# How often would you feed this colony?



## Zoidburg (Mar 8, 2016)

No more than 3x a week honestly. If it was double or more the size, then maybe an extra one or two times more.


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## Tyrant46290 (Jul 21, 2018)

I feed my shrimp everyday. I take out extra food after an hour. I feed down a feeding tube into a suction cup dish


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## dmastin (Jun 19, 2009)

Thanks Zoidburg. I've always noticed you're pretty conservative about feeding and I trust your advice.


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## ILikeRice (Jul 9, 2017)

I also feed my shrimp everyday. but have 200+ in the tank.


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## SimpleTanking (Aug 1, 2018)

What are you feeding the shrimp ? Loving the red


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## madcrafted (Dec 23, 2017)

I like to feed conservatively with powder/pellet/granule foods. Just remember, these food companies are trying to sell products to you, so of course they want you to believe that daily feedings are necessary. I try to keep plenty of other foods available at all times such as brown leaves and alder cones as well as green leaves like nettles, mulberry and pear. Biofilm is a preferred source of food but a larger colony can easily overgraze a tank like a spec V, due to it's limited surface area. I like to use Bacter AE to aid with production of this biofilm. Depending on how many babies are in the tank, I will feed this up to 3 times a week. I don't really look at this as a direct food source. I like to use those long transfer pipettes to target a Bacter AE "solution" to mosses, cones and brown leaves. This will help biofilm grow quickly on these surfaces. As for pellet foods, I look at them as a treat or supplement depending on it's composition. For example, I will target feed berried shrimp with higher protein pellets by using a straw. I use a pair of wire cutters to cut small "disks" off of these pellets. Better to feed only what they can eat within 2-3 hours. This way you won't spoil the water with these processed foods. This is crucial in caridina tanks, where parameters need to remain stable at all times and water changes are not very frequent or in high percentages. With neos, they are a little more forgiving and you can always do a quick 20% change if water becomes a little polluted. I still wouldn't get too heavy handed with commercial foods, though. 3 times a week sounds like a good estimate.


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## Zoidburg (Mar 8, 2016)

I've had/have around the same amount of shrimp in one tank and found that with the right foods, there wasn't much need to feed daily. With the wrong foods, it doesn't matter how often or infrequently you feed, they wont do as well. Different tank with less shrimp also fed 3x a week, just less than what the larger tank with more shrimp in it received. Hard to say exactly how much they are getting due to the fact that it's extruded pellets that are long in shape and I just break pieces off of it to feed.


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## junglefowl (Oct 30, 2012)

It is okey to feed them everyday as long as you keep them under control. Like take out the food that will pollute water after 1 hour. 

I like to feed them every day and switch food: main food (BorneoWild Grow, GlasGarten Shrimp Dinner), powder (Bacter AE, CSF Baby Food), Snow Flake, and Leaf Litter (Catappa, Mulberry)

If it’s done right, the shrimps normally very active and breeding more. Bacter AE creates biofilm which increase survival rate of the babies, but it needs to be underdosed.


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## dmastin (Jun 19, 2009)

SimpleTanking said:


> What are you feeding the shrimp ? Loving the red


On their behalf, thank you! Big smiles.
I haven't settled on a food so I'd attribute the color to genetics thanks to our member FishRFriendz.
His main bit of advice to me was BacterAE increases baby survival.
Although I admire madcrafted's targeted feeding I use a hot sauce bottle to feed BacterAE. 
I premix RO water with a couple of scoops of BacterAE and keep refrigerated.
Certainly not targeted, but very convenient.
A couple of shakes and I'm good to go.
Otherwise mostly Shrimp King and GlasGarten.
Thanks everyone for sharing your thoughts.


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## madcrafted (Dec 23, 2017)

You can add Bacter AE any way you like as long as you don't overdose it, as the bacteria in there will quickly start to consume oxygen as soon as it comes into contact with water. If you have gone overboard with aeration, this isn't much of a concern but with tanks that are on the threshold of sufficient O2 levels, too much Bacter AE can kill shrimp. My method is geared more towards targeting areas that are attracting baby shrimps. My tanks are considered small to nano size, so things can go wrong quickly in such tanks. Most shrimp keepers wouldn't dare try to breed high grade shrimp in a 2.6 gallon tank, yet I'm all for the challenge. Brave or stupid? Maybe a little of both. :grin2:


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## Smooshface (May 26, 2016)

Zoidburg said:


> I've had/have around the same amount of shrimp in one tank and found that with the right foods, there wasn't much need to feed daily. With the wrong foods, it doesn't matter how often or infrequently you feed, they wont do as well. Different tank with less shrimp also fed 3x a week, just less than what the larger tank with more shrimp in it received. Hard to say exactly how much they are getting due to the fact that it's extruded pellets that are long in shape and I just break pieces off of it to feed.


I'd be interested to know what you recommend feeding cherry shrimp. I have a similar colony in a tank with my betta and right now they get Hikari Crab Cuisine, since that's what I could find locally, but I'd be happy to change it up with the right recommendations.


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## Zoidburg (Mar 8, 2016)

I recommend algae/vegetable based foods as the main diet (fed at least twice a week) followed by a protein (animal based) diet fed once a week. I have shrimp specific food, and even with feeding it, my colony still struggled. Once I switched to algae based diets, my colonies did far better. Some others have also noticed similar results once they reduced the amount of animal protein their colonies were getting.


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## Weidbrewer (Feb 14, 2018)

Wow...look at all the saddles in that pic. Won't be staying at just 75 for long! :grin2:


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## JMCMark (Jul 12, 2018)

Feed them 3 times a week. It doesn't matter what food you give them. I've tried a lot and at the end I settled for Tetra Min flakes and Repashy to feed my shrimps. However, this diet will not work if you want to produce top grade bee and crs.


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## dmastin (Jun 19, 2009)

Looking on amazon for a good transfer pipette. 
Show me one please.


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## madcrafted (Dec 23, 2017)

I use these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HK4YNZG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I've also ordered some Magic Powder to replace my Bacter AE, as I was getting low and it was recommended to me by a veteran in the shrimp world.


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## dmastin (Jun 19, 2009)

Thanks, I'm going to give it a try. Between my hot sauce shaker and now a transfer pipette I should have a lot of flexibility!
Hmmm, Magic Powder, I see... I do like SL-Aqua's Blue Wizard product. I guess between the Japanese and Germans we'll never run out of interesting products to try. It'd be difficult to quantify, of course, but if the Magic Powder makes an impression let us know what you think please.
Thanks again for the link!



madcrafted said:


> I use these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HK4YNZG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
> 
> I've also ordered some Magic Powder to replace my Bacter AE, as I was getting low and it was recommended to me by a veteran in the shrimp world.


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