feeding Commensal Shrimp?

[amheck]

Hey guys, I got a commensal shrimp that took to my RBTA about a day after it was put in the tank. Now the RBTA is moving around the tank, but that's another issue.

I've tried to hold a piece of frozen food near the shrimp, but it seems frightened and shys away. I'm a little worried if its getting food or not. What have you guys been able to feed your commensal shrimp? On the other hand, my blood shrimp will come out and grab anything he can.

 

[jayelblock]

I have one P. imperator who uses a duncan coral as its host. I feed it frozen Hikari mysis, Hikari s pellets and cylop-eeze. I also see it picking at the mucus of the coral, which I believe traps small bits of food.

 

[amheck]

thanks for the reply. I'll keep trying some different stuff. Just trying to make sure this little guy gets enough to eat.

 

[jayelblock]

If you haven't tried it already, use a turkey baster or pipette to squirt the food right at him. When I do that, my shrimp gets very excited and starts waiving his pincers around. Occasionally, he can pull some food right off the end of the baster, but mostly he appears very uncoordinated relative to my other shrimp (sexy, peppermint, pistol), and takes a long time to locate food. Perhaps that is because his typical host (cucumber or nudibranch) would be moving through the environment, but his duncan is stationary.

Please take all my advice sparingly as 1) I have only had my shrimp for about a month, and b) my information is based on my experience with only this one shrimp...

 

[mscarpena]

I have never heard of a shrimp that just wont eat. Your probably startling it with what you are doing to try to get it food.