Bacter Ae And Shrimp Feeding

Hi,

I have a fairly heavily planted shrimp tank that has been up and running (with a cycled filter and substrate) for a few weeks now and am at a loss for what to feed/how much to feed my shrimp. I did a lot of research prior to getting them, but I think I might be over feeding, or not feeding them correctly based on a few articles I read yesterday. It's a 10 gallon with a large piece of driftwood in it. The stocking is 4 ghost shrimp and 8 cherry shrimp (ghost shrimp are just in there temporarily as I want a species only tank for the cherries).

I finally got Bacter AE on Friday and have been putting in 1/8 scoop per day to get a good biofilm going for my cherry shrimp, but do they need additional food? And is this too much for my tank which at the moment has a lowish stocking? I have previously tried algae wafers, sinking shrimp pellets, and hikarI first bites but the cherries weren't interested in any of those. They seemed to like the low quality fish flakes I tried, but those have a less-than-ideal nutritional profile so I really don't want to use those. They do seem to like the Bacter AE but I am concerned I am using too much or not giving them everything they need if that is all they are eating.

For the ghost shrimp-they seem to like the algae wafers and have been eating the algae on the glass of the tank, I'm guessing this is sufficient since the wafers have protein?

So, I guess my main question is what is the best dosing for Bacter AE and what else should I be feeding my cherries since they don't like any of the food I have provided except the junk food fish flakes?

PS. I should also add that while I only have 8 adult cherry shrimp right now I have at least 2 berried females (one of which is due any day now).

 

You could try adding in blanched green vegetables. I personally use zucchinI slices boiled until soft. Leave it in for about a day and take out what's left. I do this every couple of weeks however, my tank has been up for a few years so the bio film is well established all over everything. My cherries are all over it. It may take a few times for them to figure it out. Mine know its there as soon as I drop it in. You can see them all racing over towards it.

 

You could try adding in blanched green vegetables. I personally use zucchinI slices boiled until soft. Leave it in for about a day and take out what's left. I do this every couple of weeks however, my tank has been up for a few years so the bio film is well established all over everything. My cherries are all over it. It may take a few times for them to figure it out. Mine know its there as soon as I drop it in. You can see them all racing over towards it.

Perfect, I have some frozen (previously blanched) bok choy and zucchinI so I will thaw and try both of those and hopefully I have a few takers.

 

As already mentioned your cherry’s will eventually eat just about anything you put in food wise. Mine actually prefer the algae wafers. I feed them two or three times a week. AE is good but I think you could get away with once a week as you figured out you don’t need a full scoop. If over used it can foul your tank quickly.

 

As already mentioned your cherry’s will eventually eat just about anything you put in food wise. Mine actually prefer the algae wafers. I feed them two or three times a week. AE is good but I think you could get away with once a week as you figured out you don’t need a full scoop. If over used it can foul your tank quickly.

Yeah, I am learning that the hard way. I got some good advise on dosing AE and will be doing 1/8 scoop twice a week as I have some babies now. 1/8 per day was way too much.