How to feed Fire Red shrimps, but not the fishes (especially SAE)

[branong]

Hi Guys,
Got this problem in my planted tank. Whenever I drop any shrimp food in, the fishes would be first to catch them before it reaches the bottom. Or even if it's at the bottom, the shrimps got no chance of getting near. To the extend that the shrimps fully feed on the algae from my planted tank and are breeding well.

Just thinking if anyone has any practice to feed shrimps but prevent fishes from being too nosey!
Much thanks

[Urban Aquaria]

This is a common issue in community tank with fishes and shrimps. Ideally the shrimps just focus on eating all the algae and dead leaves in the tank (which is usually their intended job anyways), that is usually sufficient for a moderate population of shrimps in a mature planted tank.

But if you have alot of shrimps or want to grow their population further and faster, increasing food supply can help.

One method is to feed the shrimps at night when the fishes are sleeping, wait until the room is dark and the fishes are at rest, then drop shrimp food into the tank. Some fishes might still wake up when they smell the food and rush to eat the food though, so it depends on the situation.

Another alternative which i use is to feed vegetable slices like cucumber or zuchinni, can also feed leaves like ketapang or mulberry leaves too. The fishes don't eat those things, only the shrimps and other algae eaters (ie. otos or snails) eat it, and you can leave those vegetables in a tank for up to 24-48 hours for the shrimps to slowly graze on.

[branong]

Thank you very much Urban Aquaria
Very comprehensive reply. Much appreciated