125 gallons, can shrimp find food?

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mattcham

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I have a 125 gallon plant-only tank. I'm about to add amano shrimp and have researched a lot about them. Since my tank is so large, will the shrimp be able to find the one pellet or zucchini that I drop into the tank?

With my other tanks, the fish eventually learn that food is coming when they see me. Do shrimp behave the same way?
 
I have a 125 gallon plant-only tank. I'm about to add amano shrimp and have researched a lot about them. Since my tank is so large, will the shrimp be able to find the one pellet or zucchini that I drop into the tank?

With my other tanks, the fish eventually learn that food is coming when they see me. Do shrimp behave the same way?

I don't have amano, but have ghost shrimp, and they are pretty aggressive at coming out for food. I've seen them swim up and grab flake food from pretty high up, and swim down to eat it. I think they "smell" it when it hits the water.

Someone else may have a more Amano specific answer.
 
could it be possible that the shrimp live in habitats that are larger than 125 gallons in the wild?? lol yea the shrimp will be fine.
 
could it be possible that the shrimp live in habitats that are larger than 125 gallons in the wild?? lol yea the shrimp will be fine.


I suppose there is quite the possibility this is true but I would also consider that at times, they don't. So me being me, I pose the theory that if they are true scavengers, size would be irrelevant OP. But another thought that comes to mind, would be do they acclimate to their surrounds the same way that fish do and would they "learn" to recognize you as the food source ?


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I suppose there is quite the possibility this is true but I would also consider that at times, they don't. So me being me, I pose the theory that if they are true scavengers, size would be irrelevant OP. But another thought that comes to mind, would be do they acclimate to their surrounds the same way that fish do and would they "learn" to recognize you as the food source ?


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium advice.

good point, though, since they are crustaceans and scavengers, im pretty sure they could find a smelly piece of fish food a good distance from themselves.
 
good point, though, since they are crustaceans and scavengers, im pretty sure they could find a smelly piece of fish food a good distance from themselves.

I haven't been doing this long, but so far I have yet to find ANY creature in my tanks that cannot quickly find food anywhere in the tank.

Snails -- it's amazing how fast they get over to something like cucumber put in the tank. A few million years of evolution in action, the slow-to-find-food fish are all fossils now. Small, under-weight ones. :facepalm:
 
Shrimp don't necessarily need to be fed... They can feast off algae, left over fish food, their own molts, bacteria on plants etc.

Don't expect any breeding to occur in the 125 though. What you got is what you get.


❤️ Invertebrates
Electric Blue Crayfish | CPO Crayfish | Shrimp
 
Amanos are quite adept at finding food and are very responsive when they detect it in the water. Even if you do not feed them directly, they should be able to find something to eat in a planted tank of that size.


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Amanos are quite adept at finding food and are very responsive when they detect it in the water. Even if you do not feed them directly, they should be able to find something to eat in a planted tank of that size.


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Well said! They'll find it if it's in there, if not they'll graze on the plants bio film and algae.. and don't say there's no algae or I'll come right through the screen :cool:

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^ haha... Uhhhhhh.... Thanks guys ! :D ..........


❤️ Invertebrates
Electric Blue Crayfish | CPO Crayfish | Shrimp
 
Don't expect any breeding to occur in the 125 though. What you got is what you get.

I have a 220 and that makes me curious... why not?

i was assuming fish would eat the fry, but with enough cover...

Or is there another issue?

It's not like they all have 5G shrimp bowls to breed in in the wild. :brows:
 
Well, first off, in the wild these shrimp are brown or dark green. They have great camouflage.

In the wild there are a lot more shrimp per square inch. With a few in a huge tank, it would be like putting one male and one female human in a forest and asking them to find each other. If there is 200 shrimp in a 125, then yeah, I can see the population increasing. The fact that he has a plant only tank (with no other fish) does help.

In a stocked tank, there are more predators in a small area than in the wild. You would need the perfect environment for them to hide and thrive. Fish have more interest in food when they're in an aquarium. The statistics just aren't on the shrimps side.


❤️ Invertebrates
Electric Blue Crayfish | CPO Crayfish | Shrimp
 
Thanks for all the replies. I brought home my very first shrimp - 10 amanos. One was already dad in the bag at the LFS so I got a refund in store. The surviving 9 are eating brown diatoms in my tank like there's no tomorrow.

@Linwood: we cannot easily breed amanos in captivity because the babies require a saltwater environment to survive and they subsequently transition back to freshwater. It has been successfully done but quite difficult. The babies grow very slow too.
 
Should have mentioned that as well. Its actually not uncommon for the mother to die if she carries the eggs too long due to a lack of salt. Usually she will drop them early.


❤️ Invertebrates
Electric Blue Crayfish | CPO Crayfish | Shrimp
 
@Linwood: we cannot easily breed amanos in captivity because the babies require a saltwater environment to survive and they subsequently transition back to freshwater. It has been successfully done but quite difficult. The babies grow very slow too.
Ah... Thank you. Kind of like nerites I guess.

Better for the LFS's. :brows:
 
Almost all of the amanos we see are wild caught. Hopefully the pet industry demand is not high enough to hurt the wild populations. The demand is quite high since its worldwide...
 
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