Enjoy my most recent posts
The articles are being categorize into various sections and you can find them in the individual sections such as Shrimp, breeding, tips and others. On mobile devices all articles will be shown. If you want to find older articles please refer to Archive Should you not be able find an article you wish to read about or learn more on, please feel free to contact me using the Contact page.
There are a lot of factors influencing the shrimp ability to breed from water parameter to food to shrimp genetics. However, today i would like to touch on a fairly common topic on Shrimp Food. The first question i get asked frequently is how often should i feed my shrimps? If you have a lot of shrimps like 20 or more, you might want to consider a daily staple feed fed twice daily and also a grazing material. Grazing material such as Lubao, Indian Almond leaves, Alder cone, cholla are some good examples.
The reason to feed them twice is so all your shrimps are fed and the female will ‘Think” that the tank have sufficient food to support their next generation. The whole idea is to feed lesser quantity but high frequency. So twice is good and if you can do 3 times it works as well.
If you feed in the morning and the shrimps are unable to finish it within 4 hours, then you’re not required to feed the second time in the evening Thats my general rule of thumb, Remove the food by then or if you have ramshorn snail, they will help with scavenging and foraging on the shrimp food. If the shrimps are not feeding, it could be there are still plenty of biofilm in the tank but do watch out if the shrimps are looking lethargic and not feeding.
A grazing material aids in building up biofilm for shrimps to consume between meals. Think of it like a snack and a good grazing material will be the food source between feeds.
There is a wide range of food in the market and i think we are spoiled for choice and which one is good for my shrimps? Personally i like using a good staple food and that is Hwa V1.
Staple Food
- Basically shrimps are not that fussy eater, most of the staple food sold in aquarium shops today are basically ok to feed your shrimp. I personally prefer keeping things simple and to feed only 1 type of staple food but a variety of grazing material is very crucial.
- I’m using Hwa Version 1 Shrimp food pad, this food is formulated with carefully selected ingredients to provide shrimp with all their requirements.
- if you are using some shrimp food which you think they’re good for your shrimp, good! There is really no need to change.
- Occasionally i feed Bacter AE and blanched spinach, they’re fairly good especially blanched spinach. if i’m feeling rich, i’ll order a pack of organic spinach and take out one serving for the shrimp while i consume the rest as a salad. For Bacter AE, i only dose them very minutely once a month to provide additional boost for creating biofilm.
Grazing material
Now here we get serious, grazing material in my opinion is equally important to daily feed. The amount of surface area for creating biofilm is important as it mimics the natural environment where Shrimps feed on biofilm.
Lubao, Indian Almond leaves and moss are three very popular and recommended grazing material. Alder cone and Cholla are not native to at least this part of the world, so i defer that information to those who have them. For Indian Almond leaves and Lubao we have very easy access to them hence we use them readily. I really like using Lubao because it is technically a microoganism food that produces food for cultivating microorganism for the shrimp to feed on and also biofilm. Indian almond leaves without going too deep into this topic has antibacteria properties, produces biofilm and are well liked by most shrimp. Grazing material is important because shrimp feed constantly and if there are not enough biofilm in the tank and daily feed is not consistent, the shrimps will not breed. They will start cannibalizing during molting. Hence, it is highly critical to have grazing material available.
A living grazing material that works very well is moss. Moss harbour a lot of microorganism which allow adults and shrimplets to graze on. Moss also provide cover for berried shrimp and shrimplets however it is also important not to over crowd the tank with moss because if it get too dense, some of the berried female may get stuck in there and die. Hence, always thin out the moss to a small bunch the size of your hand.
Summary
Taken together, it is vitally important for food to be readily present in the tank but this is also a fine balance between food availability and water parameters. As more food and grazing material is introduced into the tank, the water parameters changes so do choose a good staple food and grazing material into your shrimp breeding setup and it will go a long way. You will be rewarded with more berried shrimps and shrimplets in the months to come. In addition, as lubao is my favourite grazing material as it is easier to manage and control.
The bigger the water volume, the less fluctuation happens in an aquarium compared to one with a smaller water volume. This is certainly true as a general rule for all aquarist. However, does it mean that everyone need to have big tanks to keep shrimp?
Apparently not, shrimps can live comfortably in smaller tanks, they can even breed given that the challenge to house them in smaller tanks will be higher but definitely possible. I have tried on a very small tank at 8 litres and with 1 pair of shrimp. They manage to breed as well. It has a tiny little filter but it works well for them. It’s a pity I didn’t take any good pictures before i decommissioned the tank for a bigger one.,
1-2M to 5-10Females and once the shrimplets are out, i’ll transfer them all into the 80-100L tanks for them to grow up. This is generally for selective breeding. If you are not concern about selective breeding than definitely you can keep a lot more shrimps in a 40L.
For more sensitive shrimp or larger breeding groups, i’ll use the 80L tanks to breed them. For example a 80L tank we can consider putting 2-4M and 20-30F to get them breed for selection.In my opinion it doesn’t matter what size of tank you have i do prefer larger tanks if the breeding project is big. If i would like a small colony just for keep sake, you can go any tank size you possibly can handle. The smaller the tank the higher the margin of error so smaller tanks require good knowledge of maintaining water parameters. Do not let tank size deter you from keeping shrimps which i think is a good start for my new hobbyist venturing into the hobby.
With lesser shrimp, you would also have to feed smaller quantities and everything would be in smaller proportion. While i get the question if i can use lubao for smaller tanks? Yes you surely can provided there are sufficient shrimp in the tank that can consume the biofilm. From the pictures I have shared you can see that most of tanks I will use lubao. It has been part of my breeding process as there are many advantages that goes beyond a grazing material.
While there are many types of grazing material i like to keep my tank less busy so that i have space to see the shrimp do their day to day thing and easier from a selection process standpoint. However, i too have planted tanks which i too enjoy the additional greenery in it.
Ever since i have tried and fail many times on how to use lubao in different size tank, finally after many failed attempts i manage to get it right and wanted to share this valuable information on my other blog post.
While water parameters are indeed more stable in larger water volume, if one is able to control the fluctuation of the water in a smaller water volume, you will still be able to keep and breed shrimps! Hope this post shared some valuable information.
A breeder shared with me his analogy and i really like it as it matches to my other blog post Michelin Star. In other words, in the hands of a Chef/Painter they are able to create outstanding food/painting but not everyone given the same set of things will be able to deliver the same result. The eye for detail, the dash of salt, and so on is what make a great chef even better.
I have got quite a number of questions on how i use Lubao and i’ll share how i use them however again there is no definite way and i’ll share what i learn from Taiwan.
Before i use the lubao, i’ll soak them for 3-6 days to leech out the coloration and then kick start the biofilm process. While soaking, remember to change the water daily in the container that you are using it to soak. Please do not pour the water that you soak your lubao into the shrimp tank (there is a reason why we soak it outside the tank first). Lubao if kept dry can last a very long time since the high quality content are all dehydrated. The lubao that i pack are measured to a certain proportion and it has to be hardpacked individually to ensure every one are made correctly.
Soaking the ball 3-6 days, change water daily, do not pour the water use for soaking into the shrimp tank
During the soaking process, normally i’ll change water daily in the container to help speed up the process. Once the soaking is done, i’ll drop them into the tank and leave them 1 month for best result and than change out when either it floats up or after 1 month
Lubao are generally used for tanks that have more than 10-15 shrimp as personally anything lesser don’t quite benefit from it since the tank would be able to produce biofilm for them to graze. So from a tank size standpoint, even smaller tanks are able to use lubao just that the number of shrimp in that tank will still need to be of a certain number. In other words, if i have tanks with 5 shrimp, than i’ll not use it until they start throwing out shrimplets, i’ll then start introducing.
i generally use 40L tanks to do selective breeding 2M 6-10F and then transfer the shrimplets to grow up tank which are generally 80-100L. So in both those tanks i’ll use Lubao. As long as the tank is properly cycled, using Lubao will have no negative impact on water quality.
i have seen drastic difference when Lubao is use, females in general are more ready to saddle and berry. Cannibalism is greatly reduced which protects the female from getting eaten after molt. Taken together, i have seen a lot of advantage in using such a small yet important ball which helps breeders with a lot of tank and also those who are very busy with their daily work to be able to enjoy their hobby when they can.
Hope this helps!
There are a myriad of different type of food available in the market and also plenty of home made recipe that shrimps consume as well. However, what really is important is providing good quality feed for your shrimp. if you are currently feeding a good staple and it’s doing well, keep going.
Feeding quality feed for your shrimp is like what the old adage says, you are what you eat. This is true for your shrimps as well and also for overall water quality. It is highly critical that the food fed in the tank does not negatively impact the water quality. Hence, it is important that the quality of the food are fed also in an appropriate amount, sufficient for the shrimp to consume within a few hours and then the rest of the food either taken out or consume by snails.
Personally after trying so many types of food, the draw factor is the highest for Hwa Version 1. What is a draw factor? It means that the shrimp are drawn to the food like honey to bee, it’s very quick resulting in shrimps able to quickly get their daily nutritional uptake. Hwa Version 1 feed has always been my favourite as it comprises of all the nutritional factor to maintain a healthy shrimp.
With the right staple food like Hwa v1 coupled with Lubao will set the stage for the shrimps to breed more and live healthily. The lubao that i use are individually hand packed by myself to ensure the correct portion and freshness are in every ball. Instead of me rambling on, please enjoy the below videos on the testimonials of Hwa V1.