# Shrimp Babies..now what?



## raym (Aug 18, 2014)

Hi All. Just saw some little specks in my shrimp tank. Look to be shrimp babies. Now what do I do? Anything special or can they live off the biofilm in the tank? Thanks much for the advice.


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## woopderson (Feb 12, 2014)

You can get baby powdered foods which can be beneficial, but not necessary. My experience is that they munch bio film, and then move to the adult food when they think they can tango with the big boys.


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## raym (Aug 18, 2014)

Thanks woopderson. I passed by Shrimp Fever today and got some BEBI baby shrimp food. Hopefully, they survive.


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## woopderson (Feb 12, 2014)

No problem! Just keep with your regular routine and you will have more shrimp in no time. Let me know how your little guys like the food.


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## Shrimp Daddy (Mar 30, 2013)

raym said:


> Hi All. Just saw some little specks in my shrimp tank. Look to be shrimp babies. Now what do I do? Anything special or can they live off the biofilm in the tank? Thanks much for the advice.


That depends, what kind of shrimp are they?


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## raym (Aug 18, 2014)

Hi. They are Crystals.


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## Mykuhl (Apr 8, 2013)

I agree with Woopderson, if your tank is mature and we'll planted they will do just fine eating the tiny foods and algae that is already present in the tank. This has been my experience also. In fact I kinda tested this out with left over very young baby painted fire red shrimp. I fed them nothing at all for about 2 weeks and they still grew and molted.


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## colio (Dec 8, 2012)

I had lots of CRS grow up in my 10 gallon (with fish too!) without ever needing any special food for them. Though maybe more would survive with the baby food. They do really well, especially if you have some mossess in the task. Provides a good grazing ground for them.


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## raym (Aug 18, 2014)

This tank is only 2.5 months old so I'm not sure it is mature enough. I feel safer adding the extra food. It may be my imagination but they seem to be bigger already. 
Ray


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

That's enough time for a reasonable amount of biofilm to grow. True, usually you'll read 4 to 6 months for a tank to be mature enough for shrimp and some sensitive fish species. But baby shrimp really don't need much food, they're not big consumers. It's more common to have problems overfeeding than underfeeding. 

My first shrimp were Ghost shrimp, and given most of them were pregnant, I wanted to try and raise the babies. Didn't have a tank so I set one up overnight, literally. Used media cycled it fast, and I had shrimplets just a week or so later, most which survived just fine. I also had Snowball shrimp, which I kept in my 30 G, when it was only about 3 months established. They bred prolifically and I never fed them anything specific. They grazed the plants, rocks, wood and gravel, the sponge, and did just fine.

For the little Ghost shrimp, I put in plants, rocks and wood taken from more mature tanks, and a sponge filter, and with all that, the shrimp had plenty to eat. In fact, I didn't feed them at all for the first couple of weeks after they started swimming freely. Before that I fed them a few microworms. So I wouldn't worry too much about the little ones starving.


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## raym (Aug 18, 2014)

Thanks Fishfur. They do seem to be doing pretty well. I was wondering how much food could they really consume with little amount I put in the tank.


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