[ant0328]

I've been adding IAL to my shrimp tank in the hopes of providing all the benefits that folks note about them, from the biofilm to the tannins, etc. Interesting thing is that my shrimp just completely ignore them. They disintegrate away and eventually I remove the leftover stems. In other tanks I see shrimp destroy them! haha. I have tangerine tigers and amanos and they could care less. Any thoughts?

 

[Blue Ridge Reef]

I use leaf litter and just assume it provides some food as it breaks down and grows film. I can definitely say that I've never seen them swarm it like they do food.

 

[en7jos]

Different shrimp have different tastes I guess. I have red cherry and goldenback neo's in the same tank (same species just different colours). The red cherries like to comb the moss, the goldenbacks like to hang upside down from below the floating salvinia and sieve the water's surface. I've never seen any of them actually eating the almond leaves though, but having said that, I can see a CRS that is happily munching on the algae that has grown on a leaf that has settled in the tank's brightest spot. The CRS seem a bit more shy that the neo's and enjoy hiding under the leaves too, but maybe just because they are younger / smaller.

So basically I think we just have to believe that they're doing good in our tanks. Or maybe the almond leaf parties only happen in the dead of night when we're not looking?

 

[ant0328]

Different shrimp have different tastes I guess. I have red cherry and goldenback neo's in the same tank (same species just different colours). The red cherries like to comb the moss, the goldenbacks like to hang upside down from below the floating salvinia and sieve the water's surface. I've never seen any of them actually eating the almond leaves though, but having said that, I can see a CRS that is happily munching on the algae that has grown on a leaf that has settled in the tank's brightest spot. The CRS seem a bit more shy that the neo's and enjoy hiding under the leaves too, but maybe just because they are younger / smaller.

So basically I think we just have to believe that they're doing good in our tanks. Or maybe the almond leaf parties only happen in the dead of night when we're not looking?

Hahaha IAL parties that's funny

 

[ichthyogeek]

It could also be the IALs you're feeding. I bought some small "indian almond leaves", they were incredibly wimpy and didn't look like IALs at all. The shrimp ignored them. Previously, they've not exactly "swarmed" IALs, but I could at least see them grazing on them when walking past the tank.

How large is your colony? When my colony was just starting out, the shrimp would be anywhere but the leaf until I waited for a bit to see them gather for a bit.