[hinescom]

Why are my peppermint shrimp devouring my Giant Hawaiin Featherdust. They reached in and pulled the insides out and are devouring the thing as I type this. HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[David]

Hate to overstate the obvious, but offhand I'd say they are hungry.
Seriously, Iv'e never experienced nor heard of such a thing. It just may be that they are not getting enough "scraps" and you might try target feeding them, I make sure my peps and cleaners each get a small chunk of formula 1 or something like that each day. Is this a small tank? Heavily stocked? How often do you feed? You need to consider everything to figure this out.

[hinescom]

Ya, that may have something to do with it. What kind of food besides formula one would your recomend for them. The tank is a twelve gallon but I only have four very small fish in there. But I do have 5 peppermint shrimp so I would imagine there is a bit of competition for food, I didnt realize they were that greedy of eaters. I have so many in this tank only temporarily untill my larger tank cycles, ordinarilly I would not. Thanks for the advice.

[David]

If you don't have access to frozen perepared foods like Formula One or Prime Reef, come up with something. Chopped table shrimp, squid or fish from the grocery store, anything. I really think you need to feed those guys but you will have trouble with water quality in such a small tank. Frequent changes should do it. Maybe you could get some of those small cups they use at lfs and float shrimp until bigger tank is ready. IMHO your 12 is overstocked and you need to get that larger tank going soon. Good luck.

[hinescom]

Ya, Ive been feeding them some chopped fish, everything is well now. I realized that they were eating a stock of the feather duster that had been damaged in shipping and finally died, they left the rest of it alone. As for being overstocked, it may not be an ideal setup right now, but the shrimp are very small and I hardly think they are being overstocked. They have just lacked propperly targeted feeding. But, yes they are not destined to live the rest of their lives in this tank. Prolly about 3-4 more weeks. Thanks for the replies though.

[Northman_with_reef]

I hand feed my pep's every time they get hungry...

Just put a piece of nori or something in your hand and they'll eat it in no time!

[hinescom]

Ya, I used to do that with my old tank. I think thats half the reason I got the shrimp, I just love having them crawl on my hand and feed, its so cool. Ive been waiting for these shrimp to get used to me first before I do that, they are new to the tank, about 3 weeks. Thanks for the info though, perhaps now would be a good time to start hand feeding them. How many times a day would you recommend they be fed?

[Northman_with_reef]

I feed my Lymata debelius every 3rd day, and the peps about once a week...

I give them each a big flake of spirulina.

My Debelius ate out of my hand at day one!

[hinescom]

Well my peps are well feed then, because I have been feeding them once a day with a large chunk of fish. Started doing it by hand today, although that is not necessary since nothing else in the tank expresses interest in the meat. I have also been adding some Kent Zoe to the food and water once a week. They seem to finish the meat off in about 3 hours. Do you think I may be overfeeding, the meat is about 3/8 inch square, they seem to really take to it, although I do believe a more balanced diet would better suit them.