Shrimp Specific Food, Grrr

[PrairieSunflower]

So I used to have cherry shrimp and they mainly ate algae and scavenged for fish food too.  Then I'd feed them shrimp specific food and they'd die within 1-2 days (some, not all at once).  They are all gone now.
 
SO..... I've had amano shrimp for awhile now... no incident.  The algae is really getting under control so I started feeding them shrimp food every so many days to supplement their diet and.... 2 of my 5 have died as same as the cherries did!
 
I am completely writing off shrimp food!  I have no good experience with it!
 
Will my amanos be fine with the same food as my honey gourami?  I will put in some algae wafers as well and I should get a courgette and do that from time to time.

 

[Baccus]

Most shrimp seem fine with a selections of fish food, also any fresh greens that you might like to give them such as Kale, mulberry leaves and banana.
 
Sorry to hear that you lost your shrimp after feeding shrimp food. I have used a couple of brands of shrimp food and had no issues.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

I've tossed the whole lot.  Glad to hear about banana, I have that a lot more often than the other options!

 

[Ch4rlie]

That's unusual. I too, keep RCS, and have had no issues at all with shrimp food. I usually use Hikari Shrimp Cuisine and also Hikari Algae wafers, perfectly ok so far. Also add blanched pea as an occasional treat.

Perhaps your shrimp food was dated or had traces of metals like copper. Would be surprised if it did though.

But as already suggested, shrimps are happy to eat a variety of food available including fish foods thankfully.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

Hikari Shrimp Cuisine is exactly what I had been using.  I have thrown out the entire pack now.
 
I've only ever had one shrimp death that was not within 1-2 days of using shrimp food (usually shrimp died in the first 24 hours).  I had one with a failed molt.
 
But with my amano, I had been leaving them to eat algae and the little bit of flake food they found for the first couple of months... now it is mostly gone so I started on the Hikari and boom... in 1 week (2 feeds of the food) 2 are dead.

 

[fm1978]

That's an awful strange one... 
 
I personally find Cherries very difficult to keep no matter what I feed them, unfortunately. 
 
There must be something wrong with the food - what that would be I don't know, but you were right to throw it away. In my opinion, one of the most important sources of food for most shrimp are the micro-organisms that grow naturally in your tank and ensuring that there's loads of surface area for then to grow is a good start.
 
Apart from that, they should almost eat anything you put in the there. What I've noticed they don't eat is their molts or their fallen compatriots. I presume that means it's because they don't like high protein based foods, which would stand to reason as I've always been led to believe too much protein is not good. Cereal and vegetable matter is enjoyed, I think, I just fed my guys some Shirakura Chi Ebi which I bought for shrimplets, but they all like it. I also use Shrimp King Complete which they also all seem to like. My amanos run away and hide with them.
 
Sorry for your losses.
 
Oh, leaves are good too, those from hard wooded trees as well as the normal shrimp specific leaves you can buy.

 

[Mads]

Stange with your Hikari troubles. I have RCS, bumble bee and armano and they love the algae wafers the armanoes run away and hide with the wafers. I often crush algae wafers and spread it on the surface to be sure that all shrimps and especiallty the baby shrimps get food too.
 
I supplement the food with boiled vegatable like spinatch.
 
Regards

 

[Ch4rlie]

I personally find Cherries very difficult to keep no matter what I feed them, unfortunately. 

 
Wow, thats interesting, I find them surprisingly easy to look after. Have had some breeding as well, not a lot but a few.
 
Maybe am just lucky or something. 
 

Apart from that, they should almost eat anything you put in the there. What I've noticed they don't eat is their molts or their fallen compatriots. I presume that means it's because they don't like high protein based foods, which would stand to reason as I've always been led to believe too much protein is not good. 

 
I find my shrimp DO sometimes eat the moults. Also I do feed my fish bloodworms very occasionally, like once a month, i find my RCS like eating these too.
 
I know high protein food is not particularly good for them but its a rare treat.
 
Do see sometimes one or two of RCS do run off with small bits of Hikari Algae Wafer which i find funny as some of the other RCS run after the thief! lol
 
But for the OP, am sorry, must have been a bad batch of food or something unusual like that.