Newbie question - cleaner and fire shrimps

[Hitokiri]

Ok guys, heres the layout of the tank.

It's a small 20 gal Tropiquarium (over 10yrs old) with a biolife filter. Apparently this is only popular in the UK now, since thats the only place I can buy carbon filters and accessories for it


Anyway, within the tank are at least 10pds of live rock, 4 Damsels and 2 shrimp (1 cleaner and 1 fire)

My question is about feeding. Before we got the shrimp (yesterday) we were just feeding the fish flakes. Since the shrimp need meat, we got frozen brine shrimp. The man at the store advised 2 cubes (these are small frozen cubes) a day. 1 in the morning and 1 at night.

But that seems like A LOT is left over. I know the shrimp are scavengers, but I think it might be overkill with 2 cubes a day. Any suggestions?

[dakar]

Assuming the packaging is similiar on both sides of the pond, the cubes here are a little bigger than 1cm, about an ounce, then yes that does sound very excessive, we have been feeding brine to our critters weekly. The shrimp are scavengers, and will likely accept any flake food they can find following your normal feedings and likewise your fish may enjoy the brine treat as well.

If you are finding that all of the food is not being comsumed then it is just adding additional wastes to the tank, obviously uneeded and unwanted waste.

Brine shrimp in itself is pretty lacking of nutrients, the percentage of usable proteins is very low, IMO the best thing about it is the fact most things will actually eat it.

Welcome Aboard!

[jerryc]

You shooed wash it before feeding to get red of the wast then your just
feeding the shrimp not the juice or liquids

[Hitokiri]

thanks for the replies

yes, I do thaw it out in a container first, then drain it out into my fish net.

Yeah, those cubes are the same in size and the fish do eat them as well. But the tank does get kind of full with one cube.

Any suggestions on food with better nutrition? (hopefully dried food and no blood worms!)

god i hated those lol

[Limpit]

Hitokiri,
I feed my Blood Shrimp a little chopped mussel once a week just to make sure it is getting enough to eat. I get it frozen from my LFS. I use a long piece of rigid airline tubing (like is used inside of the lift tubes on a under gravel filter) and stuff a couple small pieces into one end, place it near the shrimp and it grabs it out of the tubing. If your shrimps come out of the rock work on their own you would not have to deal with the rigid tubing. My Blood Shrimp stays hidden most of the time. (My wife says it was a waste of $30 cause we never see it.)

[Reef_Angel]

We feed our tank flake food, a pebble type food that sinks down to the bottom if it gets the chance, and also brine shrimp. Generally what I do is put in some flake food to keep the fish busy. Then I drop in the pebble food that has all the same nuitrition as the flakes down to the shrimp and any of the other bottom feeders. Once a week I hand feed brine shrimp to the corals, the 3 shrimp in the tank, the fish, the starfish and anyone else that mooches for it. This type of feeding done in moderation....one feeding a day..... is all that our 180 gallon tank needs. We don't have any problems with cyano growth from overfeeding which actually took some time and practice! I hope this helps you. I think that a pellet food with all the nutrients your shrimp require....something just like a quality flake food, would be a good solution for you. Hope this helps!! ....Angel

[Hitokiri]

This is all great info! Thanks for the help guys!

(oh, and yeah, my fire shrimp took over the cave we made for the fish!)

I *think* it came out during feeding time. I know the cleaner shrimp is walking all around and cleaning the fish. So I have no worries about it. Also that I saw it physically hunt for food, find it and eat it. If I need to dump some of the brine shrimp into its little den, then so be it

[Reef_Angel]

They are born scavengers, so don't worry about them starving. They won't let that happen. They like to stay hidden in caves and under rocks. After they get real comfortable in the tank, they'll get used to you at feeding time and you'll see them popping out to see what's for dinner. Also, get a flashlight...one with a red lense if you can! You can pick up a flashlight with a snap on red lense at a WalMart, KMart, Radio Shack etc. Go peek in your tank at night when all the lights are out with the red lense on your flashlight. You'll see all sorts of neat activity going on in your tank when the lights go down. You'll see your shrimp possibly come out and scavenge too. The red light isn't offensive to the inhabitants of the tank, while white light will bother them and send them scurrying back to their hiding places.
Another thing about your new shrimp.....don't be surprised when you find their first molt in the tank. One day you'll find what looks like a dead shrimp in your tank. Don't panic! They shed their complete skin. Sometimes you can get it out of your tank in one piece. It's kind of neat, but a little shocking if you don't know it's going to happen the first time that it does. These guys are pretty hardy, and from what you are saying about your cleaner shrimp already cleaning everyone, and the other shrimp moving into a cave....I think you have some healthy ones! Enjoy them!

[Hitokiri]

Reef - Ooh, I likw that red light idea. Sounds fun. Actually, I have a black light in there and it give a bit of light, so yeah, I noticed they came out. As for them being healthy, yeah. I told the man to pick me a fighter! For $25, I dont want it dying in 3 days This one practically jumped out of the fish tank, trying to get away from being caught!

The domino demsel fish will NOT leave the cleaner alone lol It follows it all over trying to get cleaned. Like a stalker I tell you! The fish is healthy too. But recently I saw it scratching itself on the rock, so I hope its not ich. If it is, well, thats what the cleaner is for!

[carpenterwrasse]

unless my cleaners do more than the normal things in the dark that pairs do i have never seen them clean a fish.....they have tried but the fish don't seem to be interested in being groomed in the light of the day.