Flower Shrimp - Their Needs

[sylros]

Hi,

I just got 2 flower shrimps for my 10 gal tank with a sandy substrate, driftwood, and java moss with the morimo moss ball. The rest are fake. Everywhere I looked, there was no information on the water requirements except the temperature - warmer. But what PH and are they sensitive to their environment. What is harmful to them.

 

[three-fingers]

Sounds like you have the filter shrimp Atyopsis mollucensis. They are usually sold without proper care info. They are adaptable to water conditions, but prefer it cooler, not warmer as they live in fast flowing streams at higher elevations.

The most important thing about these guys feeding - see this recent thread: Flower/bamboo/mountain shrimp need fed!

They will need target fed every day or two. If you see them searching the ground for food, this is bad and suggests they aren't being fed properly.

Other than that, they are sensitive to the same substances as other shrimp ammonia, nitrite and copper are particularly harmful to shrimp compared to fish.

 

[sylros]

Thanks for the information, I had stumbled on the post but is the fact that they are climbing on the driftwood, and rummaging through the plants different than them rummaging in the sand? They really seem to like the driftwood...but out of curiosity, how would one drip feed, what sort of contraption is out there for this purpose? Coincidently, I'm going to the fish store tonight, and will look for that out of curiosity...since these shrimps are not eating algae off the glass, I need an glass sucker type fish, probably an otto catfish, something that stays small.

 

[three-fingers]

Unfortunately not, if they are looking for food on the ground/wood/plants as opposed to just sitting in the flow then they are hungry.

I just use a syringe, a pipette would do too. Suck up some food and slowly squirt into the flow in front of them. If there's no flow for them to feed in you'll need to move your pump or add another one to boost the flow . The best food for them would be shrimp food, ground into powder and mixed with water. There are expensive contraptions for feeding filter feeders deigned for marine tanks but they aren't practical on freshwater tanks due to the different filtration, the water would go bad fast..

Ottos would be great companions as they like high flow and slightly cooler temps too, but remember you need to keep them in shoals .

 

[sylros]

Well, that's good to know...so my tank is clean then!
I was at the fish store and saw this contraption, an extensible one..$28...don't want to pay that...so I'll try a long tube of some sort. I've got some brine shrimp flakes that can be ground up and mixed with water.

Lately though, they've just been sitting there usually hiding and if there's one of the cory's that happen to discover the spot, the shrimp will push him away...and I thought they were gentle creatures...the rest of the fish go around them.

They are interesting to watch as you never know where they'll be...one was where the filter pipe was...I guess he was feeding.

One of the fish foods I use are the Chips..they are so practical...they float long enough for the top level fish to eat, then gently float down for the bottom feeders to eat and the middle fish too. I've caught a shrimp eating some of it too. Since I use a feeding ring, this keeps all the food in one place. The fish have been trained to go towards it...there's always a feeding frenzy.

I'll try feeding the shrimps using the tube, and see what they do. Thanks for the info...there's so little out there.

 

[Caprichoso]

They are peaceful shrimp but they will bully each other for the best spot in the water current. They will also push catfish out of the way too, mine have also done this lol...but they won't harm each other or other fish, it's just a lot of pushing and scrabbling about to get the best spot to feed.

You will find that some shrimp are more dominant than the others, my larger males are the "pushy" ones and they get the best spots for the most part. If you find that there seems to be a lot of competition for one spot, you may want to consider placing something in the tank that allows for more room to feed in the current, such as a piece of drift wood or a plant. I added a piece of manzanita wood to the tank and placed it in the current, now the shrimp have spread out more( they used to cram themselves on my heater and one small spot on the ground).

As stated above, watch for them searching around..if this is happening a lot you will need to supplement their diet. The syringe is a great idea to feed them but I just swirled powdered food into the water column and let the current take it to them. The main thing is DO NOT over feed them! Most people over feed their shrimp, this is more common then not. The amount of food that you should swirl into the tank is so minute, that it can barely be measured. Also, my advice to you is to only start feeding them 1/week in this manner. You will know if it's not enough food because they will still be searching but you will not know you are over feeding until it is too late...like you have an ammonia issue suddenly, etc. This is what you want to avoid for obvious reasons.

Good luck

 

[sylros]

Unfortunately not, if they are looking for food on the ground/wood/plants as opposed to just sitting in the flow then they are hungry.

I just use a syringe, a pipette would do too. Suck up some food and slowly squirt into the flow in front of them. If there's no flow for them to feed in you'll need to move your pump or add another one to boost the flow . The best food for them would be shrimp food, ground into powder and mixed with water. There are expensive contraptions for feeding filter feeders deigned for marine tanks but they aren't practical on freshwater tanks due to the different filtration, the water would go bad fast..

Ottos would be great companions as they like high flow and slightly cooler temps too, but remember you need to keep them in shoals .

Yup, I was aware and got 2...but unfortunately one died right away by getting caught somehow in the Java moss. I do have another in my small tank at work. I'll bring him home as his partner also passed away. They really don't like unstable water, and that sometimes happens with a very small tank..when it spikes, it spikes fast! I watch it very closely but I think it will be much happier in the bigger tank. Do I need to feed them algae food...I find that makes a mess...

 

[sylros]

They are peaceful shrimp but they will bully each other for the best spot in the water current. They will also push catfish out of the way too, mine have also done this lol...but they won't harm each other or other fish, it's just a lot of pushing and scrabbling about to get the best spot to feed.

You will find that some shrimp are more dominant than the others, my larger males are the "pushy" ones and they get the best spots for the most part. If you find that there seems to be a lot of competition for one spot, you may want to consider placing something in the tank that allows for more room to feed in the current, such as a piece of drift wood or a plant. I added a piece of manzanita wood to the tank and placed it in the current, now the shrimp have spread out more( they used to cram themselves on my heater and one small spot on the ground).

As stated above, watch for them searching around..if this is happening a lot you will need to supplement their diet. The syringe is a great idea to feed them but I just swirled powdered food into the water column and let the current take it to them. The main thing is DO NOT over feed them! Most people over feed their shrimp, this is more common then not. The amount of food that you should swirl into the tank is so minute, that it can barely be measured. Also, my advice to you is to only start feeding them 1/week in this manner. You will know if it's not enough food because they will still be searching but you will not know you are over feeding until it is too late...like you have an ammonia issue suddenly, etc. This is what you want to avoid for obvious reasons.

Good luck

Thanks! That was great information...just the other day, I spotted a shrimp right in the java moss which I thought as strange, but after a few minutes, it was still not moving so I thought that one of them had died...but then I saw them both coming around the driftwood...LoL To my surprise, it was a carcasse! Does this mean that one has gotten bigger already? But they seem to be doing fine as there are several spots they can be to get their food.

 

[Caprichoso]

They will moult under stress and also because they are growing. They will moult on average every 2 weeks but if they receive a lot of nutrients, then the moulting process speeds up a bit. You can leave the shell in the tank if you want because fish and non-filter shrimp will eat it.

 

[sylros]

Well, I now know what is meant by them just sitting there and filtering...As a result of changing to a Penguin filter, which I love by the way, there is now enough current throughout the tank for the shrimp to feed normally. The two are always at different spots so there's no competition. The air stone decoration proved to be useless when it came to providing more current, I'm going to remove it as there's now almost too much movement (disturbance) for the other fish. I did feed some crushed brine shrimp in the tank and watched it being gobbled it up by the shrimp. So, their foraging could also have been a sign of not enough current in the tank. All is well.