# Meeting the Needs of Bamboo Shrimp



## Swish (Apr 21, 2012)

It's been more that ten years since I've had an aquarium, so I'm basically new. I have some questions about how to determine if the needs of my aquatic pets are being met.

I have a 30 gallon (long) tank. It has an AquaClear filter (up to 50 gal.), a Deep Blue Pro Sponge 10, and a bubble wand. I have fine gravel medium (not quite sand), wood, rocks, 2 live plants, and some artificial. At this point I have two rabbit snails and 2 Bamboo Shrimp.

I've had this tank set up for just over 2 months, and it seems that it fully cycled about 1 month ago. Water parameters all seem to be where they need to be for the species that I have, and I do add salt.

pH - 7.6
Temp. ~75 degrees
I haven't tested for water hardness, but we have hard water here...
No Ammonia or Nitrites, but the nitrates have risen to ~5 ppm. I know that this is not a dangerous level, but I feel like they have risen b/c I'm over feeding my Bamboo Shrimp. I read that if the shrimp is searching for food along the bottom of my tank instead of in the current then it's probably starving. So when one of my shrimp started doing this, I started adding extra food. I've been adding a pinch of New Lite Spectrum Small Fry Starter to the water to feed them.

How can I tell if there's enough food in the water column for my shrimp to be healthy? And how much food should I be giving them?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions. :fish:


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## FoxLock (Jan 22, 2012)

I've had my 2 bamboo shrimps for about 6-7 months now in my 40 gal. They spend most of their time sitting on the driftwood filtering from the filters current, but sometimes they will search the bottom for scraps also. I don't really feed them directly but they do catch a stray fish flake now and then. Both seem to be healthy and molt every so often. So i dont worry too much if they search the bottom every now and again. The longer you have the tank going esp if you have fish with them they should have plenty to filter from the water. 
I wouldnt worry bout the nitrates at those levels, mines fully cycled and i usually have around 15-20ppm which is good for the live plants. 20ppm or under is usually fine and pretty normal.
Hope this help'd answer your Qs


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## Swish (Apr 21, 2012)

Thanks. That does help.  

I haven't added any fish to my aquarium yet. What fish do you have with your bamboo shrimp?


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## FoxLock (Jan 22, 2012)

Untill you have fish with em if you chose too, putting powered fry food like you did or crushed flakes could help them get some extra food just use alil bit thou. I have mine living with rams, corys, hatchet fish, ghost shrimp and a few others currently they get along jus fine.


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