how much does a cleaner shrimp need to eat?

[jessey]

pretty simple question, hopefully with an equally simple answer.

right now my pico only consists of inverts, with the shrimp being the only creature whose diet i am really concerned about (everyone else has PLENTY of algae to munch on). i bought saltwater 'granule' food for my lil guy, and he eats it right up. question is, how much does he need? i've only been dropping 2-3 granules in the tank each day. i know he always gets at least one (i watch him and he gets it right away!), and he may or may not get the other 2 eventually.

should i be feeding him more? i don't want to starve him, but i also don't want to over pollute the water, creating unnecessary nitrates (and thereby unnecessary extra WCs!).

jessey

 

[eva]

Im not sure about how much they need to eat but when I first got my clean up crew, we were not feeding the tank (obviously) and one day my boyfriend came home to find our cleaner shrimp eating a left handed hermit crab. We *think* it was because the hermit was out of his shell and vulnerable but who knows, maybe the shrimp was preying on him because he was hungry?

 

[TRe]

he was prolly only praying on him cause he was dead sick or dying

 

[Lotus]

My cleaners seem to have no limit on how much they want to eat. Mine will eat three or four pellets each, if they can get them before the gobies and peppermint shrimp. I'd think a couple of pellets a day, in addition to whatever algae or whatever they find on the live rock, should be enough.

 

[CoolWaters]

the funny thing about them eating the pellets is that u can tell how much he ate cuz there see through lol
i miss my cleaner...im planning on getting a smaller one since the one i had before didnt do much cleaning...hopefully the new guy will have some luck.

 

[Lotus]

I believe they're called cleaner shrimp because they clean parasites off fish, not because they clean up a tank.

 

[CoolWaters]

I believe they're called cleaner shrimp because they clean parasites off fish, not because they clean up a tank.

they dont eat ich thos....wish they did =/

they cant just live off jsut eating parasites off fish. mine goes savage on the flake foods and mysis.*twirlysmi

 

[JeLeAk]

they dont eat ich thos....wish they did =/

they cant just live off jsut eating parasites off fish. mine goes savage on the flake foods and mysis.*twirlysmi

i thought they did

 

[aresgod]

they do in the wild, they also scavenge other goodies they can find. They do eat the ich parasite but are neither a cure nor a preventative measure.

 

[Lorna]

Mine used to attach himself to my hands when I put them in the tank to do work, you could feel him picking at the skin on my hands.....cleaning it....

 

[jessey]

mine does the same thing! at first he was just crawling around on my hand, but then i felt a little 'pinch' - scared the crap outta me. and i was hoping i could hand feed him, but when i tried he was more interested in exploring my hands, lol.

 

[KahluaZzZ]

mine tries to clean my nails...also a good dead skin remover
i often find my shrimp munching pods..good, live food.

 

[CoolWaters]

Mine used to attach himself to my hands when I put them in the tank to do work, you could feel him picking at the skin on my hands.....cleaning it....

i miss that feeling...

does fire shrimp do that? like cleaning and such? im planning to get that one.

 

[KahluaZzZ]

they're like tiny surgeons

 

[Lorna]

fire/blood shrimp are cleaner shrimp also but not so inclined to be out in the open as much as a skunk or coral banded will