Do you feed cleaner shrimp?

[patrick33]

I know it sounds silly but i just started my 46 gallon and have put in a cleaning crew to clean up after cycling. I just put in two cleaner shrimp and I dont know if I feed them in addition to the eating they are doing while cleaning up?
Thank you in advance for your help

 

[sebae0]

cleaner shrimp primarily eat left over food from feedings and parasites on fish, you won't get any algae cleaning from them.
its okay from time to time to spot feed them some flake or mysis, they really enjoy it. hth

 

[ross]

I just got mine a couple days ago. When i feed the tank he can smell it i guess and scurries out to the front of the tank trying to grab a piece. Today i held out a little piece of seafood and he came and grabbed it out of my fingers.

 

[birdy]

I always feed my cleaner shrimp first (I hand feed them), otherwise they will steal all the food from my corals and fish and starfish. They love chunks of meaty food (like cocktail shrimp) that they can sit and munch on.

 

[exotickeeper]

You don't need to hand feed them, when you feed your tank with brine shrimp they will get some of it.

 

[elfdoctors]

Mine have learned where to go to get different types of food. They will go to specific areas of high current when I feed brine shrimp. However when I feed flake food, they swim to the top of the tank, prop themselves up in a corner, and hang upside down so they can feed on floating flakes. Occasionally a peppermint will do that also, but the cleaners seem to be smarter about getting their food.

 

[exotickeeper]

Exactly, elfdoc. said it best, the shrimps know where the good stuff is! Everytime I feed my fish, one of my blood and cleaner meets in the middle and fights off to see who gets what food, I will take a picture of it next time. And it's amazing because they do it every single time!

 

[patrick33]

Thank you for the answers. I still havent put fish in yet, hopefuly this coming week I will start. I guess I will start feeding them directly until then.