Benefits of Feeding Earthworms

[Tennyson]

So every now and then, I give my shrimp some earthworms as a once-in-a-while treat. They like it more than anything. I had learned later that its not good to feed your tank inhabitants anything that they wouldn't encounter in the wild. And that earthworms could have too much fat or energy for the consumer in them. But what exactly does all this extra "stuff" thats in a worm do to the shrimp? Does it just boost them with much more energy? Or what?

thanks

[iamwhatiam52]

Interesting question.

I've tried feeding my tank earthworms, but nothing eats it.
What kind of shrimp do you have?

[Tennyson]

My lysmata shrimp are the real earthworm eaters. I'll put a * next to the ones that eat the worms.

1. Skunk Cleaner Shrimp *
2. Peppermint Shrimp*
3. Urocaridella Anemone Shrimp*
4. Anemone Shrimp*
5. Sexy Anemone Shrimp
6. Coral Banded Shrimp***
7. Fire Shrimp*

I put three *'s next to my coral banded shrimp becuase its the only food that it will accept, and it loves it SO much. I have tried almost everything, it will only eat earthworms and occasionally flake and pellets. Its hard to keep it fed.

But the shrimp go bzerk when a worm hits the water, but it has to be alive, it makes them look much tastier becuase they are having a siezure from the burning salt water. they aren't interested in the worms if they are dead. And its real cool to watch them eat the worm, they tear a hole in it, then eat it from the inside out. It takes nearly 2-4 hours for them to finish it.

[iamwhatiam52]

Nice bunch of shrimp!
Where do you get the less common ones?
I get some oddballs from Live aquaria now and then, and Seacrop.com has a few.

[Tennyson]

Thanks.

Which shrimp would be considered "rare" in your case? The Urocaridella Anemone are the only ones I would consider rare, they are a non-hosting shrimp with long stalky legs, when they're just sitting around, they leave their arms in a "baby rocking" position, swaying back and forth, so they're really cool. The only problem is they will eat my xenia if they aren't hungry, and will sometimes eat the fins off my fish if they get a chance and are hungry, but are still pretty cool. I've only seen them at one of my lfs's here in Maryland.

And my other LFS has a HUGE variety of anemone shrimps, they have ones with all different colors and designs. I'll get rare ones there soon, they get these cool ones with bright white arms, when threatened, they amusingly wave their arms back and forth-it looks like they're having a spasm attack. I will post pics if I get one, I'm just in extreme debt so I'll have to wait.

But I guess feeding earthworms wouldn't be a problem since they will eat anything right? And its fun to watch them aggressively wrestle and attack the struggling worm.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/175285Good_Anemone_Shrimp.jpg
Heres my urocaridella, completely transparent with some red adn white blotches.

[iamwhatiam52]

Yes, the Urocaridella is the least common, but some of he anemone shrimp are rarely seen in the stores here. I'm a bit of a shrimp nut. Can you please give me the names of the stores that have them in our area? I wind up there on business a few times a year.

I tried feeding some of my shrimp a small earthworms today. You are right! The anemone shrimp went nuts for it, and so did the blue coral banded shrimp (Stenopus tenuirostris). My Urocaridella didn't touch it.

We still haven't heard any opinions on the food value of earthworms which was your original question.

[Tennyson]

Thats ok, so you have an urocaridella? Hmm, mine would eat them, they had to be kind of small though and wriggling and stuff. I guess it just depends or something.

I have only gotten my anemone shrimp from two stores. Congressional Aquarium and Scales Tropical Fish Warehouse. Urocaridella is the only type of anemone shrimp congressional gets besides sexy shrimp, so if your looking for others, go to scales. But many times I go there, there isn't a large selection of anemone shrimp, or there just aren't any at all.