Indications shrimp are being underfed?

[seachaz]

Are there any tell tale indicators shrimp (CRS in my case) aren't getting enough to eat?

I ask because my shrimp have become more aggressive lately as the colony size has grown, even some of the berried females who normally would stay hidden are out. I'm probably still over feeding but was curious what signs may indicate otherwise.

[GeToChKn]

It's hard to tell. Shrimp are like dogs with fresh meat or cheese, they'll keep eating even if they're full. lol. You can feed your shrimp tank, all the food is gone, feed 4 hours later and they come out again. I've noticed the same though, as my population got bigger, the faster they came out and the more they were on the food, fighting over it and running away and hoarding, so I stepped up my feeding. It's always a rough guess. Snails help if possible as they eat the extra food. lol. When the food was gone before the snails even got to it, I knew it was time to feed more.

[sayurasem]

Shrimps are grazers. They literally eat and poop at the same time lol. But mostly they graze in biofilm.

[aznrice247]

my rule of thumb... if they are pooping a lot they are good.

[Blue Falcon]

I judge how much to feed based on the reaction I get from my shrimp. If all of them are swarming the food and hoarding it and I have a crazy shrimp ball, I take this as a sign I need to feed more often. If however some of the shrimp seem like they could care less about the food you just put in the aquarium, I take this as I am feeding the right amount and frequency of food. And lastly, if few or no shrimp seem interested in the food, I take this as a sign I am feeding too often.


Just my experiences

[laqu]

Originally Posted by Blue Falcon

I judge how much to feed based on the reaction I get from my shrimp. If all of them are swarming the food and hoarding it and I have a crazy shrimp ball, I take this as a sign I need to feed more often. If however some of the shrimp seem like they could care less about the food you just put in the aquarium, I take this as I am feeding the right amount and frequency of food. And lastly, if few or no shrimp seem interested in the food, I take this as a sign I am feeding too often.


Just my experiences

my thoughts exactly...

mine love their food and were ignoring the alge.. gave them a day no food they went NUTS for it the next day.. and yes they got back to the alge..

[binbin9]

If my shrimps arent ravenously attacking the food, I skip feeding for the next day.

[auban]

i find that shrimp are kinda like humans in respect to appetite. i spent a few months in isolation once, in a swamp. i went in weighing about 145, came out weighing 96(damned dysentery drove me back to society eight days earlier than i planned). while i was there, my preference for food changed dramatically. meat just didnt taste good after a couple months of eating it. the eyeballs tasted fantastic. so did the cartilage between the bones, and wild onions were to die for(strangely enough, so were pine needles). i had plenty of food in the form of meats, but it was lacking something my body needed(i think?).

my shrimp seem to have been the same way. if i feed them the same type of food over and over again, they seem to lose interest in it if they have plenty of it laying around. change the food up and they will pounce on it.

the sludge that forms around CO2 diffusers seems to be a delicacy to my shrimp, but when i cultured it and fed it to them for three days straight, they started to ignore it and would instead shove each other out of the way just to get to the pellets i was feeding them before.

i think shrimp just like variety. they seem to get bored with just one type of food.

[acitydweller]

As population density increases, one must adjust feeding habits accordingly. Sort of envision a buffet style restaurant running out of lobster and Alaskan crab legs and how the natives grow restless. Relying on biofilm alone will no longer be an option as food supplements are now a necessity.

Feeding sizes and locations must be multiplied and adjusted. Failing to do so will show signs of younglings being trampled with only the most aggressive surviving. Worst cases will show signs of predation on injured shrimp.