 2012)

i;m sorry to hear that, i had high hopes she would recover.

i'm glad that you were to get a healthy replacement, i'm sure you will care for the new one very well. 

good luck your moss wall.


----------

