@@wisetoad I tried every day, but my dense sponge filter clogged up a lot. Then I switched to once every 3 days. Results was better when I was feeding everyday, but second method is better in my case because of maintenance of the tank (cleaning filter and more frequent water changes because of NO3). Recently I changed sponges to less dense ( from 45 to 30 ppi) so they will not clogge so fast and it looks like I can feed more often. Remember to feed with small amount of powered food bc of NO3. It's everywhere anyways, so little shrimps will find it 🙂
I like using fry starter, has algae and spirulina and other things the shrimp eat a little so it supplements their diet, and its a very fine powder making it easy for them to eat and has same benefit as powdering up flakes, plus its what I feed my phoenix rasboras that I keep with my shrimp. Don't worry the rasboras are so tiny they cannot even eat hatchling shrimp.
I'm so happy you made this video. It's extra helpful! I have a group of chili rasboras in my shrimp tank and i feed them a small amount of powdered fish flake every day. After watching this video, I see that i can increase the powdered flake to benefit the shrimp too! Very good. Bunches of thanks!
I have a 55 gallon heavily planted shrimp and fish tank. I grind up fish flakes with a pill crusher for my bamboo shrimp. My neos and tiger shrimp breed like crazy, so I agree with feeding the tank.
Thank you, I've been thinking of ways to increase my shrimplet's chances of survival and I was so cautious about buying specific powered food it didn't cross my mind to grind up some of what i already have
Really interesting, thank you Mark. I do something similar but was feeding with a more plant/algae bias, but after watching this I added more freeze dried daphnia and bloodworm into my mix. I've found that when I've added 'bespoke' shrimp pellets to the tank, the shrimp don't really seem interested, preferring to graze across the tank in what I assume is a more natural behaviour? Great stuff again and thank you. 🦐❤️
I know generally people don’t like to keep fish with their shrimp but I introduced a group of Ottos to my tank and they help to make sure any extra food gets processed into material my plants can eat. That’s the crux of it right? You want to be able to feed more to support micro flora and fauna but not so much that you get spikes. It’s all about balance. I’m an aqua scaper so I like my glass clean but I just keep my front and back glass clean and leave the sides to get funked up. I also think you’re onto something with the ceramic media. It’s important to have high surface area features in the tank to encourage biofilm production. I do all my hard scaping with lava rock and it makes a good amount of film. With time and experience you get clean consistent plant growth and biofilm where it should be. Great video as always. I’ll definitely be trying ground flake food when I run out of my current powdered food.
shrimp and fish is just a personal preference mate, I dont begrudge people that do. the crux of it is you powder the food so it gets distributed to every surface on the tank, every surface is a growth platform for biofilm. its that vs spot feeding in a dish where the food doesn't get distributed so well. I am starting to think of it as in you feed the tank and not the shrimp anymore.
Even when you’re into scapes many of us do it this way, we just keep the front razored off for the view, it’s a great way to also feed “the plants” without having to add made amounts of fert for low tech setup.
Awesome video! I would have never thought of doing that. I’ve spent a lot of $$ on shrimp food and so much goes to waste because the shrimp simply don’t eat it so I toss it. I guess sometimes simpler is better. Thanks Mark! Cheers!
100% correct, even in my store I have removed all of the powdered stuff because I dont think it does anywhere as near as good a job as just powdered flakes.
Still using this method to keep a source of food in the tank. Although the tank is aquascaped i just keep on top of cleaning the front glass every few visits and let the other 3 sides biofilm out. Great video
Go for it Hendy, just make sure you cycle the tank for a few weeks if its neos a little sponge filter is all you need, and dechlorinate tap water with prime if your using tap.
Thank you for this video! I noticed an increase of biofilm in my guppy tank when I started grinding up food for the unexpected (but totally predictable) fry. The fry like to pick off the sides of the tank.
One thing I struggle with in my caridina tanks is to grow biofilm. They start off with green algae and diatoms, but after a few months, the glass is clear. Might give this one a go!
Both of my shrimp tanks are aquascapes and I just clean the glass front of the tank. I make gel food using agar agar and powdered fish flakes and I have booming colonies. The only problem I get is culling which is difficult with loads of plants. I have some ideas for two new tanks which will be for the best of both my existing ones. I have fire red and deep yellow neocaridina.
I really appreciate you keeping practicality at the heart of your shrimp keeping! This is such an excellent piece of info and I'll be sure to use it for my future tanks!
Mark your wisdom, advice and tips on shrimp keeping and breeding are always appreciated. I'm a beginner shrimp keeper and have learned so much from your channel, keep up the great work 👍
I rub sheets of seaweed between by fingers, breaks down easy, create biofilm. Also be feeding bits of frozen mackerel/pollock that I've caught to my fish and shrimp for their protein with live food every other day. Thanks for another great video. 👍
Buy from this European EU store that has more than 8k Aquarium products ✅ www.aquaristikshop.com/no/421683 All sales within 90 days of the original visit through this link are credited to me (90 days cookie). So please add this to your bookmarks thank you. Legal disclaimer Marks Shrimp Tanks Is an affiliate he does not own, sell or ship items. Buy Merch here marks-t-store.creator-spring.com/ ✅ Buy Shrimp food marksshrimptanks.ecwid.com/ ✅ Become a Shrimpfam Member ✅ ruclips.net/channel/UCl4DEcd7cdV5Yj9RS0MB1mQjoin Subscription Pop-Up Link goo.gl/JMPwor ✅ #marksshrimptanks #aquarium #shrimp #shrimptanks #aquariumshrimp For help or business enquires. ✉Email: markpeggie@hotmail.com
A very wise man told me this method a few days ago. 😜 thanks Mark for another great video. I recently got a coffee grinder so I’m gonna put it to some use!
Heheheheh ... nice to see I was correct in my observations of my own tanks. Don't overclean the glass (scrape only when necessary) and mulm is our friend. I only vac mulm IF my nitrates/nitrites start to rise too high, I also try to get every tank running on top off only, no water changes (lots and lots of plants!) THERE ARE NO UGLY SHRIMP ... only "happy accidents"
great! Was on my way to bay shrimp food,saved some money ther tank you.Without fully understanding I used this to get ottos into breading conditions. had a cotainer in sunlight with clear plastic packings feeding with flakes and rotateing into the tank.
@@hendywijaya3213 fry yes but kept them whith other fishes and otto fry very predatory sensetive so no one made it.The ottos got a littel ovum/sperm tube like cichlidsThe packings got light green and greasy and the licked them clear every time
I have been using ground up ReptoMin to feed the tank and seems to be doing the trick also. Started using it to help cycle the tank but found that the shrimp love it!
I recently cleaned out my shrimp tank and kind of started things over. It doesn't have enough biofilm growing back which is causing some problems. So this morning I put in some powdered krill to try and feed the bacteria, and now I randomly find this video. Pretty interesting. Maybe I'll pick up some flakes today.
and here I was, thinking it was a good sign that my tank's biofilm was no longer growing back because it was so clean lol. I guess back to growing biofilm then! 😜
Same results here in Canada. I was combining leftover/old fish food and grinding it up for a Daphnia culture. Some of this high nutrient water got into (what I thought was) a blue shrimp tank that wasn’t growing in population. Then a population boom within a month. Side benefit: I also will suck up detritus worms (who thrive with no predators) from the shrimp tank for a Chili Rasbora treat.
@@MarksShrimpTanks I am sure it will work out. The advice you give about the doubling up the air feed to the tanks, kick my shrimp into Over Time babes all over the tanks now, so sweet. ❣
Interesting this. I hadn't made the connection, but I've been feeding more fishfood (fine, not quite dust) to my shrimp lately and they have been surviving better and breeding better. Nice one Mark 🙂👍
Hi Mark …. I love your dedication to the hobby and your videos have been helping me on my shrimp keeping journey. I started this process using ground up Cichlid flakes and feed to my tanks every other day. I have not experienced any mortality or failures to molt that i’ve noticed. BUT i have noticed in the 2 tanks that i’ve been adding the flakes to my TDS has spiked from 130 to 177. I keep Caridina shrimp. So i didn’t gradual water changes to get it back down to 130 and stopped feeding the powder. What do you think i should change? Are you seeing increased TDS in your tanks?
yes I see it too, you just have to keep up with the water changes but I understand the issue with bee shrimp as you cant really do the big neo water changes. right now I just feed those tanks less, great question by the way. 👍
@@MarksShrimpTanks Initial reaction, I fed some to a few of my cull tanks and one hour later the shrimp have eaten all the visible particles and seem to be searching for more food lol. I think i am going to alternate on my weekly bacteria dosing with crushed flakes in a few tanks, and compare the biofilm progress against the tanks I feed no meat based protein. Thanks for the tip, Eager to see the progress in coming weeks.
No i dont trust the bacterial stuff so much, every time I try the different brands and feed anywhere near the recommended doses I would get shrimp deaths.
I have just 5 red cherry shrimps living with two baloon mollies, I guess they'll just eat on the leftover flakes from feeding the mollies or do they need their powered flakes too?
Most fry food is simply ground up flakes. If you are in the US, aquarium coop has a squeezable fry food for a good price. Also know that this encourages snail population to grow.
I do this with my Guppies as well and it works great. i just grind it up with my fingers but may save the mess and get a coffee grinder. Lost my shrimp colony to a crash and it is Chicago in Feb so it will be a few months before I can safely order again but hopefully soon.
Love your informativ videos on shrimps and how to take care of them. I really like this video, because its a problem to get enought biofilm for the shrimps. But one thing that Im thinking about is polluting the water with this much powder food? Howe often do you feed them and how much water do you change when you feed them this much? I have allways been told not to overfeed because you will get nitrite and other things that will kill your shrimps.,I feel confused :)
I’ve only had my shrimp tank running since December of last year. I let it season & finally added shrimp this past Feb. Other than snails, there are no other tank inhabitants. I’ve most likely over fed and I have a ton of seed shrimp & ostracods swimming around. I only have a 3 gallon at this point so is feeding powdered flakes going to continue to boost their population as well?
Great video Mark. Quick question, could I do this before adding my shrimp? Part of the cycling of the tank so that there is already bio film in the tank?
Hello mark, don't you give shrimp specific food to the shrimps, once you feed grinded fish flakes?? Do you only depend on the bio film? How often do you feed? I am curious to know..
@@MarksShrimpTanks I actually feed shirakura ebi dama and hikari shrimp cuisine alternatively daily. How should I incorporate this method of feeding fish flakes ? Please suggest
Flake for Lake Tanganika Cichlids usually has the highest protein content . So I'll buy some at the weekend ! Slightly off topic , but a handy way to judge the quality of a fish food is to examine the ingredients list . They are listed in order of magnitude . IE, first is the highest percentage of content and so on . Wheat high up on the ingredients list is an indicator of poor quality . It is used as a binder in nearly all fish foods but if it appears as one of the main ingredients then it is being used to bulk it up . It can not be digested by fish ( or shrimp ? ) so it goes in one end and out the other .
Ive always been in two minds with wheat because it lacks in nutritional value but is high in fiber, shrimp would normally eat a lot of decaying plant matter that's all fiber. maybe its good for there digestive system? which reminds me I must eat bran flakes this morning 😂
Always like your vids, but the fact that you know the "star trekkin'" song is totally legendary 👌 "boldly going forward, cause we can't find reverse." Seriously, haven't heard that since the 80s.
That was an MTS snail in my Opae Ula tank. I have tried spice grinders before and they do ok but the coffee grinder really powders it fine fine, you want that fine powder so it coats everything in the tank, so your basically feeding every surface in the tank.
depends on the amount of shrimp, some of my tanks are every day some tanks wont be able to take that much food, my blue dream tank has about 40 adults and about the same amount of babies and you can see how much I feed that tank, I feed that every second day.
My idea was just: If the tank has biofilm, shrimps are saturated. If it has no biofilm, shrimps are hungry. :o) In my really small tanks I cannot put enough bacter ae in, to get biofilm without hazardous overfeeding. I try your tip now and powder some fishfood. Thx man!
Hi Mark, very interesting video. now I'm also considering buying flakes and grinding them 😆 I currently use "Bacter AE" and "Tima Garnelenstaub Gravid" as dust food. can I just take tetra main food or actually goldfish flakes?
I just use any goldfish flakes but obviously the better the quality the better it is for your shrimp, I am looking for cichlid flakes or Discus flakes right now to try.
Took my little can of Tetra Rubin and grinded it to powder. Took like 10-15 sec :) Will be nice to skip the Bacter AE because it is difficult measure and can be dangerous to the shrimps, and its expensive to buy. Read on Tetra Goldfish info and it says its bio active. Thats sounds better then the tetra Rubin, I just ordered the Tropical Tanganyika flakes so I will try that instead later. Thanks for this information / tip Mark.
Hi, only stumbled on this video today . However how many times would you feed the powdered fish food ? Would shrimp baby food high in protein not work the same ? I know price might be a issue is that the only reason ?
Been feeding my neos crushed and powdered flakes for a long time. Get get in bulk different "flavors" half a pound at a time. They usually range 40 to 60% protein. I personally get 6 or 7 "flavors" of kens permium flakes at kensfish mix up 3 or 4lbs of food at a time. About time for me to mix up another batch. Might make another vid on how I do it too.
@Marks Shrimp Tanks ahh man, thats horrible. My last food order was like 240 bucks and I usually do that twice a year. Wife gives me a good sized section of the big deep freezer to store food and meds so I can save more by buying 10 or 12 pounds of food at a time lol. Usually buy 1 pound of 6 to 8 different foods, they send each pound in 2 half pound bags. So I whip up a batch of a half pound of each kind of flake. I have the old ones I always use, but try out new ones here and there. I think some of their super ultra flake lines are 60%+ protein.
I want to add some kH reading for my neocaridina tanks because I'm using RO water remineralized with salty gH+ (still have alot remaining, I will use salty gh/kh+ once it gone). So can I add baking soda to raise my kH slowly for now? Will it has any affects on shrimps/biofolm or anything it could be? Thanks alot!
What i do is i just take a mini pinch of goldfish flakes and dip it into the surface of the tank while i rub my fingers together and it will turn into a fine powder in the water. I do the same with sinking algea pellets too
Hi Mark just joined your channel! Love all your content and story.. mine is similar :) Im struggling with getting nice green walls for my shrimp. What light do you use? Im hoping this may be my missing link
Hello Harvey, I have lost of different types of lights, the issue really is if you have snails your not ever going to be able to maintain green walls because they will eat it all. I was told to use a small goldfish on tank setup t help cycle the tank and eat all the snails but I havnt gotten around to trying this yet.
I want to try this however I have scuds in my tank do you think I'd just be feeding the scuds and supporting their population? I've been feeding large food I can removed to try to cut back their numbers
Hi Mark, thanks so much for the wealth of shrimp keeping information you consistently provide us! I have a couple of questions about this feeding method: Would cichlid flakes be better for the purpose than goldfish flakes? I'm happy to buy either or both, just wondering which one would be most beneficial? Also, I have a bag of axolotl pellets that my axolotls refuse to eat, do you think I could try grinding them up into powder for my shrimpies like you do with the flake food? I'm not 100% sure on the exact protein content on them, but I'm pretty sure it's in the realm of 40-50%. And lastly, I have Repashy Grub Pie and Meat Pie varieties that I feed my axolotls - I occasionally throw a small morsel of it in with the shrimp and they seem to love it. As Repashy comes in a powdered form that you mix with hot water to make into gel food, what do you think about the idea of sprinkling some of the powder into the shrimp tank occasionally in place of powdered flakes, for the sake of variety? Thanks in advance, sorry for all the questions!
Learnt the hard way recently about the flea treatment... Sprayed the floors and didn't cover the tank thinking I wasn't anywhere near it. Within an hour or two most were dead. Luckily have a few survived including a few berried ones. So props to the jacket! 🙌🏻
I depends on the tank and how many shrimp you have Daniel so you have to watch your shrimp reaction to feeding them and then adjust the amount and frequency.
Holy...like watching you put those goldfish flakes in, it literally hit the surface and didn't do anything to the water. I haven't started any shrimp or anything yet, but been watching a lot of videos and hopefully I been getting a 15 gallon tank ready for it. But i might need to do this.
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'There's life Jim, but not as we know it' BEST INTRO EVER!!!!
Oh I am a big Treky fan, I think I have watched everything ever made multiple times 😂
Love that you said, "If you are an aquascaper, you're not going to want to do this." Great video!
Another great video! I’ve got the same observations with powdered food. My tanks are full of babies on the glass since I started this method ☺️💕🦐💕
Thats great to hear Anna :)
How often do you feed them the powder
@@wisetoad I tried every day, but my dense sponge filter clogged up a lot. Then I switched to once every 3 days. Results was better when I was feeding everyday, but second method is better in my case because of maintenance of the tank (cleaning filter and more frequent water changes because of NO3). Recently I changed sponges to less dense ( from 45 to 30 ppi) so they will not clogge so fast and it looks like I can feed more often. Remember to feed with small amount of powered food bc of NO3. It's everywhere anyways, so little shrimps will find it 🙂
@@ana007 thanks for the response!
Hello Anna, do you use shrimp food or other food that you make into powder?
I am trying to breed Cheery shrimp and this is amazing. I almost bought the expensive stuff! Thank you.
You are very welcome my friend 🤣
I like using fry starter, has algae and spirulina and other things the shrimp eat a little so it supplements their diet, and its a very fine powder making it easy for them to eat and has same benefit as powdering up flakes, plus its what I feed my phoenix rasboras that I keep with my shrimp. Don't worry the rasboras are so tiny they cannot even eat hatchling shrimp.
I'm so happy you made this video. It's extra helpful! I have a group of chili rasboras in my shrimp tank and i feed them a small amount of powdered fish flake every day. After watching this video, I see that i can increase the powdered flake to benefit the shrimp too! Very good. Bunches of thanks!
Carolynn you are very welcome 👍🦐
I have a 55 gallon heavily planted shrimp and fish tank. I grind up fish flakes with a pill crusher for my bamboo shrimp. My neos and tiger shrimp breed like crazy, so I agree with feeding the tank.
Just got into shrimp keeping a couple days ago and appreciate the video
Glad it was helpful my friend :)
Might have to try this out in a few tanks as well as the ponds outside
Yes give it a go mate I think you will be pleasantly shocked on how good it works.
Thank you, I've been thinking of ways to increase my shrimplet's chances of survival and I was so cautious about buying specific powered food it didn't cross my mind to grind up some of what i already have
try it for a few weeks and let me know how you got on.
This is very good video Mark. Basics that a lot of even experienced breeders forget. Keep doing such vids 💪💪💪
Thanks, will do!
Really interesting, thank you Mark.
I do something similar but was feeding with a more plant/algae bias, but after watching this I added more freeze dried daphnia and bloodworm into my mix. I've found that when I've added 'bespoke' shrimp pellets to the tank, the shrimp don't really seem interested, preferring to graze across the tank in what I assume is a more natural behaviour?
Great stuff again and thank you. 🦐❤️
yeah my shrimp do the same and thank you Mark :)
I know generally people don’t like to keep fish with their shrimp but I introduced a group of Ottos to my tank and they help to make sure any extra food gets processed into material my plants can eat. That’s the crux of it right? You want to be able to feed more to support micro flora and fauna but not so much that you get spikes. It’s all about balance. I’m an aqua scaper so I like my glass clean but I just keep my front and back glass clean and leave the sides to get funked up. I also think you’re onto something with the ceramic media. It’s important to have high surface area features in the tank to encourage biofilm production. I do all my hard scaping with lava rock and it makes a good amount of film. With time and experience you get clean consistent plant growth and biofilm where it should be. Great video as always. I’ll definitely be trying ground flake food when I run out of my current powdered food.
shrimp and fish is just a personal preference mate, I dont begrudge people that do. the crux of it is you powder the food so it gets distributed to every surface on the tank, every surface is a growth platform for biofilm. its that vs spot feeding in a dish where the food doesn't get distributed so well. I am starting to think of it as in you feed the tank and not the shrimp anymore.
Even when you’re into scapes many of us do it this way, we just keep the front razored off for the view, it’s a great way to also feed “the plants” without having to add made amounts of fert for low tech setup.
Awesome video! I would have never thought of doing that. I’ve spent a lot of $$ on shrimp food and so much goes to waste because the shrimp simply don’t eat it so I toss it. I guess sometimes simpler is better. Thanks Mark! Cheers!
100% correct, even in my store I have removed all of the powdered stuff because I dont think it does anywhere as near as good a job as just powdered flakes.
Still using this method to keep a source of food in the tank. Although the tank is aquascaped i just keep on top of cleaning the front glass every few visits and let the other 3 sides biofilm out. Great video
Thanks for sharing Kevin 👍
@@MarksShrimpTanks Keep up the great videos mate....... and get your instagram up to date 😄😄
Thanks for the tips, I used to have a shrimp tank and I failed miserably.. afraid to start again until I see this. This makes me motivated
Go for it Hendy, just make sure you cycle the tank for a few weeks if its neos a little sponge filter is all you need, and dechlorinate tap water with prime if your using tap.
Thank you for this video! I noticed an increase of biofilm in my guppy tank when I started grinding up food for the unexpected (but totally predictable) fry. The fry like to pick off the sides of the tank.
One thing I struggle with in my caridina tanks is to grow biofilm. They start off with green algae and diatoms, but after a few months, the glass is clear. Might give this one a go!
yes 100% try this I guarantee it works for you. 👍
Take out most plants, al floatingplants, reduce the moss and get more light hours,easy...
Remove the snails
Both of my shrimp tanks are aquascapes and I just clean the glass front of the tank. I make gel food using agar agar and powdered fish flakes and I have booming colonies. The only problem I get is culling which is difficult with loads of plants. I have some ideas for two new tanks which will be for the best of both my existing ones. I have fire red and deep yellow neocaridina.
Mark, you're a genius!
I wish I was !!!
I really appreciate you keeping practicality at the heart of your shrimp keeping! This is such an excellent piece of info and I'll be sure to use it for my future tanks!
Thank you Lilac :)
Mark your wisdom, advice and tips on shrimp keeping and breeding are always appreciated. I'm a beginner shrimp keeper and have learned so much from your channel, keep up the great work 👍
Thank you for the kind words my friend :)
Happy Days my friend!!! Nice to see that I am not crazy, haha! Thanks for a great video. From an Aussie living in China.
Thanks for watching mate.
I rub sheets of seaweed between by fingers, breaks down easy, create biofilm. Also be feeding bits of frozen mackerel/pollock that I've caught to my fish and shrimp for their protein with live food every other day. Thanks for another great video. 👍
I seen my first babies yesterday, thanks for all the info!!
Thank you Creep :)
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Do you only feed the Powdered food method or do you use other sinking foods as well??
A very wise man told me this method a few days ago. 😜 thanks Mark for another great video. I recently got a coffee grinder so I’m gonna put it to some use!
Great to hear :)
Hey Mark,
I've been doing this since I first saw this video a year ago. works awesome!
Mark spilling the beans lol 😂 keep some micro rainbow fish around to clean up all the left over micro fauna …
I dont keep fish and I like microfauna 👍
How often do you feed the powered food or did I miss that in the video?
Its different for every tank Brian, same as all the other foods
Heheheheh ... nice to see I was correct in my observations of my own tanks. Don't overclean the glass (scrape only when necessary) and mulm is our friend. I only vac mulm IF my nitrates/nitrites start to rise too high, I also try to get every tank running on top off only, no water changes (lots and lots of plants!) THERE ARE NO UGLY SHRIMP ... only "happy accidents"
great! Was on my way to bay shrimp food,saved some money ther tank you.Without fully understanding I used this to get ottos into breading conditions. had a cotainer in sunlight with clear plastic packings feeding with flakes and rotateing into the tank.
Oh that is a good tip sir, thank you.
That's what I've been thinking as I watched "how to grow biofilm".. but, did you actually succeed breeding otto? That's amazing
@@hendywijaya3213 yes years ago, you can condition them with bloodworm and brineshrimp, this is why I know for sure they are not shrimp safe.
@@hendywijaya3213 fry yes but kept them whith other fishes and otto fry very predatory sensetive so no one made it.The ottos got a littel ovum/sperm tube like cichlidsThe packings got light green and greasy and the licked them clear every time
very good tip thanks! I saw my very first velvet blur babies this morning! only saw two but I have so many plants I'm sure there are more
yes you will have more in the plants, thanks for watching mate.
I have been using ground up ReptoMin to feed the tank and seems to be doing the trick also. Started using it to help cycle the tank but found that the shrimp love it!
I use mine for ghost feeding new tanks as well 👍
Thanks for all the great content here! I'm learning so much and love seeing your tanks and process.
Mark, how can I use this method with a canister filter? Should I just turn it off when I feed the shrimp? Thank you.
no leave it on, you should have a sponge on the intake for a shrimp tank, shrimp will graze on it.
I recently cleaned out my shrimp tank and kind of started things over. It doesn't have enough biofilm growing back which is causing some problems. So this morning I put in some powdered krill to try and feed the bacteria, and now I randomly find this video. Pretty interesting. Maybe I'll pick up some flakes today.
You should it will work for you :)
I love your all vids. thanks man you help alot. have a blessed shrimp week end
and here I was, thinking it was a good sign that my tank's biofilm was no longer growing back because it was so clean lol. I guess back to growing biofilm then! 😜
yes biofilm and powdered food is the key to breeding lots of them.
man! This is working great for me! Thank you for this tip!
Same results here in Canada.
I was combining leftover/old fish food and grinding it up for a Daphnia culture. Some of this high nutrient water got into (what I thought was) a blue shrimp tank that wasn’t growing in population. Then a population boom within a month.
Side benefit: I also will suck up detritus worms (who thrive with no predators) from the shrimp tank for a Chili Rasbora treat.
Thanks for this great video. Lots of great information.
Shrimp babies stay on the bottom most of time. Powder food usually floats in the water so how they eat powder food Sir?
When you powder it and add it to water the particles are tiny and they cover every surface in the tank.
Great video and information, Mark! I will start this tomorrow with my weekly water changes. Sweet!!👍🦐
Good luck!
@@MarksShrimpTanks I am sure it will work out. The advice you give about the doubling up the air feed to the tanks, kick my shrimp into Over Time babes all over the tanks now, so sweet. ❣
Love all the limpet and copepod shots
Thank you :)
Interesting this. I hadn't made the connection, but I've been feeding more fishfood (fine, not quite dust) to my shrimp lately and they have been surviving better and breeding better.
Nice one Mark 🙂👍
Thank for watching Eddy :)
A lot of cheaper flakes are fairly high in phosphates which probably helps with the algae and maybe the biofilm
yes for sure they do now to buy different flake types in bulk 😂👍
Hi Mark …. I love your dedication to the hobby and your videos have been helping me on my shrimp keeping journey. I started this process using ground up Cichlid flakes and feed to my tanks every other day. I have not experienced any mortality or failures to molt that i’ve noticed. BUT i have noticed in the 2 tanks that i’ve been adding the flakes to my TDS has spiked from 130 to 177. I keep Caridina shrimp. So i didn’t gradual water changes to get it back down to 130 and stopped feeding the powder. What do you think i should change? Are you seeing increased TDS in your tanks?
yes I see it too, you just have to keep up with the water changes but I understand the issue with bee shrimp as you cant really do the big neo water changes. right now I just feed those tanks less, great question by the way. 👍
Again mark speaks the honest truth great video again💪
Thank you hamster :)
Awesome vid. I have always steered away from meat derived proteins with caridina but this is worth a shot and see what we get!
yeah give it a try mate and see how you get on, let me know.
@@MarksShrimpTanks Initial reaction, I fed some to a few of my cull tanks and one hour later the shrimp have eaten all the visible particles and seem to be searching for more food lol.
I think i am going to alternate on my weekly bacteria dosing with crushed flakes in a few tanks, and compare the biofilm progress against the tanks I feed no meat based protein. Thanks for the tip, Eager to see the progress in coming weeks.
I have tubs of bacterial stuff I may as well throw away because this works so much better.
@@MarksShrimpTanks Don't throw it away and waste it. Feed it with the powdered flake and then just don't replace it once it's gone. 😊
No i dont trust the bacterial stuff so much, every time I try the different brands and feed anywhere near the recommended doses I would get shrimp deaths.
I have just 5 red cherry shrimps living with two baloon mollies, I guess they'll just eat on the leftover flakes from feeding the mollies or do they need their powered flakes too?
Great video! Can this cause any detritus worm or hydra issues?
yes possible so dnt go bezerk with the feeding.
Most fry food is simply ground up flakes. If you are in the US, aquarium coop has a squeezable fry food for a good price. Also know that this encourages snail population to grow.
yes my snail population is exploding too, I can see shell improvement in the Ramshorn snails as well.
I do this with my Guppies as well and it works great. i just grind it up with my fingers but may save the mess and get a coffee grinder. Lost my shrimp colony to a crash and it is Chicago in Feb so it will be a few months before I can safely order again but hopefully soon.
best of luck to you mate when you get the new shrimp going. 👍
I've watched a few of your videos and enjoyed them, but once you made a Star Trek joke I knew I had to subscribe hahaha!
Thank you Emma 🖖
Love your informativ videos on shrimps and how to take care of them. I really like this video, because its a problem to get enought biofilm for the shrimps. But one thing that Im thinking about is polluting the water with this much powder food? Howe often do you feed them and how much water do you change when you feed them this much? I have allways been told not to overfeed because you will get nitrite and other things that will kill your shrimps.,I feel confused :)
Hello Ronny, you get away with it in neo tanks if your doing big water changes like I do. I do 30% a week incase you didnt know 😂
I use Glas Garten Shrimp Baby powder. When I started using it regularly , that is when my tank took off. But it is not inexpensive.
Did you try fish flakes it's really cheap and really easy to get
Awesome video and info! What are the small jars with grey bottoms I see in lots of your tanks?
ruclips.net/video/0QqyDKN-ABE/видео.html
I’ve only had my shrimp tank running since December of last year. I let it season & finally added shrimp this past Feb. Other than snails, there are no other tank inhabitants. I’ve most likely over fed and I have a ton of seed shrimp & ostracods swimming around. I only have a 3 gallon at this point so is feeding powdered flakes going to continue to boost their population as well?
Great video Mark. Quick question, could I do this before adding my shrimp? Part of the cycling of the tank so that there is already bio film in the tank?
Yes sir, I call this ghost feeding, Just dont over do it .
great vid
which brand of flake food did you use ?
Tetra 🦐👍
Hello mark, don't you give shrimp specific food to the shrimps, once you feed grinded fish flakes?? Do you only depend on the bio film? How often do you feed? I am curious to know..
yes I try and feed a solid food once a week which can be anything, baby spinach is very good for them.
@@MarksShrimpTanks I actually feed shirakura ebi dama and hikari shrimp cuisine alternatively daily. How should I incorporate this method of feeding fish flakes ? Please suggest
Flake for Lake Tanganika Cichlids usually has the highest protein content . So I'll buy some at the weekend !
Slightly off topic , but a handy way to judge the quality of a fish food is to examine the ingredients list . They are listed in order of magnitude . IE, first is the highest percentage of content and so on . Wheat high up on the ingredients list is an indicator of poor quality . It is used as a binder in nearly all fish foods but if it appears as one of the main ingredients then it is being used to bulk it up . It can not be digested by fish ( or shrimp ? ) so it goes in one end and out the other .
Ive always been in two minds with wheat because it lacks in nutritional value but is high in fiber, shrimp would normally eat a lot of decaying plant matter that's all fiber. maybe its good for there digestive system? which reminds me I must eat bran flakes this morning 😂
Always like your vids, but the fact that you know the "star trekkin'" song is totally legendary 👌 "boldly going forward, cause we can't find reverse."
Seriously, haven't heard that since the 80s.
I love star trek 😂
Thanks Mark great idea bactere AE is exspensive and I can only get it by ordering online.
yes it seems to get round the issue bacterAE has of killing shrimp if you dose to much of it.
8:09 lol your rabbit snail (?) with 'grass' hula skirt. I use our spice grinder (only have 1) and clean it thoroughly after.
That was an MTS snail in my Opae Ula tank. I have tried spice grinders before and they do ok but the coffee grinder really powders it fine fine, you want that fine powder so it coats everything in the tank, so your basically feeding every surface in the tank.
Glad i watched, have all this in too, just done it. How often weekly?
depends on the amount of shrimp, some of my tanks are every day some tanks wont be able to take that much food, my blue dream tank has about 40 adults and about the same amount of babies and you can see how much I feed that tank, I feed that every second day.
Hello sir. Im from India. i watch your vedios regularely. its great knowledge about shrimps. Thank you. and powdered food need to feed daily?
it depends on the amount of shrimp but yes the more you can feed them the more they grow.
@@MarksShrimpTanks Thanks for the reply.
With such a large set up I imagine you've got these tanks auto water changes? Wouldn't over feeding like this create ammonia spikes?
My idea was just: If the tank has biofilm, shrimps are saturated. If it has no biofilm, shrimps are hungry. :o) In my really small tanks I cannot put enough bacter ae in, to get biofilm without hazardous overfeeding. I try your tip now and powder some fishfood. Thx man!
Oh you will love this, I have thousands of baby shrimp now just doing this one thing. Thanks for watching mate:)
Hi Mark,
very interesting video.
now I'm also considering buying flakes and grinding them 😆
I currently use "Bacter AE" and "Tima Garnelenstaub Gravid" as dust food.
can I just take tetra main food or actually goldfish flakes?
I just use any goldfish flakes but obviously the better the quality the better it is for your shrimp, I am looking for cichlid flakes or Discus flakes right now to try.
Took my little can of Tetra Rubin and grinded it to powder. Took like 10-15 sec :) Will be nice to skip the Bacter AE because it is difficult measure and can be dangerous to the shrimps, and its expensive to buy. Read on Tetra Goldfish info and it says its bio active. Thats sounds better then the tetra Rubin, I just ordered the Tropical Tanganyika flakes so I will try that instead later. Thanks for this information / tip Mark.
You are on the right path Ronny 👍
Hi, only stumbled on this video today . However how many times would you feed the powdered fish food ? Would shrimp baby food high in protein not work the same ? I know price might be a issue is that the only reason ?
Been feeding my neos crushed and powdered flakes for a long time. Get get in bulk different "flavors" half a pound at a time. They usually range 40 to 60% protein. I personally get 6 or 7 "flavors" of kens permium flakes at kensfish mix up 3 or 4lbs of food at a time.
About time for me to mix up another batch. Might make another vid on how I do it too.
Its a royal pan in the butt for me to get any bulk flakes in any amounts here, I am paying $100 for a 5 liter tub.
@Marks Shrimp Tanks ahh man, thats horrible. My last food order was like 240 bucks and I usually do that twice a year. Wife gives me a good sized section of the big deep freezer to store food and meds so I can save more by buying 10 or 12 pounds of food at a time lol. Usually buy 1 pound of 6 to 8 different foods, they send each pound in 2 half pound bags. So I whip up a batch of a half pound of each kind of flake. I have the old ones I always use, but try out new ones here and there. I think some of their super ultra flake lines are 60%+ protein.
yeah I dont have much choice, customs here are pathetic.
I want to add some kH reading for my neocaridina tanks because I'm using RO water remineralized with salty gH+ (still have alot remaining, I will use salty gh/kh+ once it gone). So can I add baking soda to raise my kH slowly for now? Will it has any affects on shrimps/biofolm or anything it could be? Thanks alot!
How often do you give this?
What i do is i just take a mini pinch of goldfish flakes and dip it into the surface of the tank while i rub my fingers together and it will turn into a fine powder in the water. I do the same with sinking algea pellets too
good tip 👍
Hi Mark just joined your channel! Love all your content and story.. mine is similar :) Im struggling with getting nice green walls for my shrimp. What light do you use? Im hoping this may be my missing link
Hello Harvey, I have lost of different types of lights, the issue really is if you have snails your not ever going to be able to maintain green walls because they will eat it all. I was told to use a small goldfish on tank setup t help cycle the tank and eat all the snails but I havnt gotten around to trying this yet.
ahhhh Thank you Mark! I just took my snails out of all of the tanks. @@MarksShrimpTanks
hi like all ways grate content, how often would you say one must feed them this way.
just a couple of times a week 👍
nice one sir
Appreciated
I want to try this however I have scuds in my tank do you think I'd just be feeding the scuds and supporting their population? I've been feeding large food I can removed to try to cut back their numbers
Hi Mark. Another great video. Could I do this to get biofilm started in a bran new tank?
Yes, absolutely
Have you considered making a mix of powdered fish flakes supplemented with BacterAE? Maybe some spirulina in the mix too.
I dont want to add bacteria to the tanks now, I am going for pure water quality.
Good idea but please enlighten me why the nitrate will not spike?
Nitrate will rise it doesnt spike like you think it does, this is why in tanks I use this in the plants are very healthy.
Will it not create spike in nitrates?
yes probably, low nitrates isnt an issue for shrimp.
@@MarksShrimpTanks will try doing that. Glad you shared it to us. Thanks. ☺️👍🏼🙏🏽
My pleasure mate :)
How offten do you feed them mark
Every single tank is different mate, you have to watch the shrimp behavior to the food you add then go from there.
@@MarksShrimpTanks thanks mate
so these little organisms are ok/ good for the tanks? new to shrimp, but I've had a few clutches of eggs hatch already, but looking to learn more
Yes they are, if they can live so can baby shrimp, I do have some tanks with really no microfauna and I am trying to figure out why right no.
Hi Mark, thanks so much for the wealth of shrimp keeping information you consistently provide us! I have a couple of questions about this feeding method: Would cichlid flakes be better for the purpose than goldfish flakes? I'm happy to buy either or both, just wondering which one would be most beneficial? Also, I have a bag of axolotl pellets that my axolotls refuse to eat, do you think I could try grinding them up into powder for my shrimpies like you do with the flake food? I'm not 100% sure on the exact protein content on them, but I'm pretty sure it's in the realm of 40-50%. And lastly, I have Repashy Grub Pie and Meat Pie varieties that I feed my axolotls - I occasionally throw a small morsel of it in with the shrimp and they seem to love it. As Repashy comes in a powdered form that you mix with hot water to make into gel food, what do you think about the idea of sprinkling some of the powder into the shrimp tank occasionally in place of powdered flakes, for the sake of variety? Thanks in advance, sorry for all the questions!
yes Cichlids flakes would be really good for them with that higher protien value, the rest I am not really sure about.
@@MarksShrimpTanks thank you so much for replying, and so quickly! Very much appreciated :) Looks like I'll be buying some cichlid flakes tomorrow.
Learnt the hard way recently about the flea treatment... Sprayed the floors and didn't cover the tank thinking I wasn't anywhere near it. Within an hour or two most were dead.
Luckily have a few survived including a few berried ones. So props to the jacket! 🙌🏻
yeah i have heard some absolute horror stories, entire shrimp rooms being wiped out ect, great to hear you managed to save some.
@@MarksShrimpTanks think I was lucky I was working from home and spotted it and managed to do a massive water change.
Do you think Cichlid granules would work as good as flakes? I'd imagine they would me similar ingredients.
yes for sure, I think they tend to be a little higher in proteins than standard fish flakes so they should be good.
Hey Mark, I’m relatively new to the shrimp hobby. I was wondering how often you feed powder food. Once a day?
every tank is different my friend, my blue dream tank I can feed every day but other tanks like my rili tank is 2 times a week.
Did Mark mention how often he feeds like this?
I depends on the tank and how many shrimp you have Daniel so you have to watch your shrimp reaction to feeding them and then adjust the amount and frequency.
do you still feed like this? its amazing how the best food is the most simple
Yes I do!
Holy...like watching you put those goldfish flakes in, it literally hit the surface and didn't do anything to the water. I haven't started any shrimp or anything yet, but been watching a lot of videos and hopefully I been getting a 15 gallon tank ready for it. But i might need to do this.
You showed how much you add but did you say how often?
see my last video my friend I did a QnA for this video on stuff I forgot to say.
hey Mark I have a question can I do this in my crystal red and Taiwan b tank also or just in the neotanks?
you can but the issue is you cant do as big a water change like you can with neos, you have to watch for nitrates spikes.
People are concerned with copper content in fish food and most goldfish food has copper. What do you think about this?
Doesn’t that case a ammonia spike with all that food?
Very useful
Glad to hear that