Axolotl and Shrimp? (For Food)

[AxolotlLove327]

I'm doing some research for a better and variety diet for my axie. Right now he eats bloodworms and a Nightcrawler bit (since he can't eat the entire thing) I was looking at nutrition facts for axolotl food and found that shrimp (raw) has a protein of 83.3 and far of 8.3. I thought "Wow, that's a lot of protein!" And figured I should look into buying raw shrimp for my axolotl. But before I went combing the internet, I thought I should ask your guy's opinion. What do you think? A shrimp a day? Thanks!

 

[auntiejude]

raw prawns are OK if there is nothing else available, but it is deficient in certain minerals and too salty to be a staple food. Live freshwater shrimp are fun though if you can get hold of some.

 

[Boomsloth]

Get a small tank, a little heater, some live plants and set it by the window. Throw in any species of neocardinia shrimp (red cherry shrimp is the most common) they will start to breed and you can scoop them out and feed them to your axolotl as treats

 

[allied123]

When you say small tank do you mean like a ten gallon? I picked up 6 ghost shrimp about a week and a half ago and they've been in quarantine in about a 1 gallon food container. I would love to breed them but the only tank I have besides my axies in the 20 gallon long is a 3 gallon cylinder which doesn't seem like enough floor space? I've been looking online but everywhere said about 10 gallons was needed to keep them which seems like a lot of work for some feeder shrimp...

 

[keiko]

I have about 20 yellow shrimps in an 85 liter tank (22 gallons) and the maintenance couldn't be easier. The tank is planted and the plants use most of the nitrates produced. I don't have a filter nor a heater, only a lamp. I could probably go a month without a water change and the water would still be perfect (but they poop a lot so once a week is good so it'll look good too..). They're also fascinating to watch as well as a nice snack for other pets. I don't know about ghost shrimp but for 20 yellow shrimps 20 liters would be enough.

The tank was actually supposed to be for firebellies, but the guy I was supposed to get them from disappeared on me so there are only shrimp for now.

 

[Boomsloth]

Shrimp have an insanely low bioload so you can generally have 10 per gallon of water without any problems. Ghost shrimp is a general term for most feeder shrimp that are clear but the typical species of ghost shrimp won't really breed in captivity because the fry need salt water to mature. Red cherry shrimp are just the most common neocardinia species of true freshwater shrimp and they come in all sorts of colors and readily breed in freshwater. They usually need slightly warmer temps to breed prolifically.

 

[allied123]

Thank you guys! and sorry if this sounds lazy/ cheap but the one gallon has more floor space than the 3 gallon (think rubbermaid tub versus cylinder tank "for a betta") but which one do you think would be better? I could get some plants for them to climb on in the three gallon if that seems more appropriate? I really kind of like the little guys now and if they'd breed that'd be awesome. Also has anyone had a lot of success in breeding? about how long did yours take to start breeding? do babies need special food? sorry for all the questions..

 

[keiko]

Not all shrimp will breed in fresh water, some need salt water for that. But from what I understand they're pretty easy to breed. Throw in a few shrimp, make sure they have food and that the water stays good and they'll breed. The baby shrimp look just like the adults, just smaller, and will eat what the adults eat. I just gave my shrimp one of my axies' pellets and they went crazy for it. Pretty funny to watch 20 little shrimp crawling over each other everyone trying to get to the pellet at the same time.
I think the 3 gallon would work great, just add plants so they can climb on those. Mine seem to like to swim up and down and hang out in the plants.