amx304

I never thought I'd have shrimp in my tank, but they are so cool.



There are three of them in there, but this was the only one that would pose for me this morning.

atmmachine816

Hey that's pretty cool, looks really healthy. I have one and I really like watching them. I like how they'll sit in a current and eat, pretty neat.

au01st

Cool! I'm getting 2 more tomorrow to chill with my current guy.

Hypnox

I have one of them. Really cool little guy but he only comes out from his rock hiding place after the lights go out.

au01st

Really? Mine was climbing all over the driftwood today. I added 5 ghost shrimp (store was out of bamboo shrimp) to the tank, and one of them is apparently pregnant. Anyways, since I added the ghost shrimp, he's been a lot more active.

Hypnox

Yea, sometimes I wonder if he's alive. But he moves around under the rock through out the day. I put sinking wafers under the rock every couple days.

amx304

All three of mine seem to roam around the whole tank. They have different spots they like to sit and feed. They also pick around for little bits in the gravel. Several times I've even seen them swimming.

amx304

Well...one of them molted while I was at work today.

au01st

I read that if they're digging in the substrate, it's because they're not getting enough food from filtering. Mine likes to sit on a rock in the middle of the tank for hours a day with his little arms flying out. He also sits on top of the driftwood just in front of the filter outlet.

amx304

I think they're OK. All three of them have now molted. I have looked online for some type of food to put in the water with them, but there really isn't anything that the filter won't take out before they get a chance to eat. I don't think spot feeding them will work either.

They have plenty of places to sit out and feed in the water. I see them sitting with their fans out all the time. As long as they're getting enough to eat, I'm not sure it matters if it's from filtering or from the bottom.

sirdarksol

au01st is right, if they're picking at the substrate, they're going hungry.
They will damage their fans if they do this too much. They then have to rely on feeding from the bottom, which keeps their fans damaged, and they'll eventually starve.
It is probably good, though, that they've molted.
They usually need a well-established tank to live in (as a well-established tank has tons of algae and bits of bacteria floating in the water).
This kind of goes against what I would normally suggest, but you may want to (carefully) encourage an algal bloom in your tank. Feed a little bit extra and leave the lights on a little bit longer.
Target feeding is tough, but you may want to try it to help them out a bit.

au01st

Well my guy has found a new place to sit, right on the filter inlet of the Biowheel 350, lol. He sits on the tube and holds his fans just in front of the inlet vent; makes sense I guess. I really want to get a few more, but apparently when I bought this one, they were on sale at $3, now they're $7. Also, they hardly ever get them in stock and when they do, they're not as big as my guy...I wonder if the ghost shrimp keep him company?

sirdarksol

That's a common hangout for bamboo shrimp because of the high water flow.

au01st

Yeah, that's what I figured. He's definitely smarter than I'd have given a shrimp credit for. BTW, he's gone into hiding again, I assume to molt. Last time he did this, right after I got him, he was gone for 2 days, then I saw this bright red thing crawling around the tank and on closer inspection, I found his old shell. Very cool.