Feeding Sargassum Shrimp

[Justfebreezeit]

I was out on the boat doing a little diving July 4th weekend and netted up some Sargassum weed while I was finishing up some SAT time.

I shook out all the creatures into a bucket and proceeded to examine them. A bunch of little shrimp, crabs, baby jack, and even some tiny angler fish. I saved all the shrimp and threw everything else back. I kept the shrimp to feed my sixline wrasse and the fish in my Dad's 220g tank.

I'm under the assumption that feeding these shrimp live would be probably the most beneficial food to a reef tank besides each fishes exact natural diet. What do you guys think? Should I do this more often?

 

[oceanrider]

Yes, you can. Its seems like these shrimp have camoflage , which means they dont have any venom or taste bad to fishes, so they must hide.

The pigments may affect fish color , or may not, if you feed them constantly. HOwever, occassional shrimp to vary the diet, should be beneficial in the long run.

I caught some grass shrimp, about 1 inch long, which i threw into my large tank, together with some half inch minnows...which my fish ate.

those freshly caught ones have a lot of nutrition in them, if they were living on the sargassum weeds.

nice of you to throw back the other by catch. Preservation is good.

 

[RyonFly]

While trying to get a little info on sargassum shrimp and what they eat I came across this thread, I know it's a bit old, but I threw 1 or 2 of these guys in my tank thinking the fish would eat them, they were interested and he shook his long claws at them and disappeared, now a year later I looked at my tank early this morning, that guy is still kicking it, a little bigger now but alive and healthy.

 

[Justfebreezeit]

That's crazy! Is there no wrasse or bigger angels in your tank?

 

[vetteguy53081]

They feed on seaweed and plankton

 

[@phokusonmi]

I live by the beach, down here in Miami and when the sargassum was fluent i would go out every morning and shake it over a strainer. caught dozens of the shrimp of all sizes... even crabs, file fish. i kept the file fish in a smaller acrylic box within the tank. some how they would always escape because of their tiny size and end up in the filter floss. the only ones that survived were the shrimp. well besides the ones that were live feed.

 

[primalpete]

Old thread but I did the same thing. Feed my fish sargasso shrimp. Long nose hawk fish and leopard wrasse went crazy for the small ones. Just found 2 larger lives ones in the tank at dark a month later. I guess they are reef safe.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Old thread but I did the same thing. Feed my fish sargasso shrimp. Long nose hawk fish and leopard wrasse went crazy for the small ones. Just found 2 larger lives ones in the tank at dark a month later. I guess they are reef safe.

Yes and scavengers