Amano Shrimp Wont Eat Veggies!

Hello everyone,

I've read on plenty forums on the Internet that shrimp will eat vegetables. For some reason mine wont. I know this isn't necessarily a problem - but is it normal?

I've tried feeding them blanched cucumber, zucchinI and spinach. They won't touch any of it!

I have 4 Amanos and 6 Sunset Platys in a 30 gallon. The tank has been cycled and stable for 2 weeks. I've tested the water once a day and the parameters are always:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: between 5 and 30
pH: 8.2

In general the shrimp seem to be doing great. They've been walking around a lot picking algae off surfaces non stop. Today they've been moving around less. They appear to be less active and they're not always nibbling on stuff. Is this how they're supposed to be? Are they just settling in or is this a bad sign?

Should I be concerned? I've seen so many posts of people describing how much their shrimp love veggies and food in general, but mine don't seem too interested. They've been in the tank for five days and I've tried feeding them veggies for three with no luck.

Thanks!

 

How long have you had them?
It's odd they're not eating (mine are little pigs) but if you see them eating algae I wouldn't be too worried. Have you tried feeding them algae wafers?

 

I've had them for only five days, but they've been pretty comfortable since day one. They don't hide a lot and I can mostly always find all four if I look around for a few minutes. The tank is planted and has three pieces of driftwood and stones in different sizes, so they have hiding spots.
I have no algae wafers, but I'm very much considering buying some to see if they'll eat it. If they wont, I guess something really could be wrong with them?
When I feed my platys flakes or frozen foods the shrimp don't really care either. They might come out a little more, but they don't swim towards the food or anything.

 

If you see them picking at stuff then I wouldn't worry about them.

 

Not even if they won't touch algae wafers?

 

My shrimp prefer veggies after they have been in the tank for about 12 hrs, then they devour them. Surprised your plates don't eat the veggies either.
I buy organic for fish, prefer not to add extra waxy residues. My shrimp also eat any leftover fish food, they don't love algae wafers but they graze on them...

 

When my 5 amanos were in 5.5 g tank with betta, they would easily eat a whole slice of zucchinI or cucumber in a day and would try to steal food from betta. After I moved half of them to a bigger tank the ones in big tank don't bother with veggies, they only somewhat interested in meat based fish food. And ones left with betta still eat veggies, but do not go after fish food, and I give them much less shrimp food too.
My understanding is that they prefere aglae/biofilm over veggies and when there enough of the first they do not bother with second.