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Neo vs. Caridina: Differences in Feeding Behavior?


Euryth

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I noticed that when I feed my Neo/Caridina mixed tank, my BB mischlinge are much more aggressive than my RCS and Carbon Rili shrimp. When I dropped a nice sized chunk of Shirakura Shrimp Ball food towards the front of the tank, they all rushed it immediately, some coming from nearly every corner of the tank to the one spot. They seem to fight over the food pretty intensely lol, and every time they're fed, one BB mischlinge ends up taking the pellet/food chunk to themselves somewhere to eat it in peace. Prior to adding them to the tank, my Neos never displayed this behavior with the same food, and seemed pretty content to share with a few minor squabbles here and there. 

 

Has anyone noticed any behaviors similar to this with these two shrimp types, or know if there are indeed differences in feeding behavior? 

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I've finally got a nice sized algae patch growing on the back wall that my Neo juvies graze on pretty much all day long, but that's about it. Most of the Neo adults hang out on my sponge intake cover & moss or java ferns and do their own thing. I'm wondering if I should invest in smaller pellets so each shrimp could have their own? 

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Different theories about that, Euryth.  Some people feel feeding small pellets or powder allows each shrimp to graze without competition for one pellet.

 

Others feel that there is more chance for bad water quality that way.

 

No real correct answer.  Just shades of gray. ;)

 

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45 minutes ago, Euryth said:

I've finally got a nice sized algae patch growing on the back wall that my Neo juvies graze on pretty much all day long, but that's about it. Most of the Neo adults hang out on my sponge intake cover & moss or java ferns and do their own thing. I'm wondering if I should invest in smaller pellets so each shrimp could have their own? 

 

It really depends like Soothing said. If your goal is to ensure your shrimp get their equal portions then a food that breaks down faster or powder type is helpful.

 

I tend to stick to both of those type and use harder pellet type as a rotational food. With the harder pellet type it seems like bigger shrimp just hoard the food becuase they can carry it off to their corner :)

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Thanks for the responses guys, gives me some good points to think on! I use Hikari Crab Cuisine as well and feed 1 pellet broken into halves 1 or 2x a day depending on how fast they finish it, and on other days the Shirakura chunks. The Crab Cuisine seems to break down much faster than the Shirakura, but the larger cards just run off with the pellet pieces and may drop them when they feel full. For instance, I cut both foods into small pieces and dropped them in the tank. Here it is about 3 hours later, and the same large BB mischlinge has been hoarding the Crab Cuisine half this whole time lol. Guess they never learned sharing is caring! 

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